Girl You Know It’s True movie storyline. Grammy Award-winning music act Milli Vanilli become the first act to have their prize stripped from them after they are exposed as a fake enterprise with the singers lip-syncing to pre-recorded tracks. The movie follows the meteoric rise of European dancers Rob Pilatus (from Germany) and Fab Morvan (from France) as Milli Vanilli to become one of the most successful pop duos of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Led by established music producer Frank Farian, the two then-unknowns became instant global stars with three number-one hits in the US singles charts, and many more around the world. The catch: Only few knew that the duo did not sing themselves. At the height of their fame, Milli Vanilli won the Grammy Award, but the truth was revealed shortly after, which up until today is considered one of the world’s biggest scandals in music history.
Girl You Know It’s True is a 2023 biographical film about the controversial late-1980s/early-1990s music duo Milli Vanilli that caused one of the most infamous scandals in international pop music. Between 2021 and 2022, German-Austrian filmmaker Simon Verhoeven wrote, directed and co-produced the biopic, which was produced by Wiedemann & Berg Film, with Leonine as the theatrical distributor, released in cinemas in late 2023. The movie stars Tijan Njie and Elan Ben Ali as the lip-synching stage artists Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan respectively, as well as Matthias Schweighöfer as the instigating music producer/manager Frank Farian.
Filming took place in Munich, Berlin, Cape Town, and Los Angeles in 2021 and 2022 with filming continuing until the end of the year. Filming was confirmed to have wrapped in December 2022, and in February 2023 Voltage Pictures were announced to have acquired worldwide sales (excluding Germany) and were taking the film to the European Film Market.
The film was released towards the end of 2023. Its North American premiere took place at the 2024 Berlin & Beyond Film Festival in San Francisco with Morvan in attendance. In June 2024, Vertical acquired North American distribution rights to the film, planning a day-and-date release on August 9, 2024.
At the Bavarian Film Awards Bayerischer Filmpreis on 19 January 2024 Girl You Know It’s True won for Best Film, as well as Best Newcomers for the main actor duo Tijan Njie and Elan Ben Ali.
Girl You Know It’s True (2024)
Directed by: Simon Verhoeven
Starring: Elan Ben Ali, Tijan Njie, Matthias Schweighöfer, Graham Rogers, Bella Dayne, Tijan Marei, Samuel S. Franklin, Mitsou Jung, Penelope Frego, Roxanne Rittmann, Nico Ehrenteit
Screenplay by: Simon Verhoeven
Production Design by: Heike Lange
Cinematography by: Jo Heim
Film Editing by: Elena Schmidt, Felix Schmerbeck, Alexander Berner
Costume Design by: Ingken Benesch
Set Decoration by: Alexandra Pilhatsch
Art Direction by: Christian Pralle
Music by: Segun Akinola
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Leonine Studios (Germany), Vertical Entertainment (North America)
Release Date: December 21, 2023 (Germany), August 9, 2024 (United States)
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