Guns N’ Roses, Prince’s Estate Blocked Their Music from Being Used in Melania Documentary

The Melania Trump documentary includes a portion of Jonny Greenwood’s Oscar-nominated score for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, which Greenwood has since asked to be removed. Turns out the filmmakers also sought music from several other prominent artists, but were ultimately denied.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, producer Marc Beckman revealed that several of your most favorite artists vehemently objected to their songs’ inclusion in the film, which chronicles First Lady Melania Trump‘s preparations leading up to Donald Trump‘s 2025 presidential inauguration. As Beckman (who is also an advisor to Mrs. Trump) so eloquently put it, “There was music that we tried to get, but sadly, there were politics to it.”

The artists who said “no way” include:

Prince: Per Beckman, the film was actually quite close to nabbing a song from The Purple One. However, Prince’s lawyers apparently came in at the last minute to say that he would “never want his song associated with Donald Trump.” Beckman lamented that “this is not a Donald Trump film,” adding that he “comes into the movie once in a while, but this is all about Melania. It’s not political.’ And that guy blocked it. It’s so ridiculous.”

Guns N’ Roses: Beckman claimed the band is “split down the middle politically.” He added that “there was a beautiful song we wanted to use,” but “one of the guys — I don’t want to name, it’s not fair — said, ‘You got it. Go.’ And the other one was basically like, ‘There’s just no way.'”

Grace Jones: Beckman noted that the beloved singer/model also “couldn’t get over the political hurdle, notwithstanding the fact that the film is not a political film.” He added, “It’s disappointing when people put politics so far ahead, and that happened a little bit with the film, for sure.”

On the topic of Greenwood, it seems that rejection landed especially hard for Beckman.

“It’s funny — Radiohead is one of my all-time favorite bands,” he said. “For them to have come out publicly and distanced themselves, I think that’s just part of the unfortunate time we’re living in. We went out and created a nice film that doesn’t get into any kind of political policy or anything like that. The music at that moment is so perfect, honestly, I was so thrilled to be able to use it. But, honestly, I’ll still remain a fan and listen to their music every single day.”

Outside of music, the film has garnered other controversies. That includes the participation of Brett Ratner, who returned to the director’s chair for the first time following assault allegations made in 2017. Then, of course, there’s reports that the $40 million Amazon spent to acquire the film amounts to little more than a “bribe” from CEO Jeff Bezos to the Trump administration.

In her own review, Liz Shannon Miller lambasted the film, saying that to call it a documentary “implies that there’s meaningful, thoughtful intention to its construction, which is very much not the case.” Instead, the doc has the “weight and depth of a Post-it.”

To date, Melania has made just $16 million worldwide.