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Exclusive: The Flight Attendant and The Big Bang Theory star Kaley Cuoco is set to lead buzzy series package Vanished, which AGC Television is launching for this week’s Series Mania in Lille, where it’ll likely be the hottest brand new show on sale.

Starring in the suspense drama alongside Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Cuoco will be Sam Claflin (Peaky Blinders), three-time Cesar winner Karin Viard (The Bélier Family) and German actor Matthias Schweighöfer (Army of the Dead).

The logline reads: When a romantic getaway to Paris takes a dark turn with the sudden disappearance of her boyfriend Tom (Claflin) aboard a train to the south of France, Alice (Cuoco) is plunged into a web of intrigue and danger, uncovering shocking secrets about the man she thought she knew.

Producer, director and Ealing Studios owner Barnaby Thompson (Pixie) is directing ahead of production beginning April 28 on locations in Paris and Marseilles.

With the long-delayed movie finally about to release, Jonathan Majorsis reflecting on his recent controversies and his Hollywood comeback ahead of Magazine Dreams' debut. Following his Emmy-nominated turn in Lovecraft Country, Majors was enjoying a very quick rise to stardom with the likes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Kang the Conqueror, who was set to be the next Thanos. Majors' career came to a standstill when he was arrested for a domestic assault report by his now-ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, being fired from the MCU and accused of further abuses and convicted of one count of reckless assault in the third degree and harassment.

Now, with Magazine Dreams officially picked up by Briarcliff Entertainment, Majors has sat down with The Hollywood Reporterfor his first major Hollywood comeback interview. The Emmy nominee began by recalling the period of time immediately following his not-guilty plea and trial, which he described as "heartbreak like...

Hollywood loves to build people up just to knock them down, to the point that certain awards are believed to impart a curse upon their recipients. While they dreamed of ascending the stage to accept their Oscar or Grammy, the finger of a paw taken from a deeply coked-out monkey curled somewhere, probably Nic Cage’s basement.

Or did it?

One of the most notoriously cursed awards is the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, which makes sense. A new artist is by definition unproven, so there’s a much higher probability that they’ll end up sucking than a lifetime achievement honoree. In fact, it’s frankly weird how often the Grammy Awards have gotten this right. Just about every winner in the history of the award has gone on to a sterling career. The idea of a curse seems to mostly stem from the disgrace of Milli Vanilli,...

Give it up to Questlove — his new documentary, Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music, is killer, especially its imaginative opening montage of musical mash-ups. But while Questlove (mostly) wanted to honor SNL’s long history of eclectic, electric performances, not every musical guest delivered the goods. I’m not talking about musicians who turned in great performances but still caused the show headaches, like Sinead O’Connor, Rage Against the Machine or Elvis Costello either. Instead, let’s check out four outright terrible performances that belong in the show’s musical Hall of Shame.

1 Ashlee Simpson

The undisputed champion, and a performance memorably bad enough to make Questlove’s documentary. Can we even call it a performance? 50 Years of SNL Music explains that Simpson’s voice was nearly shot the night Jude Law hosted, necessitating a compromise in which she’d sing one song live and lip-sync the other. By show time,...

Several years after his film career was hit with a major setback, Brett Ratner is getting back into the director's chair for a new documentary at Amazon. The film will focus on First Lady Melania Trump, and it is planned to release in theaters along with being made available on streaming.

Per Deadline, Prime Video has "exclusively licensed" the untitled documentary "for both theatrical and streaming release." An Amazon spokesperson also said of the doc that it will provide an "unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look" at Trump. Filming on the project started in December, following the presidential election the month prior that saw Trump's husband, Donald, come out victorious. Melania Trump is executive producing the film alongside Fernando Sulichin for New Element Media with plans for a release sometime in the latter half of 2026.

Related 'Our Not-So-Secret Weapon': Fallout EP Shares 1 Key Decision That Led to Prime Video Series' Success

Jonathan Nolan...

Brett Ratner, the director behind the popular Rush Hour series, is attempting a Hollywood comeback after years away from the industry. Although he directed the first three Rush Hour films, attempts to pitch a fourth installment have hit roadblocks.

Studios like Paramount and Sony have shown no interest in working with him. Ratner’s absence from Hollywood began in 2017 when he faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct during the height of the #MeToo movement.

These allegations led to his agency cutting ties with him immediately. Ratner has denied all accusations, and no legal charges were ever filed. Despite his controversial past, Ratner has found support from Amazon for a new project—a documentary about Melania Trump, co-produced by the former First Lady herself, as per Variety.

The film promises a rare, behind-the-scenes look at Melania’s life and is slated for a 2025 release.

Ratner’s friends told Variety that he...

On Wednesday January 1 2025, VH1 broadcasts Behind the Music!

Milli Vanilli Season 2 Episode 5 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “Behind the Music” titled “Milli Vanilli” promises to be a captivating look at one of the most controversial acts in music history. This episode features Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan, the duo behind Milli Vanilli, as they share their story in what would be Rob’s last in-depth interview. Their journey from rising stars to infamous figures in the music industry is sure to draw attention.

Milli Vanilli topped the charts with their hit song “Girl You Know It’s True,” capturing the hearts of many fans in the late 1980s. However, their success was marred by scandal when it was revealed that they had been lipsyncing during performances. The episode will explore how this revelation affected their careers and lives, providing a raw and honest look at the pressures of fame.

Viewers...

The upcoming episode of “Behind the Music” promises to be a captivating look into the lives of Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan, the duo known as Milli Vanilli. Titled “Milli Vanilli,” this Season 2 Episode 5 will air at midnight on January 1, 2025, on VH1. The episode features the last in-depth interview of Rob Pilatus before his untimely passing, offering a rare glimpse into their extraordinary journey.

Viewers will get to hear firsthand accounts from Pilatus and Morvan about their rapid rise to fame with the hit song “Girl You Know It’s True.” The episode will explore how they captured the hearts of millions, only to face a shocking downfall when the truth about their lipsyncing was revealed. This story of success turned scandal is sure to resonate with those who remember the height of their popularity.

As the episode unfolds, it delves into the pressures of fame and the impact of their...

Legendary songwriter Diane Warren gets the documentary treatment in Diane Warren: Relentless, which gives viewers a look at the singular talent and personality of the 15-time Oscar nominee.

The doc is directed by Bess Kargman and features interviews with some of Warren’s many famous collaborators — including Cher, Gloria Estefan, Common, Randy Jackson, Jennifer Hudson, Kesha, and more. It goes inside Warren’s unique process, including visiting her infamous office, a cluttered, chaotic room where she does all of her work. “In this intimate documentary, filled with Diane’s signature humor, audiences get a rarely seen glimpse into Diane’s life and underdog journey to where she is today,” according to the official synopsis. “Marked by a distinctive songwriting approach, exceptional work ethic and irreverence, the narrative delves into her most remarkable collaborations.”

Warren is one of the most successful songwriters of all time. She has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame,...

20 Days In Mariupol, the Oscar-winning Frontline/PBS and Associated Press documentary, was one of the big victors at the UK’s prestigious Grierson Awards on Wednesday.

20 Days In Mariupol won Best Current Affairs Documentary and Best Cinema Documentary at the event staged at London’s Roundhouse (full winners below).

Other winners included Me and the Voice in My Head, Channel 4’s documentary spotlighting Joe Tracini, a comedian who lives with Borderline Personality Disorder. As well as picking up Best Single Documentary, Tracini won Best Documentary Presenter.

The Grierson Awards has found itself at the crucible of industry debate about the Israel-Gaza conflict after removing Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia as a patron amid a backlash over social media posts considered to be antisemitic.

The decision, first revealed by Deadline, sparked a boycott among members of UK television’s Muslim and South Asian community. Senior industry figures wrote to...

Oscar-winning Ukraine-Russia war documentary 20 Days in Mariupol from Frontline, PBS and The AP, took home awards in two categories at The Grierson Trust’s 2024 British Documentary Awards on Wednesday night.

In association with All3Media, the ceremony took place at London’s Roundhouse arts and music venue, where Channel 4 took home the highest number of prizes with five, followed by the BBC with three and Netflix with two.

Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days in Mariupol, which won the Academy Award for best documentary earlier this year, earned the best current affairs documentary and best cinema documentary awards Wednesday. Me and the Voice in My Head, produced by Hungry Bear Media for Channel 4 won the best single documentary – Domestic award, with Joe Tracini winning the best documentary presenter.

This year’s award winners spanned a wide range of subjects with powerful documentaries on the war in Ukraine, a Turkish singer...

The premiere episode of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story features a bloody double-murder and quite a bit of Milli Vanilli, but the most shocking moment might actually be the revelation that the image-obsessed Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) wears a toupee.

The moment comes during a vicious dinner-table argument at the Menendez house — which we soon find out is a common occurrence — when Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez (Chloë Sevigny) violently tears off her eldest son’s toupee. This is much to the shock and horror of Erik (Cooper Koch), who had no idea that the brother he idolized had lost his hair years earlier. Lyle reveals that their father, José (Javier Bardem), forced him to get it — this helps to open Erik’s eyes to the extent of their parents’ cruelty.

“Lyle’s wig was always a character,” said co-creator Ryan Murphy on Nov. 2 at The Fall Edit,...

Ryan Murphy's Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story has brought a renewed interest in the trials of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were convicted of brutally killing their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989. Although the series does not portray the brothers positively, there have been arguments that the two men should be released after spending 35 years behind bars.

Celebrities like Kim Kardashian, have penned an essay asking for the case to be reexamined and for the brothers to be set free. TV host Rosie O'Donnell has defended Erik and Lyle for years, even calling herself their "big sister."

In fact, with the brothers being raised in Beverly Hills, they have strong connections to Hollywood, including having gone to the same school as Shahs of Sunset's Reza Farahan and Mercedes (Mj) Javid.

Related The Cast of Bravo's 'Shahs Of Sunset' Ranked By...

It’s 2024, and America is madly in love with Milli Vanilli. How did this happen? The Eighties Euro-glitz pop duo are enjoying the year’s weirdest revival, thanks to Ryan Murphy. His Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story tells the true-crime story of the rich Beverly Hills brothers who gunned down their parents in the summer of 1989. They bond over the music of Milli Vanilli, who ruled the radio that summer. Since Monsters, the duo’s streaming numbers are booming. “Blame It on the Rain” and “Girl I’m...

The first episode of “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” needs to accomplish a lot. There’s setting the scene, introducing the Menendez family (beyond dysfunctional), and portraying a brutal real-life slaying of José and Kitty by their sons, Lyle and Erik. Oh, and then show the funeral, complete with a somber Milli Vanilli needle drop. (Which really happened.) That’s a lot of tone, but the anchor of the episode and of the season itself is the central murder.

“From the get-go, one of the things that Ryan [Murphy] said was that he wanted you to feel how awful that moment is, to remember that they’re murderers,” Episode 1 editor Peggy Tachdjian told Indiewire. “Because it sets up the whole season. He was like, ‘I want everyone to always remember that the murder was brutal.”

The sequence is remarkable in its unflinching recreation of the violence but also of the cold bloodness.

The latest installment in Ryan Murphy’s Monster series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, shot immediately to the top of the streamer’s most watched list after its release last week. Yet the true-crime series also swiftly faced criticism over innuendo made in the show that the two convicted murderers had more than a brotherly bond, and developed a sexual relationship.

Backlash against the series — landing just as a new Menendez brothers Netflix docuseries, in which the two participated, was announced — came fast on Friday, the day after the nine-episode fictionalization of the 1989 killing of José and Kitty Menendez and its aftermath premiered on the streamer. First, a wave of comments from the Menendez supporters community, which has grown lately on TikTok and Instagram, flooded social media as viewers took issue with suggestions in Murphy and co-creator Ian Brennan’s script that the brothers were also lovers. Then,...

Spacey Unmasked, the Channel 4-Max documentary series detailing new allegations against the double-Oscar winner, has been nominated at the prestigious UK Grierson Awards, as the shortlist in each category is whittled down from eight docs to four.

Spacey Unmasked is nominated in the new Best Popular Culture Documentary category, which depicts people, events, movements or trends that have had a major impact on popular culture in recent years. The series is up against Arena – Being Kae Tempest, Big Zuu Goes to Mecca and Milli Vanilli, the latter of which is also nominated in the Best Music Documentary category.

From Mike Lerner and Dorothy Byrne, Spacey Unmasked detailed sexual misconduct allegations by 10 men against Spacey, which he denies, coming around a year after he was acquitted of sex crimes in a UK trial.

Meanwhile, Netflix’s American Nightmare, which came seventh in the streamer’s most-watched shows of the first...

Plot: Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story chronicles the case of the real-life brothers convicted in 1996 for the murders of their parents, José and Kitty Menéndez. While the prosecution argued they were seeking to inherit their family fortune, the brothers claimed – and remain adamant to this day, as they serve life sentences without the possibility of parole – that their actions stemmed out of fear from a lifetime of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse

Review: The ever-expanding anthology series credited to super-producer Ryan Murphy continues to expand. Earlier this week, we shared our review for the newest American Story series, American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez. While that series did not have Murphy directly involved as a writer or director, he does boast direct credits alongside longtime collaborator Ian Brennan on the second entry of Monster; this time focused on the tantalizing crimes of Lyle and Erik Menendez. One of several...

Warning! This post contains spoilers for Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story elevates the impact of its true-crime drama by coupling some of its pivotal moments with compelling songs. Reciting the true story of the 1989 murders of Jos and Kitty Menndez by their own sons, Netflix's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is significantly different from its predecessor, Dahmer Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Instead of adopting a consistently serious tone like the first season of the series, the second installment of the Netflix true-crime show goes from being grim in certain moments to becoming fairly lively in others.

Owing to these changes in its tone, the show features a diverse set of songs as background scores that play a crucial role in enhancing the emotional resonance of many of its key scenes. Although it features songs from several artists throughout its runtime,...

“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” debuted Friday and is quickly becoming Netflix and Ryan Murphy’s latest hit.

The limited series marks the new installment of Murphy’s “Monster” franchise with the streamer, following the massive success of “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” starring Evan Peters. Ian Brennan partnered with the mega-producer once more to bring the Menendez brothers’ story to screen, from their traumatic upbringing to the notorious night they murdered their parents, José and Kitty Menendez.

The limited series seeks to discover who the real monsters in the high-profile murder trial were. The Menendez brothers captivated America, as their televised Court TV trial is one of the first of its kind. The two boys killed their parents on Aug. 20, 1989, at only 18 and 21 years old. Their counsel called it self defense, but both were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without...

For 35 minutes in the middle of its nine-episode run, Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story does something special.

The fifth chapter, titled “The Hurt Man,” was written by series co-creator Ian Brennan and directed by Michael Uppendahl. It’s a single-shot conversation between Erik Menendez (Cooper Koch) and his attorney Leslie Abramson (Ari Graynor). The camera begins several feet behind Abramson and inches imperceptibly closer to Erik as he recalls his history of sexual abuse at the hands of his tyrannical father, José (Javier Bardem).

It’s a stunt, but the entire show is a stunt, so why quibble? The writing is precise, uncomfortably explicit and haunting. The formal simplicity serves its purpose, building breathless tension and putting a spotlight on Koch, who strips himself emotionally bare. We see the impact that the expurgation of these memories is having on Erik and, because we cannot see Abramson’s face,...

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the sophomore season of Ryan Murphy's Monster series for Netflix, has just debuted its 10 episodes, introducing us to the real-life brothers who killed their parents. Though the first season, following infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, was much more black and white in depicting an evil person, this one is nuanced, unfolding the layers of Lyle and Erik's relationship with their parents and why they did what they did.

As Monsters opens up with its premiere episode, "Blame it on the Rain," brothers Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik (Cooper Koch) seem like your everyday young men — albeit very wealthy and perhaps a little out of touch. But what we can't see on the surface is the pain they face and the complicated relationship they had with their parents, José (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloë Sevigny). Episode 1 of the Netflix Original shows us...

The latest trailer for Ryan Murphy’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” calls into question who the real monsters are in the infamous true crime case.

The second installment in Murphy and Ian Brennan’s “Monster” anthology series will follow the Menéndez brothers in the moments before they killed their parents and the trial that followed.

José Menéndez, played by Javier Bardem, opens the trailer released Tuesday with a monologue about why he was so hard on his kids, comparing his physical abuse of them to a spiky collar for a dog: he would only hurt them if they disobeyed.

“You know what I think? I feel I didn’t hit you hard enough, so as a father that is my fault, and I am sorry,” José concludes as he slaps Lyle, played by Nicholas Alexander Chavez.

Watch the trailer below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcXg...

Exclusive: Black Box Management has signed Nick August-Perna, the filmmaker behind the buzzy true crime doc Tell Them You Love Me, which topped Netflix’s film charts in its February debut.

Hitting #1 on Netflix’s Top 10 Movies, the film tells the true story of Anna Stubblefield, an esteemed professor involved in a controversial affair with Derrick Johnson, a non-verbal man with cerebral palsy. Their relationship eventually led to a criminal trial challenging perceptions of disability and nature of consent.

Black Box and August-Perna are teaming to produce a scripted remake of the film, the hope being to replica the success of much-discussed true-crime projects like I, Tonya, The Act, and The Girl from Plainville.

In a statement to Deadline, Black Box’s founding partners Mike Dill and Lowell Shapiro shared, “When we first saw Nick’s incredible film Tell Them You Love Me, we knew that he was someone we had to represent.

There’s no late-night activity that Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer liked better than catching a movie at their local theater. While they occasionally stood in line for actual classics like Weekend at Bernie’s II, they also frequented several flicks that only exist in the Seinfeld universe.

Here are seven movies we’d love to see, even though chances are good they’re already sold out...

7 Means to An End

This is the movie Elaine and her date Todd Gack are dying to see. When it’s sold out, they’re forced to settle for Blame It on the Rain, presumably the story of Milli Vanilli. Fortunately for Jerry, his girlfriend Nicki uses her good looks to score tickets even after Elaine is turned away.

6 Sack Lunch

Castle Rock

Once again, Elaine is thwarted by a sold-out showing. Instead of laughing through light comedy Sack Lunch, she’s forced to endure The English Patient.

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Fab Morvan spoke with MovieWeb's Greg Archer about the new music biopic, Girl You Know It's True, an '80s period piece about him and his band, Milli Vanilli, and the scandal that rocked the music world. Fab has a new album out, and Girl You Know It's True hit theaters on August 9th, 2024.

Girl You Know It's True is a fast-paced, 80s-set music industry cautionary tale. Under the name Milli Vanilli, Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan storm the international charts, land three number one hits in the USA and enjoy the extravagant life in Hollywood. At the height of their fame, Rob and Fab even win a Grammy, but behind the glamour, the truth threatens to turn Milli Vanilli into the biggest scandal in music history.

Oppenheimer star Matthias Schweighfer is jazzed to play eccentric hit music producer Frank Farian, the German record producer who orchestrated the rise of '80s duo Milli Vanilli, subjects of the new biopic, Girl You Know Its True. But a pivotal moment arrived prior to the shoot when the actor actually had an opportunity to Zoom with Farian before the infamous producer passed away this year. As a producer, he acquired other songs from random groups and saw an opportunity with the young dancers Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, but he told them they could only lip-sync tracks in music videos.

Milli Vanilli became a Grammy-winning global phenomenon, dancing and lip-syncing another artist's songs, but Farian eventually outed the duo in what became one of the biggest music scandals in history. All of it intrigued Schweighfer going into the Zoom call with Farian. He was really interesting, the actor told MovieWeb in a recent interview.

Rarely, a music biopic doesn't focus on a legend of the music industry with an established career and expensive soundtrack, but on a scandal or wild tale from decades past. Perhaps it's because these stories don't fit into the tried and tested formula that is at this point overused by the genre, but it is interesting to see the mold broken by one of the biggest scandals in music history. Girl You Know It's True tells us the story of the rise and tragic fall of the R&b duo Milli Vanilli.

The film Girl, You Know It’s True shares the wild true story of pop sensation Milli Vanilli. Directed by Simon Verhoeven, it recounts how Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan unexpectedly shot to fame in the late 80s through a musical deception that ultimately crashed down around them. At its core, the story remains as shocking now as it was back then.

Rob and Fab were talented dancers with musical aspirations but lacking vocal skills. When ambitious producer Frank Farian ‘discovers’ them, he envisions using their dynamic stage presence to market pre-recorded tracks by session singers. Assured this ruse offers the fast track to stardom they crave, the young men agree to lip-sync Farian’s songs as the new act, Milli Vanilli.

The plan succeeds beyond anyone’s expectations. Milli Vanilli’s catchy hits and high-energy live shows make them an overnight global phenomenon. But as fame and fortune wildly exceed all involved ever dreamed,...

Girl You Know It's True masterfully depicts the rise and fall of Milli Vanilli, capturing the '80s music scene with empathy and drama. Stellar performances by Matthias Schweighfer as Frank Farian add depth to the gripping tale of fame, deception, and tragic endings. The film's portrayal of the Milli Vanilli scandal reflects our current culture's obsession with fame, shedding light on the blurred lines between real and fake.

Fame, fortune, Grammys, MTV glory. The pop duo Milli Vanilli had it all by the end of 1989. It disappeared by the end of the following year. The rise and fall of the hit group responsible for earworm chart-toppers like "Girl You Know Its True," "Blame it on the Rain," and "Baby Dont Forget My Number" makes for a compelling topic in the new film from writer/director Simon Verhoeven (Welcome to Germany), Girl You Know Its True. The film emits a...

The jokes about Milli Vanilli have existed for decades. After being exposed for not singing their own songs, the German-based group faded into obscurity until a tragedy befell one of the members. Girl You Know It’s True catalogs the incredible rise and fall of the group. Featuring a wrap-around narration from Elan Ben Ali and Tijan Njie as the titular group, Girl You Know It’s True finds incredible nuance in the shocking tale.

Related“The hate it gets feels like a fad”: Chadwick Boseman, Bradley Cooper and Yalitza Aparicio’s Oscar Worthy Movies Getting Snubbed Still Bothers Some Cinephiles Girl You Know It’s True Plot

Fabrice Morvan (Ali) and Robert Pilatus (Njie) dream of superstardom. Both find work as background dancers in the German music industry, but their talent quickly draws eyes. Fabrice moved to Germany to showcase his unique talents in a world and find appreciation.

Looking back, the 90s was a decade with some of the best names in music constantly finding ways to reinvent themselves and bring something new to listeners. From Nirvana to Mariah Carey, Tupac to Alanis Morissette, and the wave of boy band mania, there really was a smorgasbord of different flavors coming to a portable CD player near you. While most of these performers have built a legacy that has seen them go down in history, theres one pop duo that made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan, known professionally by their stage name of Milli Vanilli, had everything they could ever want including a Grammy Award. But when they were caught lip-synching, the truth was exposed and their careers went down in flames.

First things first: Girl You Know It’s True is not the cinematic equivalent of Milli Vanilli. Which is to say this biopic, on streaming and in some cinemas Friday, isn’t just mouthing the words and going through the motions as it tells the story of one of pop’s most infamous chapters. It’s actually more involving than any Milli Vanilli biopic really has a right to be (and currently boasts a 92 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes).

Certainly, some of the credit goes to producer Fab Morvan, one-half of the telegenic duo who shot to fame in 1989 with dance floor bangers like “Girl You Know It’s True” and “Blame It on the Rain,” who knows this story better than anyone.

The problem, of course, was that neither Morvan nor his best buddy Rob Pilatus did any of the singing on those songs, which were produced by German disco maven...

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The always charming Matthias Schweighfer spoke with MovieWeb's Greg Archer about his new music biopic, Girl You Know It's True, an '80s period piece about the man and band that scammed the world, Milli Vanilli. Schweighfer also touched on Brick, his upcoming sci-fi film for Netflix with his partner, Ruby O. Fee. Girl You Know It's True hits theaters on August 9th, 2024.

Nominated in the Best German Actor category at the 2024 Jupiter Awards for his role, Schweighfer is compelling as Frank Farian, the man behind the creation of superstar R&b duo Milli Vanilli in this fast-paced, 80s-set music industry cautionary tale. Under the name Milli Vanilli, Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan storm the international charts, land three number one hits in the USA and enjoy the extravagant life in Hollywood. At the height of their fame, Rob and Fab even win a Grammy,...

Controversy seems to follow Milli Vanilli around, as the pop-duo who became known for lip syncing on their records. But that’s only a small part of a much bigger story, and one that is told in Girl You Know it’s True – which delves into the lives of the double act, but also that of their producer, Frank Farian.

To mark the release of the movie we had the pleasure in speaking to German actor Matthias Schweighöfer, who plays Farian, to discuss bringing the role to our screen, and on his experience meeting the man himself, who has since passed away. He also talks about his musical interests and on the whirlwind of the last couple of years, and what it was like being part of the experience that was Oppenheimer.

Watch the full interview with Matthias Schweighöfer here:

Synopsis

Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan conquer the global music...

For music fans of a certain age, the name Milli Vanilli is short-hand for fakesters and frauds. Now, the duo is getting their own biopic that details how their immense fame turned to infamy, Girl You Know It’s True. Watch the trailer below.

Directed by Simon Verhoeven, Girl You Know It’s True stars Matthias Schweighöfer, Tijan Njie, and Elan Ben Ali and is set for release via Vertical on August 9th. The flick follows the true story of German dancers Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, who made up the world-famous duo Milli Vanilli. They skyrocketed to the top of the charts in the late ’80s and ’90s, only for it all to come crashing down when it was revealed that they had been lip-synching the entire time.

A Milli Vanilli movie had previously been stuck in development hell for over a decade. At one point, disgraced director Brett Ratner was even attached to direct.

For music fans of a certain age, the name Milli Vanilli is short-hand for fakesters and frauds. Now, the duo is getting their own biopic that details how their immense fame turned to infamy, Girl You Know It’s True. Watch the trailer below.

Directed by Simon Verhoeven, Girl You Know It’s True stars Matthias Schweighöfer, Tijan Njie, and Elan Ben Ali and is set for release via Vertical on August 9th. The flick follows the true story of German dancers Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, who made up the world-famous duo Milli Vanilli. They skyrocketed to the top of the charts in the late ’80s and ’90s, only for it all to come crashing down when it was revealed that they had been lip-synching the entire time.

A Milli Vanilli movie had previously been stuck in development hell for over a decade. At one point, disgraced director Brett Ratner was even attached to direct.

Pleasure Products

DocuBay, the Indian documentary streaming platform under IN10 Media Network, is set to release “Bad Toys Inc.,” a 45-minute original film exploring India’s burgeoning sex toy industry. The doc, slated for a July 26 debut, offers a peek into the country’s evolving attitudes towards pleasure products.

The film delves into regional preferences, consumer stories and industry insights, featuring interviews with sexologist Dr. Prakash Kothari and founders of emerging sex toy startups. It also touches on legal aspects and historical context of pleasure accessories in India.

Girish Dwibhashyam, COO of DocuBay, touted the film as a “novel viewing experience” that uncovers surprising facts about the Indian market. Producer Richa Sahai of Black Iris noted the challenges and excitement of creating content on this taboo topic.

With India’s sex toy market projected to reach $200 million in five years, “Bad Toys Inc.” aims to shed light on a rapidly...

The music industry is a harsh landscape. If you’re not careful, it will chew you up and spit you out. While some artists dream of fame, fortune, and immortality, executives see artists as cogs in a machine. If a suit can squeeze you for all you’re worth, they’ll do so without thinking twice. If any band knows this unfortunate cycle, it’s the German R&b act Milli Vanilli, who fell from grace after rising above the stars and getting exposed as industry puppets. Vertical welcomes to the stage Simon Verhoeven’s Girl You Know It’s True trailer, depicting the rise and fall of Milli Vanilli.

Here’s the official synopsis for Girl You Know It’s True:

Girl You Know It’s True follows the true story of Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, who conquered global music charts as the pop duo “Milli Vanilli.” Their fame turned...

"That's what this biz is all about - illusions." Vertical has unveiled the final official US trailer for the music biopic titled Girl You Know It's True, from German director Simon Verhoeven. It's about the infamous music duo known as Milli Vanilli, referencing one of their biggest tracks (Paramount+ also released their own official Milli Vanilli doc last year). This movie is a fictionalized biopic version of their story. Dancers Pilatus & Morvan rise to fame in the late 80s and become stars with No.1 hits, even winning a Grammy. This is the true story of Rob Pilatus & Fab Morvan, who conquered global music charts as the duo "Milli Vanilli." Their fame turned to infamy when it's revealed the iconic voices behind their hits were not their own, but those of other singers. Starring Tijan Njie as Rob & Elan Ben Ali as Fab, plus Matthias Schweighöfer as their sketchy record producer Frank Farian.

Later this summer, Michelle Visage graduates from Drag Race judge to host when the longtime producer of RuPaul’s global competition takes over as emcee of the Down Under installment of the franchise.

For Visage, the multihyphenate who first made a name for herself as part of the 1980s girl group Seduction, new endeavors are something she’s seeking more and more. She recently returned to the West End, playing Morticia in The Addams Family, and acted on TV in Netflix’s Survival of the Thickest. Gabbing remains her bread and butter — she and pal Leah Remini still want their own talk show — but she’s trying to flex some muscles she hasn’t used in years. Hopping on the phone from her home in London a few weeks back, Visage talked about what’s guiding her choices these days, her time touring with Milli Vanilli and why she says...

Exclusive: Black Box Management has signed Emmy and Peabody Award-nominated writer, producer, commentator and scholar of religions Dr. Reza Aslan for representation, Deadline has learned.

Boasting producing and writing credits including HBO’s The Leftovers and hit CBS comedy United States of Al, Azlan is otherwise perhaps best known as the host and executive producer of CNN’s Believer, which follows him as he embarks on a spiritual adventure, immersing himself in religious traditions both familiar and downright bizarre to experience life as a true believer.

A recipient of the prestigious James Joyce award, he’s the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, and An American Martyr in Persia: The Epic Life and Tragic Death of Howard Baskerville. He’s also the host and executive producer of Topic’s talk show Rough Draft with Reza Aslan, as well as co-host...

Today, Wondery announced the new podcast series, Blame it on the Fame: Milli Vanilli, which explores the rise to fame and swift downfall of Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, the infamous R&b duo known as Milli Vanilli. Hosted by comedian and actress Amanda Seales, Blame it on the Fame: Milli Vanilli is available now on Wondery+, and will debut on Amazon Music and everywhere you get your podcasts on Monday, May 13.

When Frank Farian first laid eyes on Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, he saw everything he wasn’t. They were handsome, young, and Black. But Frank had something they didn’t. He had power. So, Frank offered them a devil’s bargain. Almost overnight, Milli Vanilli’s debut album went five times platinum and scored a Grammy nomination. But when the lie at the center of their success started to unravel, Rob and Fab would discover the hard...

It took a conspiracy to get Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen to come around to his band’s debut album, the proudly commercial, synth-pop juggernaut With Sympathy. The vocalist has spent the past four decades separating himself from the LP, since he alleges his label at the time, Arista, and its founder, Clive Davis, pressured him into constructing a surefire Billboard hit. He has felt so embarrassed by the whole thing that he left the label and has charged fans $1,000 just for him to autograph copies of the record. Now for the first time in decades,...

Four top directors will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2024 Emmy Awards and other TV awards contenders. They will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Thursday, May 16, at 4:00 p.m. Pt; 7:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Daniel Montgomery and a roundtable chat with all of the group together.

RSVP today to our entire ongoing contenders panel series by clicking here to book your free reservation. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.

The Daily Show

Synopsis: A comedy news show featuring humorous takes on top stories.

Bio: David Paul Meyer was a five-time Emmy nominee for “The Daily Show.” Other projects have included several specials with Trevor Noah, Jordan Klepper and Roy Wood, Jr.

Fellow Travelers

Synopsis: Follows...

Matthias Glasner’s epic dysfunctional family drama Dying has won the top prize for best film at the 2024 German Film Awards, the Lolas.

Dying was one of the critical favorites at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, where Glasner won the Silver Bear for best screenplay. The film stars Lars Eidinger as a classical conductor with an extremely dysfunctional family.

In addition to the top prize, Corinna Harfoch won the best actress Lola for her role in Dying, where she plays Eidinger’s sharp-tonged and cold-hearted mother. Her Dying co-star Hans-Uwe Bauer took best supporting actor, and the film also took the Lola for best film music for composer Lorenz Dangel.

Ayşe Polat took best director and best screenplay for In the Blind Spot, her twisty documentary-style conspiracy thriller set in modern-day Turkey. The film, which premiered in Berlin’s Encounters section last year, won the top prize at the Oldenburg Film Festival,...

“Behind the Music” Season 2 premieres this week, featuring a lineup of fresh stories, as well as a few remastered episodes. The spotlight shines on Bell Biv DeVoe, Trace Adkins, and Wolfgang Van Halen in the second season. Additionally, you can enjoy newly remastered episodes about 50 Cent, Bobby Brown, Ice-t, Milli Vanilli, The Notorious B.I.G., and Sinead O’Connor. You can stream all three new episodes of “Behind the Music” Season 2 on Paramount Plus beginning on Wednesday, May 1. You can watch with a 7-Day Free Trial of Paramount Plus.

How to Watch 'Behind the Music' Premiere When: Wednesday, May 1, 2024 Where: Paramount Plus Stream: Watch with a 7-Day Free Trial of Paramount Plus. 7-Day Free Trial$5.99+ / month ParamountPlus.com

For a limited time, get 50% off a year of Paramount+ With Showtime with Code: Thechi.

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“Behind the Music” first premiered on Paramount...

Apple TV+’s return to Acapulco this May comes with a competitive edge.

In a new trailer for Season 3 of the bilingual comedy — which you can check out above — young Máximo (Enrique Arrizon) goes to war with Memo’s (Fernando Carsa) sister Dulce, who’s not as sweet as she appears.

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Music movies are having a moment — if, indeed, they ever stopped having one. Take the pop-music biopic. There are times, like right now, when it surges in popularity, yet the form has never gone out of style. And music documentaries, a staple of the indie-film world, have only proliferated during the streaming era. This means that they have to compete for visibility, but a ton of them are getting made and (mostly) getting seen. They’ve become a happy epidemic.

A few, like “Amy” or “The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?,” are popular and vital enough to have carved out a place in the culture — and, in the case of both those films, to have inspired the creation of a biopic. I have it on good authority that when you’re trying to put together a music documentary, the prospect of it spawning a biopic can be a key selling point.

When you think of Ashlee Simpson, there’s probably only one image that comes to mind: her lip-syncing snafu on SNL, in which she went to perform her second song of the night, only for the playback to trigger her first song, “Pieces of Me”. She had been caught going full Milli Vanilli. And to get herself out of the situation, Simpson basically la-la’d her way off stage while doing a jig, leaving her band behind to “play”. Twenty years after the incident, Simpson is remembering the moment as a life lesson. But this may not be the case for others who also made some serious bonehead moves on SNL…

It’s extremely rare for musical guests on SNL to go through gaffes of Ashlee Simpson’s magnitude: musicians like Elvis Costello would instead raise intentional hell by playing whatever song he wanted, while Sinead O’Connor used her moment to send a message.