Rolling Stones dispute Melania producer’s claim Mick Jagger ‘gave blessing’ for song to be used in documentary

A representative for the Rolling Stones has disputed a claim by the producer behind the Melania documentary, that the rock band were personally involved in approving the film’s use of their song “Gimme Shelter”.

Released in January by Amazon MGM studios, Melania follows the US first lady in the weeks leading up to her husband Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

The film was widely panned by critics, while it also attracted controversy as Radiohead musician Jonny Greenwood and director Paul Thomas Anderson. Both condemned the use of the score for 2017 movie Phantom Thread, which Greenwood composed, in the soundtrack.

The Guardian reports that a source close to Mick Jagger has now cast doubt on producer Mark Beckman’s claim that his team was closely involved with the singer over the use of the Stones’ music.

“We worked very close with them on that,” Beckman told Variety this week, stating that Jagger was “actually involved” and “gave us his blessing”.

“That wasn’t something that we just pulled out. And that wasn’t a political thing,” he added. “With the Stones, they were just like, ‘Oh, you’re making a nice movie.’”

He continued: “They were like able to get over the hurdle: it’s not politics – it’s just some story about some woman that is going from being a civilian back into the White House, and this movie looks cool and Brett (Ratner) is doing a cool job and Melania Trump is focused, and let’s do it. We showed it to them and they were impressed.”

A source close to Jagger told The Guardian that they believed scepticism was necessary as Beckman was attempting to promote the movie.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Rolling Stones told the publication that the deal to use “Gimme Shelter” was set up exclusively between rights holders ABKCO and the film’s producers, without the band’s involvement.

The Independent has contacted the Stones’ representatives for comment.

Beckman also said in his Variety interview that there was a “beautiful song” by Guns N’ Roses that they’d wanted to use, but that the group had disagreed over whether to grant permission and couldn’t go ahead without universal agreement.

“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,’” he recalled. “So Guns N’ Roses was definitely a disappointment for us; we all have a lot of respect for Guns N’ Roses.”

The Prince estate was also said to have blocked the use of one of the late artist’s songs, on the lawyer’s grounds that “Prince would never want his song associated with Donald Trump”.