Haute Living’s Cover Shoot with Brett Ratner and the Malniks

Hollywood director Brett Ratner photographed the cover of Haute Living Miami’s Philanthropy/ Palm Beach issue featuring Make-A-Wish benefactors Al and Shareef Malnik. The shoot took place on a warm, sunny day with blue skies at Al Malnik’s sprawling estate in Ocean Ridge, Florida. The shoot found Ratner taking on a role he usually only inhabits for Victoria’s Secret models— that of photographer.

Choosing a final location at the beaux-arts mansion wasn’t easy, as every angle was an embarrassment of riches, featuring ornate craftwork, carvings and solid marble sculpture worthy of it’s own photo shoot. The cover story interview was easy too —we opted for an open discussion featuring the director, Al and Shareef, who have been friends since Ratner was a kid in Miami Beach. The discussion ranged the gamut, although we focused on the upcoming 20th Annual InterContinental Miami Make-A-Wish Ball on November 1st.

One (of many) interesting asides that didn’t make the print article? Brett and Shareef used to be roommates on South Beach in the 1990’s and apparently Ratner borrowed Shareef’s Versace suits on the regular. Problem was, by the end of an acton-pacted summer, Malnik was left with more jackets than pants. “How do you loose pants?”, asked a bewildered Malnik, who laughed, sighed and said, “only Brett.” Read the cover story here.