Few were happy when it was revealed that Brett Ratner would be directing his first feature since 2014 with a Milli Vanilli biopic. And not for the usual reason that Ratner is a terrible filmmaker, but because he’s been the subject of numerous sexual abuse allegations. The pressure was on Millennium Media to figure out whether they wanted to be in business with Ratner or not, and they’ve chosen the latter.
A statement issued by Avi Lerner’s Millennium Media and Ratner’s production company RatPac makes it clear the biopic will move forward with private financing and without Millennium’s involvement…
“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.”
Millennium found themselves in a similar situation not long ago when Bryan Singer was attached to their Red Sonja film. They…well, they didn’t handle that situation very well. Eventually, they were convinced to drop Singer from the project but they took some embarrassing hits because of their early defense of him. They’re not making the same mistake with Ratner.
That said, the movie is still happening and with Ratner attached…for now. The Time’s Up movement has been vocal on this one, and there’s going to be tremendous public scrutiny on anybody who joins. [Variety]
