16:50 PST 2/24/2021
in
Chris Gardner
“Millennium is not going to sell the film at EFM or get involved in production,” says a statement from Millennium Media and RatPac Entertainment by Brett Ratner.
The news was released last week that Brett Ratner was in the process of aligning a directorial project with Millennium Media on a long-term passion project centered on the controversial double dubbing Milli Vanilli.
The plans were to sell it on the next virtual European Film Market, scheduled for March 1 to 5, and once it was, it would be Ratner’s first major project after facing allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment by several women, including Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge. Ratner denied the charges.
On Wednesday afternoon, Millennium and Ratner’s RatPac Entertainment released a joint statement that said following last week’s announcement, “the project presented several competitive proposals and a group of private equity investors came up to fully finance the film to start production soon. ” The statement also noted that Millennium is no longer involved in the production nor would it be selling the film at EFM. “There will be no further comments,” he said. He did not mention who are the private equity investors that have emerged.
The situation is reminiscent of what happened two years ago, when it was revealed that Bryan Singer’s Millennium project, Red Sonja, was on hold and would no longer be sold at EFM after it was the subject of a piece of The Atlantic which included allegations of misconduct. A few months later, filmmaker and TV creator Joey Soloway took over the project.
Ratner’s involvement in the Milli Vanilli project led to online protests, specifically from Time’s Up. His president and CEO, Tina Tchen, denounced his “return” proposal over the weekend on a blog. “Ratner not only never acknowledged or apologized for the damage he did, but he also filed lawsuits in an attempt to silence the voices of the survivors who came forward – a tactic taken from the predator’s manual. You can’t go away for a few years and then reappear and act like nothing happened. We don’t forget – and we won’t – forget. And neither should Millennium Media. There should be no return. #wewontforgetbrett. “