Paul Thomas Anderson and Jonny Greenwood, creator and composer of music for the film Phantom Thread, have made headlines by demanding the removal of their music from a new documentary focused on Melania Trump. Their request stems from a lack of consultation by Universal, the company that holds the rights to the film’s score, regarding the use of the music in this third-party project. This demand highlights important issues surrounding copyright agreements and the ownership of artistic content.

The documentary, titled simply Melania and directed by Brett Ratner, has received widespread criticism, with many reviewers labeling it as uninformative and tedious. Critics have pointed out the documentary's failure to provide deep insights into Melania Trump's life, and it has even garnered a rare zero-star review from The Guardian. The criticism reflects broader public sentiment and skepticism about the subject matter and the way it’s presented in media.

This incident raises larger questions about the ethics of using artistic works in documentaries, especially when the subjects of those works may have public and controversial figures involved. As the film attempts to give an account of Melania Trump, the stance taken by Anderson and Greenwood could be seen as a reaction against how cultural narratives are formed and propagated, especially concerning prominent political figures like the Trumps.