Recently, it was revealed that Brett Ratner was moving ahead with his long-in-development biopic about the disgraced ‘80s pop duo, Milli Vanilli. Normally, the idea of a Milli Vanilli biopic would be enough for us to be a bit underwhelmed. However, with Brett Ratner attached, who hasn’t directed a feature since 2014 and has been the subject of numerous sexual misconduct and harassment allegations, it didn’t matter what the subject of the film was about, people (including the group, Time’s Up) were not happy it was going into production. Well, it appears the original studio behind the film has pulled out of the development in response to the controversy that followed the announcement. But even still, the Milli Vanilli biopic is still moving forward.
According to a new statement (via Variety) released by Millennium Media and RatPac (Ratner’s production company), the planned Milli Vanilli biopic is still in development and has received complete financing from private investors, which means Millennium is no longer involved.
Here’s the statement:
“On the heels of the announcement of the long-gestating Milli Vanilli movie, the project fielded multiple competitive bids and a group of private equity investors have emerged that are fully financing the movie to begin production shortly. Millennium will not be selling the film at EFM or be involved in the production.”
READ MORE: Brett Ratner Accused Of Sexual Harassment & Misconduct
The news of Millennium removing itself from the production comes after the studio found itself in a similar situation nearly two years ago when the company announced plans to work on a “Red Sonja” feature with director Bryan Singer. This news came after the filmmaker received sexual assault accusations and was the subject of various reports about erratic on-set behavior. Eventually, Singer was removed from the project and Millennium moved ahead with Joey Soloway attached to direct.
Now, since the rights are not owned by Millennium, the best the company can do is remove itself from the project and let Ratner move forward with private investors. Of course, investors are just part of the equation. Now, the film will be able to get made, but Time’s Up and the various folks that hope to see Ratner not return to filmmaking until he’s at least acknowledged the accusations are likely going to pressure people to not work on the feature. In addition, even if/when the Milli Vanilli biopic gets produced, finding a distributor could still be a problem.
But for now, Ratner’s film has found financing and will be entering production. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens next.
