Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual harassment which some readers may find distressing.
The director of Melania Trump’s $75,000,000 new documentary is well known by many for being one of the key figures exposed during the #MeToo movement, leading him to be banished from Hollywood.
Called Melania, the documentary is the second most expensive ever (behind 2007 natural history documentary Earth). However, despite a $35,000,000 marketing push from Amazon, Vue has admitted that their flagship London cinema sold only one ticket for one of its first screenings.
In addition to this, the film’s South African distributor has announced they are pulling it from theatres over ‘recent developments’.
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Many believe the distributor are referencing an ongoing trade war between the country and the US over Trump’s factually incorrect claims there is a ‘white genocide’ taking place against white South Africans.
All of this noise around the documentary has distracted from a surprising development: the return of Brett Ratner to Hollywood.
Ratner is a director best known for the Rush Hour films and directing X-Men: The Last Stand.
The American director and producer however was one of the most high-profile names alongside Harvey Weinstein to be called out by the #MeToo movement in 2017, which saw a wave of Hollywood stars speak out about the sexual harassment and rape that was prevalent in the industry.
Ratner was accused by six women of sexual harassment, with Elliot Page also speaking out against the director, claiming that he sexually harassed him on the set of X-Men when Page was only 18.
One of the women who accused him of sexual harassment, Natasha Henstridge, also claimed that he had blocked her exit from a room before ‘physically forcing’ her to perform oral sex on him.
She told the LA Times: “He strong-armed me in a real way. He physically forced himself on me.”
Actor Olivia Munn spoke in the LA Times expose, saying that when visiting the set of After the Sunset, Ratner masturbated in front of her.
He later falsely claimed on a TV show that he had ‘banged her’ and then boasted at a CAA party that he had ‘ejaculated on magazine covers featuring her image’.
Ratner denied the allegations, but his working deal with Warner Brothers was cancelled and he hasn’t directed anything since 2015.
The signs that Ratner was planning a return have been there however, particularly his cosying up to the Trumps.
Late last year, people were surprised by the news that Trump was calling for Rush Hour 4 to release, and even more surprised that it actually happened.
Trump and Ratner have been pictured together as far back as 2011 and, like Trump, Ratner was pictured in the Epstein files (though House Democrats have been clear that being pictured in the files are not themselves a sign of wrongdoing).
With Ratner’s next move being to direct a fourth Rush Hour, he looks to be benefiting well from cosying up to the Trumps after a decade in the cold.
The director however has also come under flack for how he acted on the set of the documentary, with one crew member telling Rolling Stone: “I feel a little bit uncomfortable with the propaganda element of this, but Brett Ratner was the worst part of working on this project.”
They claimed crew members were not aware of his part on the film until days before starting, and wouldn’t have accepted if they’d known.
Another said: “There was more talk about Brett being slimy than there was about Melania.”
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivors Trust for free on 08088 010 818, available 10am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-3pm and 6pm-8pm Monday to Thursday, 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3pm on Fridays, 10am-12.30pm on Saturdays and 6pm-8pm on Sundays.
Topics: Melania Trump, Politics, Film, Celebrity, TV and Film
Michael Slavin