The rise, fall and rise of Brett Ratner

Years after #MeToo banishment, director returns with a film about the first lady.

- BY STACY PERMAN

BRETT RATNER has become a part of Melania Trump's trusted inner circle.

(WILLY SANJUAN Invision/Associated Press)

In late 2024, shortly after her husband, Donald Trump, was reelected as the 47th president of the United States, Melania Trump saw an opportunity: a documentary centered on her life.

The film, a followup to her eponymous memoir, would offer a window into the first lady's private, sphinx-like world, in contrast to that of her bombastic, spotlight-seeking husband.

To direct the film, a fly-on-the-wall chronicle of the 20 days leading up to the inauguration, Melania turned to an unlikely choice: Brett Ratner, who only a few years earlier had been all but banished from Hollywood.

The controversial filmmaker had been recommended by her agent and “senior advisor” Marc Beckman, who had a longstanding relationship with Ratner.

“He's one of the most talented directors of our lifetime,” said Beckman, who negotiated the unusually lucrative $40-million deal with Amazon MGM Studios to distribute the film.

“He actually accounts for like $2 billion in box-office receipts,” Beckman told The Times. “He really understands not just how to create something that’s gorgeous, but also how to reach the passions and emotions of his audience.”

The timing was fortuitous. Ratner was looking for a comeback vehicle from his heady days as one of the industry’s most successful filmmakers. And Beckman was among several prominent figures in Trump’s orbit who could help make that happen.

Brash, rich and successful, Ratner, 56, was the director and producer of a string of blockbuster films, the “Rush Hour” franchise and “X-Men: The Last Stand” among them. He was a consummate Hollywood dealmaker and habitue of red carpets who held court at the legendary basement disco inside of his equally storied Beverly Hills estate.