Caffeinated Clint
Milli Vanilli movie in the works
Ah, who could forget the whole Milli Vanilli debacle?
Remember Rob and Fab, the two dancing moppets that were exposed as frauds shortly after their singles (who can forget that classic ‘Blame it on the Rain?’) pathed the way for Brashs to open up a few more stores across the country? Of course you do. You even have their cassingles somewhere, right? I think mine are somewhere in the box here under the Roxus and Kim Wilde tapes.
You’ll recall that it came out that the guys weren’t actually singing on the singles…
It’s a wonder someone didn’t get a clue earlier though. In July 1989, during a live performance recorded by MTV, the guys were singing (ha!) ‘Girl You Know it’s True’ when the recording became jammed, started to skip, and the line ‘Girl, you know it’s …’ started playing on loop. Kinda funny
Someone – actually, “Catch Me if You Can” writer Jeff Nathanson – thinks their whole story is do darn interesting, he wants to write their movie.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Nathanson became intrigued with the notion of taking a similar tack on the music industry tale. He has secured the cooperation of Fabrice Morvan, as well as the estate of Rob Pilatus, who died in 1998 as the pair were attempting a comeback.
Pilatus and Morvan were hired by producer Frank Farian to front Milli Vanilli. Farian already had songs recorded by three other singers. Pilatus and Morvan became trapped in a lie when Milli Vanilli topped the charts and sold millions of records. Desperate to end the charade, the duo refused to promote a follow-up album unless Farian let them sing. Instead, he blew the whistle.
Their Grammy Award was rescinded, class action lawsuits were filed, and Milli Vanilli was dropped from the Arista roster. Morvan took it hardest, falling into drug abuse and serving time for robbery before dying from a drug overdose right before a reunion album could be released.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the notion of fakes and frauds, and in this case, you had guys who pulled off the ultimate con, selling 30 million singles and 11 million albums and then becoming the biggest laughing-stocks of pop entertainment,” Nathanson said. “Fabrice had always refused to sell their rights; he was very cautious of Hollywood after all he’d been through. But my intention is to tell this story from their point of view.”
Did you know that in 1991, Farian attempted to re-form Milli Vanilli with the original session vocalists (including female backup singer Gina Mohammed), this time crediting them and billing them as the Real Milli Vanilli? Yep, he tried. Didn’t work though. That album ‘Moment of Truth’ flopped faster than a kite without wind.
Now, sit back; relax and enjoy….
