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This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Before we had AT and T Business Wireless coverage, our delivery GPS wasn't the most reliable. Once our driver had to do a 14 point turn to get back on route. A 14 point turn, an influencer even livestream the whole thing. Not good for business. Now with AT&T business Wireless, routes are updating on the fly and deliveries are on time. And the influencer did get us 53 new followers though.
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A
On this episode of Newts World in the new documentary Melania, we are treated to an intimate portrait and a very rare look into the life of Melania Trump, exploring her role as first lady and her relationship with President Trump. The documentary was directed by Brett Ratner and follows Mrs. Trump for 20 days leading up to Inauguration Day, January 20, 2025. Melania has broken box office records in its first week in theaters. Here to discuss the film, I'm really pleased to welcome my guest, Mark Beckman. He's a producer of Melania, author of Some Future How AI Is Going to Change Everything and the CEO of advertising powerhouse DMA United. Mark, welcome and thank you for joining me on Newts World.
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B
Mr. Speaker, it's an honor to be here today. I am so grateful to meet you and to share this stage with you today. It's incredible.
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A
Before we get into the film itself, I have to say you have quite a background. You are doing a wide range of things and you obviously have a very open sense of curiosity about how things work.
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B
I feel blessed that I'm curious at this point in my life. I think that a lot of people, when they reach their 50s, look at the world and might categorize their work as a J O B. But it's the curiosity that keeps my engine driving. I don't think that's a skill. I think I'm just blessed to be curious.
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A
It's a good thing to have as a genetic trait. You knew Melania long before this film?
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B
That's right. So I've been working with Melania Trump now for almost 25 years, since before Barron was born. My role with her, the title is exclusive. Senior advisor, agent, producer. But the reality is all of those titles mean nothing. What we do together is I work with her to create her foundation from a branding perspective. And then from there we stand up three pillars. Mr. Gingrich. It's all of her commercial work. So behind the scenes, I'm the person who handled the negotiation for this record breaking movie deal as well as her best selling book. The digital assets, even the Christmas ornaments, which mean a lot to us, we handle all of the philanthropy and humanitarian work. So the foster care work that we've been building together for a long time is honestly the best work I do. And all of her communications. And it's this type of new model, this driving force that I think will potentially shift the mindset of a typical politician's branding. I think we're reaching this moment in time where people need to see how they can move away from traditional marketing, particularly for those on the conservative side where still communicating. We often speak in a bubble to leveraging new commercial endeavors, media and beyond.
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A
Given that background, where did the notion come up to do the 20 days leading up to the inauguration?
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B
So we think this is a very important story. It's never been told before by anyone, notwithstanding the fact that our nation is in our 250th year now. And for a long time we've wanted to build in the medium of film, but we weren't ready to go ahead and sell her life story. She's still very young. She's got a lot to accomplish. Hopefully you've seen what she's been working on over the past year. So we thought this was an interesting story to tell. We looked at it through a lens that's unprecedented. Nobody has seen what it takes to be a mother, to be a daughter, to be a wife, to go from private life back into the public life, to march forward and put their nation on the world stage for this very, very important moment in time. The United States presidential inaugur. We like to break ground. Melania Trump and I are groundbreaking people. We don't work by a playbook. We try to stand on our own for everything we do. And we thought since this story has never been told, this was the moment in time to do it.
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A
When did you think this up?
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B
So notwithstanding the fact that we spoke about creating a film for a long time, we had a very condensed period to execute on this. So they won the election and that's when everything went full throttle, I started the negotiation process with the streamers, and it was a. A bunch of them. Amazon, Netflix, Paramount, Disney was involved as well. And while I was doing that, I started to have conversations with potential partners to direct the film. You mentioned that we had Brett Ratner come in in the end, and then we also needed to build an entire team around the director. It was literally from November when we thought of the idea till January when we stopped filming. Everything happened within that condensed time period.
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A
It's interesting to me that you were able to get all the major streaming systems to compete against each other.
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B
It was a remarkable feat, especially considering the fact, as you know, or as you can imagine, after the first administration, after 45, the idea of me getting on the phone and pitching a film for the former first lady at that point in time was taboo. We were alone. It was her and me in the trenches. And it's not like picking up the phone and saying, hey, my client is Hillary Clinton. Clinton or Michelle Obama. It's a very different experience. Also with a big fear of being canceled back then. Speaker. So it was a remarkable feat. Everybody was interested. What I learned, which I think you'll find compelling, too, actually, I hope you do, is that during that process, they all said to me, we have been ignoring half the country for too long, and it's time for us to look at this. They looked at it through a commercial lens, of course, but they realized, they admitted, they've been ignoring us. They've been ignoring our families, they've been ignoring our peers.
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A
Something happened when President Trump was able to survive two impeachments, four lawsuits, two assassination attempts. There's some point where suddenly many of the elites said, you know, he's just a fact. Doesn't matter if I like him or I don't like him. He is a fact. We've seen this in Europe. We were at devos, the World Economic Forum, when the president was there. And I could sense in listening to Europeans, it wasn't that they liked him particularly, but they had concluded that he was unavoidable and that therefore he had to deal with it. And I think that that was sort of came out of winning in 24 that changed things. But I'm curious. You mentioned Brett Ratner ended up directing. He does blockbusters like Rush Hour or the Last Stand. Isn't this a totally different artistic challenge?
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B
Yes, and that's why we ended up selecting him. His box office receipts are impressive. I think they amount to almost 2 billion with these incredible movies that you mentioned. But for us, we did not want to create a documentary. We wanted to create a visual and sonic experience for the audience that is completely new as well. In fact, some people have said and written that we've broken the genre of documentary because never does the first lady sit like a talking head with an empty warehouse behind her. Brett assembled a first class team, the team of photographers, for example. We have two Oscar award winners. It's a stunningly gorgeous visual representation. And the music is best in class. In fact, we open with the Rolling Stones. We move into other songs like Elvis, Michael Jackson. It's an incredible range of music that we bring in. And this is why it was important for us also to negotiate a deal where it launched for a long period of time exclusively in theaters worldwide. We want people to have that gorgeous theatrical experience that, you know, so many of us have missed out on as of late. So we're getting people back in the theaters and it's exciting. And I think that unique experience that we wanted to create was perfectly executed by Brett Ratner as director.
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A
As I understand it, Ratner actually gets her to sing a song in the car. How does that happen?
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B
I prefer not to give away all of our secret sauce, but Brett and the first lady had established a relationship that is and still maintain a relationship that's built on trust. And when you're with someone so close. We worked, you know, literally for 20 days together, traversing her residences in New York City, in Palm beach, eventually back into the White, interacting with family, building the First Lady's office, interacting with foreign leaders like Brigitte Macron and Queen Rania. So at some point, the trust is there and you have some fun. And the first lady is. She's a wonderful person, but she's also a fun person. And she let her guard down a few times. And Brett shined the light on it at that moment.
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A
Does your dessert game need a makeover? Scoop it or swirl it. That's the sound of an ice cream shop on your countertop. The Ninja Creami helps you turn almost anything into ice cream. From sweet and indulgent to protein packed and low cal. No skimping on flavor. Reward yourself, hit your macros, do dessert your way. No sacrifices, no stress, just flawless ice cream. However, you love it. Treat, repeat. Pretty sweet. Get your Ninja Creami today. You really took a big gamble in opening in theaters. It's something I think I would have been very, very cautious about. And you've had a great response so far. Were you confident that you could get people to come to theaters?
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B
No, but I felt very confident. At the end of the day, there were so many times where the first lady and I would talk to each other and say, like, is it good? Is it good? At the end of the day, I felt confident knowing that I could stand behind this film 100%. I know that we created something that is really unique, and we give the viewers something that they've never seen before. We give them access to this individual's life, this person, Melania Trump, who, as everybody knows, is very selective with when she speaks and who she meets with. So we give them access to her family, her business, her philanthropy, and becoming first lady of the United States again in a way that she's never shared before. And it's also an important film for our nation's history. So a lot of people say, like, oh, you know, the fashion, the fashion, it's incredible. But the history, the historic relevance here, to me, me, is the most important aspect. So I stand behind that all day long. And, you know, we see that, fortunately, the consumer sentiment has been first class. In fact, today we learned the first lady and I learned that it has a higher ranking now than Shawshank Redemption as far as consumer sentiment goes. So I'm so proud of that.
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A
That's amazing. That's a remarkable tribute both to her and to the film. I'm curious, though. You knew her long before they came down the escalator and announced they were running. All of that must have led to some significant evolution in who she is, because in some ways, she's relatively private. And then you can't be first lady and not be part of the national dialogue and a national coverage. Do you think she has changed much since you first knew her?
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B
I'll tell you, her core values, her traits have remained the same. She's always a very positive, highly motivated, hardworking individual. Prioritizes family first. Always. What's changed, though, for her as well as for me, and I'm willing to bet for you as well, is that with age and experience brings a heightened level of wisdom. And it's that wisdom that I've seen evolve in a major way.
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A
When you try to explain to people who don't know her, what do you think they most often get wrong about her?
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B
I think that they have no idea the level of commitment she has towards her family. She's one of the most committed mothers, daughters and wives that I know. The second thing that I would say is that people just don't understand this person's work ethic. Melania Trump works 24,7 she outpaces in many ways, the President. She and I have not taken a day off now for holidays, for weekends, for anything since we launched the book, which goes back years now. She's definitely one of the most hardworking people. And then finally, for your audience, I think they'll appreciate this. She's very proud to be First Lady. She takes her role as the nation's first lady with the utmost level of seriousness. She's very proud of putting our country on the stage in the highest level possible, with perfection. She participates in every detail. She loves doing business. But she's already talking to me this morning about Easter 2026, and that's a great American tradition in the White House. And she gets involved in every detail. People don't realize it if it's a state dinner. Every detail. That's something that people, most people don't know about her.
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A
She's championed some initiatives which have been pretty significant. The Take It down act, foster care reform. The Presidential AI Challenge. Why are technology, children's safety, and education such core priorities?
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B
For her, it ties back into her love of our country. She sees that artificial intelligence and other types of emerging technologies, including cryptocurrency and blockchain, can fundamentally change the world. And if we don't stay at the forefront, it can put America's next generation into a situation that could damage us as a nation. So she's been very committed since leaving, you know, after the 45 presidency to all of these types of technologies, and she just keeps hitting it over and over again. In fact, just a few weeks ago, she held an artificial intelligence workshop for students in America, K through 12, with the CEO of Zoom for an hour that had 2,000American schools participate. You mentioned the AI Presidential Challenge. We're very proud. We have participants committed from every single state, all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. And she'll continue to push forward so that our next generation of leaders have the ability to keep America at the forefront.
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A
She came here as a legal immigrant, of course, but nonetheless, as part of that long migration that. That has made America so unique. And yet she clearly has become totally an American and identifies, I think, in every way as an American, which I think fits perfectly with sort of our 250th anniversary. That is part of it. How much of that do you think goes into the experience of the movie? In the sense that you're looking at somebody who takes the inauguration very seriously and who takes her role as first lady very seriously.
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B
Very high level. In fact, there's a moment In Time, where she is walking into the rotunda for the inauguration and she reflects back on her experience as an immigrant and reflects and shares with the audience about why it's so important, why individual rights and freedom are so critical, and how her immigrant story inspired her. So it's a moment in the film which is really poignant. And then after the actual inauguration ceremony, Mr. Speaker, she and the President walk through Congress with a tradition that you probably have experienced as well, the Congressional luncheon and whatnot. And she further reflects on the heaviness of that moment as an immigrant to our country, because she's standing in those halls and conducting this tradition as an American. And then there are moments in time that are a little bit lighter, too. For example, there's a great scene where she's preparing to design the White House with the woman that helps her get the incoming, the trumps, the first family to get them ready with all of their rooms and their bedding and everything. And. And it's an interesting scene because the two of them are immigrants. Tam, the designer, is from Laos, and she talks back about how proud she is as an immigrant, how her parents would be so impressed with the fact that she's working with the first lady of the United States to help the incoming first family get back into the White House. So that theme is a big part of the film.
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A
Part of the complexity that you had to film was the fact that the extremely cold weather led us to have the inaugural insight, as we also had with Ronald Reagan in 1984, that led to all of the leadership being outside and then being inside. It was quite complicated. That must have also made filming very complicated.
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B
I think it feels like the coldest day of my life. That whole time period was just freezing. And it's interesting, you'll see in the scene there's this. In the movie, rather, there's a scene leading up to that moment in the Rotunda where the first family sits down. This is really, again, one of these unprecedented moments, if you're curious as to like how the Secret Service is going to work with the incoming first family right after two assassination attempts. It's incredible. So they're planning the inauguration procession, the parade outdoors through Washington, D.C. but then we need to shift last minute. This was a last minute moment inside, into the rotunda, which was incredible, as you mentioned, to be in that room was just so historic. I feel so lucky to have experienced that. But what happens is there are new configurations with regards to where all of the former presidents and former first Ladies are stationed beforehand Our cameras are right there backstage. This is not like a C span moment where we get, for example, firsthand looks at what President Biden and Kamala Harris, their interaction together before they walk in, before they're announced. We have the first lady in the Green Room in the rotunda as her family, as Barron is coming out. So the experience in the rotunda was just so historical, so special, but our access is unparalleled. Again, 100% of the film that we shot is from our cameras. We don't recycle anything. There's no C span footage or anything like this. So cameras on President Obama, on President Clinton, on President Bush, the whole backstage procession is really cool.
- [21:21]
A
There are some really powerful emotional moments in the film. At one point, the first lady discusses her mother's death, which was a year before filming the documentary on January 9, 2024. How does it affect the film to have that kind of candor and that kind of open emotion?
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B
Yeah, it's one of the most poignant moments in the film. It just so happened we had the cameras running for 20 days and there's only one take right. This is not scripted. In this instance, it worked out it was President Carter's funeral in D.C. which you might remember, it was the anniversary of her mother's passing happened to occur on that same day. So soon thereaf the first lady boarded a plane, flew back to New York city, went to St. Patrick's Cathedral and lit a candle in honor in respect of her mother. I could tell you that I've received so many notes from daughters all over the world saying how their mother, they cherish their mother, and how this moment means so much to them. This mother daughter moment.
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A
It's pretty remarkable given sort of the magic of that 20 days, that it was a remarkably good time to be totally on the inside. And given the reaction you're getting from audiences, can you imagine sort of Melania.
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B
Too, commercially we have a strategy. We built out Muse Films, which is our production company, and keep in mind all we did here was license these 20 days of her life to Amazon. We still have all of the rights to her life story, her New York Times 13 week best selling book, and that best selling book, Speaker Gingrich ends after the 45 presidency. So we have the four years after that and then this 47th presidency. So I fully anticipate we're going to create more stories that will hopefully captivate people the way this film is.
- [23:28]
A
I'm very impressed with the fact that you were there for 20 days. It was truly cinema Veritas in the French sense of true cinema. At the same time, you must have had an enormous mound of film, which you then have to edit down to an hour and 46. How do you go through that process?
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B
Well, I'll tell you, we were very focused. The first lady came up with the concept for the film, so she's the creative director, but she participated in the production as well as the post production. I'm really proud to share that. When you talk about her attention to detail, she managed the edits, the color correction, the song selection. She created this global ad campaign that you're seeing run across almost every continent. 30 cities, the trailer, the television commercials, the radio spots, even foreign language radio spots. She's changing the voice. If she doesn't like them, she's changed voices in Eastern Europe to make it a little bit better. But as it relates to unpacking this story, there's so much more to her life that we wanted to share. And this is why the film's docu series exists. So we're coming out with a docu series this summer, and it's going to allow for us to share a little bit more about her family, her business, her philanthropy. We could unpack the story in a different way. It's gonna stand on its own. It's not a companion piece, so we're gonna tell the story differently. And then almost 100% of the footage is not in the film. It all stands on its own, and we're proud of that, too.
- [25:03]
A
Part of what I'm getting from this conversation, and you've been very open and I think very helpful. She really has a complete life which in many ways transcends being First Lady. She's really a larger figure in terms of her activities, her interests, than most of our First Ladies have had, that's for sure.
- [25:27]
B
I think if you look at her achievements this first year as first lady, you started to rattle them off, but it reflects that. So, of course, the private sector work, as it relates to foster care, as it relates to commercial endeavors, they're great. But you mentioned some of the work she's done in the White House. She does this on her own. This isn't coordinated with the West Wing. She leads it. So we have new legislation in the Take It down act, an executive order signed that she championed through for foster care children. She secured $30 million to allocate towards the HUD budget for foster care individual housing. She reunified not once, but twice, Ukrainian and Russian children with their families, as you mentioned, she's leading the and AI Initiative. We are launching a global coalition with the United nations called Fostering the Future Together. She announced it at unga. But the inaugural meeting, which we haven't announced yet to the public, the inaugural meeting at the White House is going to happen on March 25th. And we've put together, Mr. Gingrich, incredible nations that are already signed on, they're participating, including nations like Israel, France, Canada. The list goes on and on. We'll probably end up with about 100 nations that participate. This work of hers is transcending anything foolish, like fashion magazines, anything trite, like negative press or anything like this. She's a very focused person. She's evolving, I think the office of First Lady.
- [27:00]
A
I get the sense from you that we're dealing here with a complete person who is smart enough and energetic enough and has learned enough that she can actually carve out a unique niche, part of which is first lady, but a significant part of which is doing the things Melania believes in entirely.
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B
And I'm hoping that this movie inspires Gen Z, this next generation of, let's say, college aged women, to see you can have an incredible commitment to your family life and really get a lot out of being a family oriented person, but then also be very successful with your career life. It's interesting, Speaker Gingrich, if you think about it, people in our generation, they've been hit so hard from the feminist movement where it's like you have to go all in in education, you have to go all in in your career. And all of a sudden people are looking back and saying, well, now I don't have a family. Well, the first lady is able to really showcase both of these elements. Great family and great career. And I'm hoping that's one of the byproducts of this film as it relates specifically to the college aged women.
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A
I think that's a very important point. And I think if she can bridge that gap to give hope, then you can have a full life. I think that may reduce a lot of the pessimism that we're currently seeing from younger people who seem to be almost overwhelmed by trying to figure out what they're going to do with their lives.
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B
I agree.
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A
I must say, Mark, that you bring to it a depth of knowledge and a range of experience and an understanding of the first lady that is very, very cool. I wish you very well with your continued theater exposure. I think you're going to do unbelievably well once it streams. I think the number of Trump supporters who are going to want to watch. This is going to be staggering. I look forward to future projects that you and the first lady may undertake. And I hope in the future you'll join us and chat about other things as they evolve.
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B
Your words are so kind and honestly so appreciated. It means so much to hear those words uttered coming from somebody like you with such incredible accomplishments in your life and the way you've helped so many people. So thank you so much for having me today, Mr. Speaker. It's really, truly like an honor. Incredible.
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A
I do want to encourage all of our listeners to go see Melania. It is a wonderful portrait of the First Lady.
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B
Thank you.
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A
Now we're going to have a trailer from the film. Here we go again. You can come in. Don't want to. My proudest legacy will be that of Peacemaker. Peacemaker. Turning the fire. Beautiful. Together with like minded leaders, we have a voice. Is it safe? It is safe. Everyone wants to know. So here it is. Hi, Mr. President. Congratulations.
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B
Did you watch it?
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A
I did not. Yeah, I will see it on the news. Thank you to my guest, Mark Beckman. New Twirl is produced by Gingrich 360 and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Garnzi Sloan. Our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show was created by Steve Pendley. Special thanks to the team at Gingrich360. If you've been enjoying Newts World, I hope you'll go to Apple podcast and both rate us with five stars and give us a review so others can learn what it's all about. Join me on substack@gingrich360.net I'm Newt Gingrich. This is Newt's World. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.