ANDREW ANTHONY ANTHONY_RICHARDSON ANTONIE_PILATUS ARSENIO_HALL ASSISTANT_DIRECTOR ATTORNEY BENNY BILL BIMEY BOUNCER BRAD_HOWELL CACOPHONY_OF_ATTORNEY_VOICES CARMEN CHARLENE CHAUFFEUR CHRIS CROWD DAMON DAVID_LETTERMAN DENISE_MILAN DIRECTOR EMILY FAB FABRICE FARMER_JOHANN FEMALE_ANNOUNCER FEMALE_POLICE_OFFICER FEMALE_REPORTER FRANK GARY GEORGIO GUESTS HANS_PILATUS HELGA HOMELESS_MAN HOOKER JOHN JOHN_DAVIS JULIE_BROWN JUNKIE KAI KEENEN KEVIN KIO KONRAD LISA MARKUS_KLEIN MELLY MICHAEL MILLI MOTHER OLIVIA OTHER_YOUNG_WOMAN PAULA PHOTOGRAPHER RICARDO ROB ROBERT ROB_AND_FAB ROCCO_SISTERS ROD SEAN SECURITY_GUARD_GEORGE SERIOUS_NEWS_ANCHORWOMAN SONIA SPEN STEFANIA TANESHIA TODD TOM_SACKS TONE_LOC TOYA VOCAL_COACH_RICARDO WAITER WHITE YOUNG_WOMAN YOUNG_WOMEN YOUNG WOMEN Girl you know it's true... Oh... oh... oh... I love you! YOUNG WOMAN Fill it up please. BILL That song. That's... my song. YOUNG WOMAN Excuse me? BILL My friends and me. We wrote this. It's our song! OTHER YOUNG WOMAN If you wrote this, why the hell are ya working here at the gas station, man? TANESHIA Hello? Hi Bill. Yup, hold on. Bill calling from the gas station. Says it's urgent! Sean? Hello! TANESHIA Can you answer? I got Bill... TANESHIA ... Isn't that your song? How can it be on TV, Spen? They're fine, though. Nice style. Nice bods. Nice hair. SEAN �SPEN� Shut up, T. They stole our song. Who are these people? ROD ... Milli Vanilli? What kind of wack ass name is that? TANESHIA This is gonna be big, guys. So what'cha gonna do about this, KG? KEVIN They're gonna pay for this. I swear. They're gonna pay big time. ROB Okay. I know what you're thinking. These Milli Vanilli guys are jerks. And you know what? You're right. We did become jerks. For a while. ROB I understand that for today's sensitivities, some of this seems pretty unacceptable, but... ROB ... this was 1989, we were rock stars and your sensitivities weren't even born. I'm not saying I'm proud of it, but let's be real here, okay? You probably heard all kinds of things about us. That we were frauds, fakes, liars, thieves, drug addicts, sex addicts, talentless puppets on a string... FAB Rob, hate to say this to you. But I think some of them might have never even heard about us at all. The world forgets. ROB Well, let me tell you. We were once the biggest band on the planet! We sold over 35 million records. Three number one hits in a row! We were worldwide influencers before they even invented the Internet! Plus, we were the biggest scandal in the history of music. We deserve some respect... FAB Rob. Calm down. Please. I think they're still thinking about those young hip hop guys they just saw. And their stolen song. FAB By the way, they call him KG, but his name is Kevin. Kevin Liles. KEVIN They're gonna pay for this. I swear. They're gonna pay big time. FAB And you know what? Kevin was right. We did pay for it. Big time. That's what we liked to say in the 80s. Big time. Rob even paid with his life. ROB Yes. I'm dead, by the way. Unfortunately. We'll get to that later. But does that mean we were really responsible for what happened? No way. FAB If you really wanna know what happened... you gotta start a long time ago. In Germany. Right after the war. After the Nazis were defeated. FARMER JOHANN Boy, if you want to work here, then stop day dreaming! FARMER JOHANN Just what we need in this country. Damn negro music. Look at you, Franz! You're white! As white as a white sausage with whipped cream on top! FRANK That sounds pretty darn good. It's just the strings - need to be more precise. Listen. Dadadadada! Dadada. Not kinda like that. Exactly like that. Once again! KONRAD Your wife's on the phone. FRANK Who? KONRAD Your wife. Brigitte She's asking if you can pick up Nicole. Your daughter. FRANK Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. I'll call her back. KONRAD Gee, Frankie. The mix, sounds really good. How'dya do it? FRANK I'm a trained chef, Konrad. KONRAD Really groovy. You're gonna perform it on stage? FRANK Nonsense! A whitey like me prancing around up there would be completely ridiculous. No one wants to see that. FRANK The music should look the way it sounds. People listen with their eyes, you dig? I'll have a casting call. KONRAD A what? FRANK A casting call. It's an English word. Now scram. FRANK Bye Bye, Daddy Cool. ANTONIE PILATUS Robert! Can't you hear! Your father's calling you! Come on. HANS PILATUS There you are. This is Robert. Our son. Robert, this is Helga, Klaus and Matthias. They're also active in our charity. For Africa. HELGA May I...? ROB That was pretty much the moment I realized, for the first time, why my parents had adopted me. ROB They wanted to prove something to the world. Prove they were good people. I wasn't their child. ROB I was their trophy. WHITE children, in the front yards or riding bikes, stare at Robert. He lowers his head. FAB That must have been hard. Being the only Black kid. ROB Yeah. Sometimes. But I had my sister, Carmen. CARMEN I'm gonna kill you all if you ever lay another hand on my brother! I'll kill ya, you hear! You... little assholes! ROBERT Carmen. Can I join you? ROBERT Carmen - when I close my eyes, I see something like static on TV. Lots of little dots. Like stars. CARMEN It's an optical illusion. Electrical impulses. Just an illusion. ROBERT Carmen - Could I be related to Boney M.? CARMEN Nonsense. Robert. Many people look like you. Just not here. Your real father is an American soldier. ROBERT How do you know that? CARMEN I just do. ROBERT How far away is America? CARMEN Very, very far away, Robert. As far as the moon. FAB You gotta understand. With all the music videos. Suddenly watching music became just as important as listening to music. That's why we were perfect for MTV. And MTV was perfect for us. ROB Fab, you're talking too much. FAB I'm talking too much? Really? You're making this all about you. When the hell do I appear in the story? ROB I was just getting to the part... where we meet. Trust me. ROBERT Hey... Whatcha doin'? GEORGIO Well, whaddya think? Breakdancing. GEORGIO We are the Bionic Dance Crew. My name is Georgio Crazy Legs. We got Chris Laird at the decks! And here is our Sugar Break - Robert �Rob� Pilatus! Go Rob! CROWD Go Rob! Go Rob! Go Rob! MICHAEL Rob? I'm Michael. I'm a producer with Formel Eins, the music show. Give me a call, okay? ROB Okay. GEORGIO Now you're gonna be a star, man. MELLY How y'all doin'? Okay. Now let's welcome some dancers from Paris. Patrick, Ines. And first up... Fabrice Morvan! ROB What is he doing? MELLY That guy is awesome. The best dancer here, if you ask me. ROB Are you kidding? What he's doing is totally easy. FAB You really did that? You tried to learn my move? That's sweet. ROB Man, you were the best dancer I'd ever seen. I can say that now. HANS PILATUS Mrs. Berg thinks she saw you in the pedestrian zone the other day. Is that what you want to do with your life, Robert? HANS PILATUS I think your passion for music is great, but hopping around in pedestrian zones... ROB I'm not hopping around, Dad. It's breakdancing, okay? CARMEN Next week Robert has an appearance on a TV show, Dad. HANS PILATUS Well, then maybe he can afford his own apartment soon. ROB If you want, I can move out right away. Is that what you want? CARMEN Robert, he didn�t mean it that way. Where will you go now? ROB Can I have your Walkman? CARMEN Sure. MICHAEL Hey Rob. Great that you're here. Come, I'll introduce you. MICHAEL Kai, our director. And this is Fabrice. You're dancing together. KAI Stefania. Meet your dancers. Rob and Fab. STEFANIA Rob and Fab. Wow. Sounds like a band. You look great together. KAI Sorry, Stefania. Rob, no breakdancing. Guys, you have to be in sync. Fabrice. FAB No freestyle. Do the choreography. You're always late on the 1. ROB Bullshit. I'm hip hop. I live for the 1. Stop telling me what to do! FAB Come on. Please. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4... CARMEN Mom, come! Rob is on TV! Mom! Dad! - - He's really great! ROB Hot Boys, Hot Boys Masterpiece, right? FAB I prefer girls, actually. ROB So what are you doing here, man? FAB Dancing. ROB Why aren't you dancing in Paris? FAB I was. But there are ten thousand dancers like me. Here... I'm the only Black guy. I thought. FAB You got some ketchup there. FAB The other side. ROB Rob and Fab. Really does sound like a band, don't you think? FAB Can you sing? ROB I'm okay. FAB I wanna take lessons, but they're expensive. My mom, she thinks dancing, music, that's not a real thing. ROB Tell me about it. FAB Some day I'm gonna make her proud, you know. I'm gonna be somebody. ROB It's all about meeting the right people. I know where all the producers and stars hang out. The P1 club. We could go tonight. FAB I don't even know where to crash tonight. ROB I�ll take care of that Just one thing. Can I wear your jacket tonight? BOUNCER Sorry, guys. Take a step back, please. FAB To be honest, I don't remember it that way. It took us longer to be friends. We were rivals first. We dated the same girls. Like Melly. ROB So? They got the basics right. FAB I just wanna be completely honest with the audience this time, Rob. ROB Good luck with that. FAB I don't want them to hate us again. So don't forget. This is a movie. It's entertainment. Full of illusions. ROB And they just wanna enjoy their illusions, okay? Look at them! ROB They don't want your honesty! It's boring! FAB No, it's not. ROB Do you see them? Like... tiny dots in the dark? Like static on TV. FAB I'm not sure what you mean. ROB It's like we carry the stars inside. Beautiful, right? FAB I... don't see any stars, Rob. I don�t see anything. I think I�m gonna go back to Paris tomorrow. ROB Don't. Please. I'll call my friend Georgio. Maybe we can stay in his family's garage. FAB Are you serious? PHOTOGRAPHER Give it to us, Frank! Your success! Your new studio! Yes, Yes, Yes! FRANK Do you need a better mic? I can give you the Neumann which Stevie Wonder once used here. Did you know that he... FEMALE REPORTER Yes. Are those your chickens? FRANK Belong to my neighbor. FEMALE REPORTER Mr. Farian, Boney M. is a global phenomenon. You were even invited once by the Queen. Except in the US... There, no one knows who the heck you are. Is that painful for you? FRANK No, why. We... were just on the wrong label. FEMALE REPORTER What is your response to accusations that Boney M. basically comprises of mere dancing puppets? FRANK Who do you work for again? FEMALE REPORTER For the Saarland Cultural Journal. FRANK Listen, I've done interviews with Rolling Stone, Time Out, no one has ever asked me nonsense like that! Liz sings lead. And Marcia sings, too... FEMALE REPORTER Is your real name Franz? FRANK Uh... Yes. Why? FEMALE REPORTER The male voice of Boney M. Is that you? Or Bobby? FRANK Bobby is a brilliant performer. Show some respect. FEMALE REPORTER Do you show any respect? I've heard that there's squabbling... FRANK This interview is over. FEMALE REPORTER One more question. Please. My internship is ending soon. You wouldn't happen to have a job for me? FRANK What was your name again? FEMALE REPORTER Ingrid. But everyone calls me Milli. FRANK ... Milli? MILLI That's right. Milli. ROB We sent these pics to all agencies in town. And we did get some jobs. FAB But it wasn't enough at all. Sometimes we had to steal food from the supermarket. ROB Luckily, Georgio let us stay in his family's garage... FAB I don't know where all of this is going. ROB What do you mean? Everything is going great. FAB We live in a garage. I miss my little brother, my mom. I... ROB Do you believe in us or not? Do you? That's all we need. Faith. FAB No, that's not all we need. If we really want to be a band, we need to work on songs. We need a plan! ROB You're right. Yes. But you know what else we need? I�ve been thinking about our look. ROB Follow me. FAB We're not supposed to go into... ROB Shhh. Quiet. FAB What are we doing here? ROB I wanna show you something. Ready? ROB What did you just see? FAB Marilyn Monroe. ROB Describe her. FAB An actress with platinum blond hair and big... ROB See! You said platinum blond first. Her hair. ROB Elvis. Look at his greasy flip. ROB Tina Turner. Look at all these stars. Their unique looks. FAB Oh my God. ROB Exactly. Even Jesus has great hair. We need a look, Fab. BOUNCER Everybody. Step back. Hey guys. So nice to see you. FAB Seriously, this new hair. It was like a magic key. A superpower. ROB It. Changed. Everything. FAB D�sol� de pas avoir donn� de nouvelles depuis si longtemps, maman. �a va ? Bien. Il nous arrive des trucs super. On a un rendez- vous important la semaine prochaine. Avec Frank Farian. Le producteur de Boney M. Son assistante nous a vus danser. Boney M. ! Tu les aimes bien, tu sais, maman. Rivers of Babylon... Pour de vrai ! Jamais je te mentirais, maman. C'est vrai de vrai ! ROB I think we should switch. Can I wear your T-shirt and jacket? FRANK Oh. Okay. MILLI Perfect for MTV. FAB Excellent, Frank. Really. This is the best potato soup I ever had. ROB And he's French. FRANK You know when I was little, this is all we ever ate. We were very poor. So I learned to make something out of nothing. Season it with little ingredients. Make the perfect mix. You know. FRANK I love your hair. Is it real? ROB No. And yours? ROB We practiced some new dance moves for you, Frank. FRANK I'm not looking for dancers, Rob. I'm not looking for singers either. I'm looking for stars. MILLI We got a song for you. FAB We need a lawyer, Rob. I don't even understand the words. ROB Fab, this is Frank Farian! The producer of Boney M. He's worked with Stevie Wonder. And you heard the song, didn't you? FAB I love that song. ROB It's incredible. And they give us 10,000 bucks. Advance. 10,000! FAB He hasn't even heard us sing. ROB He believes in us. He sees the stars in us, Fab. Don't think so much, brother. Go with the flow. MILLI Guys, care for some ice cream? FAB If we sign this, Frank what's gonna happen next? MILLI You'll work on the song. We'll do a photo shoot. And we'll take the whole package to our German label. And hopefully... they'll like you. ROB One last thing, Frank. The name of the project... FRANK What about it? It's great. Top Deck. Like the top deck on a ship. �Top Deck� is a top name. MILLI To be honest. I don't like it, either. I think it's a little... FRANK Not everybody studied goddamn politics like you. I make music for the people. And I'm not ashamed of it. Besides. It's just a temporary project name, okay? Put any name there for now. Put your name there Milli. Our lucky charm. How about that? ROB I like it. I just think there's something missing. FAB Like what? ROB Perfect. Just perfect! CHRIS So wait. You say this is your song, right? You're singing this? ROB We... will be. MELLY I didn't even know you guys sing. I thought you only danced. GEORGIO Why you being so negative, Melly? The song is dope. MELLY I like the song. I�m just... CHRIS It's bullshit. I know this song. Band's called Numarx. DJs have this. They play it all the time at Eastside. Why are you lying to us? CARMEN He's not lying, Chris. Right, Robert? FRANK Of course this song already exists. Didn't we mention that? ROB No, Frank. You did not. FRANK And why should we? We made a cover version. No big deal. Like... MILLI Whitney Houston's �Greatest Love of All�, Cyndi Lauper's �Girls Just Want To Have Fun�. They're all new versions of other people's songs. Everybody's doing it. Elvis, Pet Shop Boys... FRANK Boney M. Look... FRANK My friend Hans J�rg gave this to me as a present. From Jamaica. Then I made this. FRANK Biggest hit we've ever had. 17 weeks at number 1. As a producer, you gotta see the potential in a song. MILLI It's a young band from Baltimore. They're called Numarx. Tiny label. Nobody knows them. Two DJs showed it to Frank. FAB And... you can just take the song? FRANK You can make your own cover version of any song. ROB I like the Eric B. & Rakim hip hop beat you added. FRANK Actually, that's an old beat from the 70s. The Soul Searchers. We sampled it, baby. ROB We didn't know all that. MILLI And why should you? That's what this biz is all about... Illusions. FAB So when are we going to record our cover version of the song? FRANK We already did. It's perfect. You heard it. FAB But... we want to sing, Frank. You told us to work on the song. FRANK I meant the choreography, boys! One step at a time. We can try the singing. But for now you are the front men! The performers! The stars! And I need you to give it 100 percent, okay?! People, they listen with their eyes, understand? Everything else we'll see in the future. I mean, we don't even know if there'll be a second single, right? MARKUS KLEIN First of all, congratulations, Frankie. Amazing news, truly Your divorce, I mean. Took forever. FRANK Markus. I'm here to talk about Milli Vanilli. MARKUS KLEIN Are you sure about that name? Sounds totally dopey. And those two. Everyone here in Munich knows them. Minor celebs at P1. But honestly, they're just two guys dancing on speakers. FRANK Rob and Fab are world-class. They could make it all the way to the States. MARKUS KLEIN Forget the States. Your sound is just too German for that. FRANK I can offer the project to other labels, Markus. MARKUS KLEIN Oh really. Frankie. In Germany everything you do belongs to us, already forgotten that? Oh, okay. We'll do it. Should make the Top 40. Of course we'll need a different name. What else have you got? FRANK We'll press the record ourselves, Milli. 1,000 promo copies. Set up some club gigs for the guys. And the two of us going to Ibiza! Forget vacation! We're gonna distribute the single to the DJs there, the Brits! The Germans don't get it! And call Chrysalis, in London. Huh? ... Whaddya mean the name? Milli Vanilli of course! The name is top! Coolest name in the world! ROB Hello, Mom. ANTONIE PILATUS Robert. What happened to you? ROB Oh that. The hair. Been like that for a couple of months now. Look. ROB That's Fabrice. My best friend. Our own record. Will be released next week. Want to listen? ANTONIE PILATUS What really matters to us is that you finish your vocational training. ROB I'm not a retail salesman. Please understand that, will you? ANTONIE PILATUS What are you then? Are you that guy in the picture, Robert? With the wig? ROB It's not a wig, Mom. HANS PILATUS Hello? Everything alright? ANTONIE PILATUS You'd better go now. Your father shouldn't see you like this. ROB They will never understand who I am. Never. FAB ... Have you ever tried finding your real parents? ROB Sure. My sister helped me, when I was 16. Wrote a bunch of letters No way. Nothing. ROB If this song hits big, like real big. Like in America. Maybe my real dad will see our video. FAB Maybe. ROB Let's not ever fuck this up. Between us. FAB We're brothers, Rob. Forever. FAB I'm in love with you, girl 'cause you're on my mind, you're the one I think about most every time... ROB What is it? FAB It just feels a little weird. What am I doing? I'm a French guy in a German band rapping in English. ROB You're great as a rapper, man. Like LL Cool J with long hair. FAB And you're the lead singer. ROB So what. That was Frank's decision. Come on. Your choreography is so good. Let's do this. KAI People will love it. Those two are... really unique. MICHAEL The song is playing all over Ibiza. And if it becomes a hit there, the English DJs will take it home. And then... FRANK Say, are you all out to lunch or what? Are you guys totally asleep?! MARKUS KLEIN Um... Hello Frank, I'm in a meeting here with Stefania at the moment... You know each other? FRANK We need records, man! We gotta press more records! Next week we're hitting the Top 20! MARKUS KLEIN German Dance Charts? Awesome... FRANK Not German Dance Charts, you dumbass! England! Official UK Charts! We licensed the thing to Chrysalis! Are you always so out of the loop in this lame joint? STEFANIA Hello, Mr. Farian. I'm Stefania. Big fan of your music. I love Boney M. FRANK Hello, Stefania. Very nice meeting you. Sorry if I disturbed your meeting... Here's my card. Press the records, Markus! Otherwise we can't sell them. You understand this principle, don't you? MARKUS KLEIN Frankie. Real maniac, huh? FRANK ...next week we'll be Top 10 in England! Spain! Italy! France! FRANK ... Japan, Brazil, Australia! England! Do you know how proud I am of you? You did it! You showed them all! FRANK We're the same, you know. I come from nothing. I had to steal apples and potatoes for my mom and me. We were goddamn starving. That's why I trained to be a cook. A chef, you understand? Because I thought, chefs, they never starve. FRANK We showed them all. Together. ROB ... What about America, Frank? FRANK What about it? ROB Nothing. I'm just... FRANK Forget America. You're going to London next week for promotion. Focus on that. Forget America! Forget it! Ok! ROB We are on TV and on the radio! At the same fucking time! Woo-hoo! ROB Say Hi to your Mama! Give her a big kiss from Robert! Much love! FAB Rob sends his love, Maman. Did you get the money I sent? We're in the charts, Maman. All over Europe, you know? Have you seen our video? You need MTV to see it. MTV. It's a TV network, Maman. FAB Everything's going so fast. ROB I know. It's great. FAB You think there'll be any fans? ROB There'll be some people. CHAUFFEUR Gentlemen. We're here. Ready? ROB Born ready, my friend. ROB Is this real? FAB I... think so. ROB Who else lives here? This is crazy!... Check this! They call this a minibar! I love these tiny little bottles. And we can order whatever we like. Room service, baby! ROB You sure you want nothing to eat? EMILY We're fine. Want some of this? It's real nice quality. Like Mick Jagger quality. ROB We're not doing that. EMILY Oh really...? FAB Never. OLIVIA Well, good luck in the music biz. EMILY Too bad. It's great for sex. FRANK Farian... MILLI Do you even know what's going on here, Frank?! We have inquiries from South Korea! Australia! Timbuktu! Where the hell are you?! FRANK Had to tie up some loose ends with BMG. What about America? Are there any orders? MILLI America? No. Nothing. Why are you whispering, Frank? FRANK I'm not whispering. MILLI Yes, you are whispering, damnit! I know exactly what's going on, you asshole! FRANK Baby, please calm down... MILLI Cut the baby crap!! Blablabla baby! I can't take it anymore! FRANK Blablablabla... Baby. Babababa... Baby. Babababa... Baby... STEFANIA I'm gonna write down my number. Don't forget it, okay? BRAD HOWELL BabababaBaby... don't forget my number. BabababaBaby... FRANK Great, Brad. Let's double this. FRANK I think it's about time you meet the real Milli Vanilli. See this guy here? His name is Brad Howell. Not only an amazing singer. He plays the drums and the keyboard. A real superstar. In the studio. But... he has asthma and he likes to eat a lot of cake. FRANK Then we have John Davis. The rapper. I mean. FRANK We used to have a different rapper. Charles. But he sued me later. It's complicated. But anyways this... is John. JOHN DAVIS Ba-ba-ba-baby in your eyes, I see it so clearly that our love, it's so strong. And you never go wrong. FRANK John was born in Tennessee. In a time when little white brats still said �boy� to his old man. That never left him. He came to Germany as a G.I. - Long story short: He's not just a rapper. He's one of the finest musicians I've ever met. He can do anything. ROCCO SISTERS Ba ba ba Baby! FRANK The Rocco sisters. Jodie and Linda. Total professionals. And very nice human beings. When they're not in the middle of suing me. Which they did later, too. Their voices were elemental to our sound. By the way, I sang on our songs too. I sang on every song I ever produced. Yes. FRANK And let's not forget the band. Harry, Bimey, Helmut, Peter, Mo... FRANK Now, these are great musicians. Great people. But honestly, would you have bought our T-shirts? Screamed our names? Drooled over our hot moves? JOHN DAVIS I think we're real sexy! MILLI What are you doing? FRANK We... MILLI We just got a fax, people. A fax from Clive Davis! BIMEY Um... Who's Clive Davis? BRAD HOWELL Man, he's the head of Arista Records. He's Whitney Houston. Earth, Wind & Fire. Santana. MILLI Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen... JOHN DAVIS The most fucking powerful man in the biz. FRANK This coming from you means a lot to me, Mr. Davis. Okay. Clive. Thank you, Clive. Yes of course we're ready to do a whole album! ... Coming to New York? I know you got a fantastic studio there, Clive. Wonderful... um... He wants us to record the album in New York... That's a very... nice offer, Clive. Um... very tempting, but I'd really prefer to produce everything here in Germany. With my team. You know. Gotta stay in my kitchen, with my secret sauce, you know. We got a top studio here. Really top notch. We are on the top deck here, so to speak, Clive. MILLI Hey guys, it's me. Milli! Open! Fab hurriedly gets up, tries to clean up the worst of the mess. FAB Coming, Milli! One minute. Wake up, man. Milli's here. MILLI ... Robert! Fabrice! Hello...? MILLI Hey. Why aren't you answering the phone? I've been calling for days. MILLI Hi Robert. You guys don't have to be embarrassed. I partied with The Stones, The Who, The Commodores... you name it. Why do you think I have this stupid little thing in my ear? Always front row at the concerts. Right by the speakers. Then Frank came into my life and I became a boring workaholic. MILLI Hm. Wow. Not bad Just be careful with this, promise me. And answer the fucking phone when we call you, please. MILLI So listen up. I have big, big news, guys. We made a deal with Clive Davis and Arista Records in New York. They want to release your song in America! They even want a whole album from you! MILLI Get yourself cleaned up. We're having dinner with Benny Dorn, a manager from L.A. In an hour. ROB I don't like managers. What for? Like... Who else does he manage? MILLI Like... Michael Jackson. Hey, hey, hey! There they are! Who's Milli and who's Vanilli? ROB Well, we're just Rob and... BENNY I know that, silly. I'm just kidding. I'm Benny. This is my fabulous assistant, Todd. TODD Hi. BENNY We're both so thrilled, guys. And who are you, darling? MILLI I am Milli. BENNY Oh, you are Milli. Interesting. TODD Benny has some flowers for you. Can we put them into your rooms? MILLI I love flowers, Benny. Thank you. BENNY Now... who's starving? Me! BENNY Seriously, I didn't even know they made music like that in Germany. I thought you guys listen to marching bands and so on. Oktoberfest stuff. Guys, when I saw your video, I was totally freaking out! Wasn't I, Todd? TODD He was. BENNY It made me wanna dance! It made me happy! It made me... horny. And I instantly knew. These two guys. They've got it. That unique talent. That rare, fresh, special... something. MILLI I agree 100 percent, Benny. BENNY Look, I believe that you two, you really got what it takes to conquer the States. Milli Vanilli can become something all Americans can fall in love with, black, white, gay, straight, no matter if they like rap, soul, pop, rock... Boy, you are hungry, aren't you? ROB We don't have this in Germany. What is it? BENNY It's called sushi, Robert. It's the Japanese national dish. MILLI Excuse me for a second, guys. BENNY I like Milli. Very sweet lady. And Frank. Great producer. But listen. I looked at your contract. You should be making more money. A lot more, understand? And you should be living in L.A. if you wanna be successful in the States. ROB It's my biggest dream to go to America, Benny. BENNY I'm already working on getting you a gig on Club MTV at the Palladium in New York City. FAB I love that show. BENNY Of course you love that show. Everybody loves it. It's the biggest freaking show on the planet. And if all goes well, we might get you on some other big shows. Maybe even a tour. That's where you can make serious money. Without Frank. And we'll make sure you always have enough of that fine sushi, Rob. How does that sound? TODD More champagne, anyone? FAB Now honestly... did you have sex that night? They have a right to know. ROB No, they don't. FAB Milli said that all you ever wanted was cuddling. You wanted to be held. Like she's your mommy. ROB Why are we talking about this? Point is. Guys. We were about to conquer the States! We were invited to the biggest show on the planet. Club MTV at the legendary Palladium in New York. Oh man. It was so exciting! Can we please show a cool shot of a plane flying? Like they do in the movies? You know what I mean? ASSISTANT DIRECTOR 40 seconds, guys! ROB I don't feel so good, Fab. I'm super nervous. FAB Of course you are. It�s normal. ROB No, I feel like I have to puke. FAB You won't. We came this far, Rob. Let's just give them a good show. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR 20 seconds, guys. JULIE BROWN Everybody's talking about them. And about their hair. They are the sensation of the summer all over the planet and I think, it's about time they conquered the States. Here's Milli Vanilli with �Girl You Know It's True�! ROB We really were on fire that night, right? I remember, I was so nervous before, but you really... FAB Rob. I think people still think about Kevin. ROB Kevin? Who's Kevin again? SPEN Kevin. We'll do another song. KEVIN No, Spen. We won't. Not like that one! Don't you get it?! We were fucking raped, man! TOYA We're recording. KEVIN I wanna speak to Larry. TOYA He's in Philly. KEVIN Did he sell our song to these guys? Without telling us? Did he? TOYA I don't know what you're talk... KEVIN I'm talking about Milli motherfucking Vanilli! The fucking cornballs with the long braids! They're on MTV! TOYA ... I don't know anything, Come back another time, okay? Sorry. DENISE MILAN Rob, Fab, I think I speak for all of us here at Arista, including Clive, who can't be here right now, that was one hell of a show on Club MTV. What a start! Thank you and welcome to America! TOM SACKS We'll hit number 9 on the Billboard charts tomorrow. Just got another massive airplay push with 400 more stations and we're flooded with PR requests. My fax is burning like a rocket! DENISE MILAN So how are you freaking feeling? ROB It's a great feeling. We love the USA. Feels like coming home. FAB We want to say thank you for your work. For everything you're doing. DENISE MILAN That's... um... just wonderful. To Rob and Fab, everybody! DENISE MILAN You can cut their accents with a knife. Why didn't anybody tell us? We gotta cancel all live interviews. TOM SACKS Does Clive know about this? DENISE MILAN They definitely need a dialect coach in L.A. TOM SACKS Strategy wise they're Black. But the majority of their fans are white females. Is this Black? Hip hop? R&B? White pop? ROB ... is this real, brother? FAB No, it's not. It's an illusion. A trap. Face it: we�re impostors. ROB We�re performers. Showmen. You think everybody could do what we do? We deserve all this. And we are going to sing. Okay? On our next song. I will talk to Frank, I promise. FAB It's not just about the singing. We should be writing songs. Learning about producing and... ROB Yes, baby. We're just getting started. This is Hollywood. Everything is possible, Fab! Think of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He's got a huge accent, right? We can make movies, too. I got some cool ideas. One is called Pop Cops. ROB You and me working as undercover cops for the FBI. Pop Cops! Yeah, man. TODD Guys. Just got off the phone with Benny. Super excited. You really delivered at Club MTV. Apparently, even Michael Jackson is a fan now. ROB Wow. That's... We want to meet him. Maybe we can sing a duet! ... Or...um... triplet. TODD Well... let's not get ahead of ourselves, okay. But Benny says he's in negotiations for a big tour. ROB Sounds great, Todd. Yeah. FAB What kind of tour? TODD Well... live concerts. You know? FAB And do we sing live at those live concerts? TODD Yes, sure. I mean. I guess. So... Cleaning lady comes Tuesdays and Fridays at 9. Food is in the fridge. You have a meeting with a dialect coach tomorrow at 3. ROB We don't need a dialect coach. TODD Well, it's been decided. So... FAB Okay. What we really need is a good vocal coach, Todd. We want to keep working on our singing. Every day. TODD Sure. There are plenty in L.A. ROB Also, we'd like to get a Ferrari. TODD Today? ROB We need a car in L.A., don't we? FAB Sorry, but again, this is not quite accurate. I think we were driving two Range Rovers. ROB We should have driven a fucking Ferrari. We got it wrong. They got it right. FAB Okay. Whatever. Not important. The singing. Working on our own music. Becoming real artists. That was the important part. For me, at least. VOCAL COACH RICARDO You do sound a little different than on the record. As do many. Do I see some room for improvement? Yes. But first of all. VOCAL COACH RICARDO Let me just tell you what a pleasure, what a joy it is to work with you. You guys are just rad. ROB What does �rad� mean, Ricardo? VOCAL COACH RICARDO Rad's like very, very good. Like extremely cool. Amazing. Awesome ROB AND FAB Lalalalala.... SECURITY GUARD GEORGE Guys. Stop. And put your hands where I can see them. SECURITY GUARD GEORGE What�s your business in this neighborhood? Why the hurry? ROB We live here. We�re jogging... SECURITY GUARD GEORGE Right. Let�s see some IDs, okay. ANTHONY RICHARDSON George, whatcha doing? Relax! Don�t you know who that is? SECURITY GUARD GEORGE I... I�m sorry, Mr. Richardson. ANTHONY RICHARDSON Stop harassing innocent neighbors. Leave them alone! SECURITY GUARD GEORGE You got it. Have a good day, gentlemen. SECURITY GUARD GEORGE Great game on Saturday, by the way! ANTHONY RICHARDSON Sorry about that. Neighborhood patrol. It�s a disgrace. ROB Not a lot of Black people live in this area, right? ANTHONY RICHARDSON Yeah. But this shit will happen toyou anywhere in this country. Welcome to America. I�m Tony, by the way. MILLI Frank. FRANK Are we number 1? MILLI No, still number 2. FRANK Did you reach the boys? Man! That was not the deal! They were only supposed to do promo over there for one single, damnit! Not to move to L.A.! They need to be here! We're producing their album here! MILLI But you don't need them for that. FRANK Yes I do! Otherwise people will ask questions! Arista! The press! Everybody! FRANK Plus, the guys are on their own in L.A. with those Hollywood vultures, they'll eat them alive! We'll completely lose control, Milli! They gotta come back! Immediately. MILLI Don't panic now, okay? I'll talk to them. Come on, let's go for a walk. FRANK What do you mean... walk? FRANK From now on, Brad and John can only enter through the back door, so no one can see them. And we will work only at night. MILLI Okay. Now enjoy the silence. The fresh air. FRANK We're now big in the States, too, Milli. Have to be goddamn careful. They're all just eagerly waiting for us to slip up. MILLI Shut up. FAB I wish you could see this place, Maman. We got our own pool We got palm trees. Maybe you can visit us someday. Did you see our video? I know it's not my voice. It's a show, Maman. Like the hair. The music business is complicated. I will sing. I promise... We will go back to Germany and talk to Frank. ANTHONY RICHARDSON Fab. How do you want your steak? Medium rare? FAB Okay. SONIA Oh Lord. In the background Todd appears in the driveway. TODD Good morning. Anybody know where Rob and Fab are? Hello? LISA ... I think they had to fly to Germany or something this morning. TODD Oh. Okay. I'm Todd. I'm their manager, sort of. LISA I'm Lisa. I'm their dialect coach. - - Sort of. FRANK No way in hell are you gonna sing. And why would you? The next single is already finished. Everything is going extremely well, guys. ROB So if you don't want us to sing, why are we here then? FRANK You're here because this is our base. You should be here. With us. ROB No, Frank. Our home is in L.A. now. And we might go on a big tour there soon. FRANK What? What kind of tour? With live singing? Are you crazy? Don't even think about it, okay? FAB Frank. We are lying to our friends. Our families. MILLI People from the outside will never understand this business. Never. FAB We want to be more involved with the music, Milli. Writing stuff. I brought some ideas. ROB Simple, Frank. We're not going to continue if we don't sing. FRANK We have a contract. ROB Fuck the contract. FRANK You can do that, but then you'd have to pay me back all the goddamn advance money you spent. You're renting a villa in Beverly Hills. You're driving a sports car. Last month you had room service for 27 people at the Chateau Marm... ROB Okay. So let's talk about money. We should be making a lot more! We're number 1 in the US right now... FRANK No! We're not number 1! Never were! Roxette is number 1! We peaked at number 2! And we're number 6 right now, goddamn it! MILLI Guys. Calm down. Frank. Why don't we just try the singing? Let's just try it, okay? ROB AND FAB Ba-ba-ba-ba-baby. Don't forget my number... Ba-ba-ba-ba-baby. Love is stronger than thunder... FRANK See this? Hear this? A perfect work of art. Authentic. Sexy. Credible. Well-rounded. MILLI Let me hear the boys. MILLI Fab really isn't that bad. FRANK He has a thick French accent. MILLI He can work on that. FRANK The new single's gotta be released now. Not in 3 years. And Robert? MILLI Okay. FRANK And now, once again. Sheer heaven. MILLI I think it's just important for them. Emotionally, you know? Just give them the feeling that their voices are in the mix, hm? FAB Just for the record. I don't remember that particular session. Actually, I don't remember ever singing in front of Frank Farian. ROB I remember hearing my own voice in the mix from then on. FAB It was in your head. ROB Whatever, man. But damn, that second single? Even bigger than the first... JULIE BROWN ... now they've got another track riding up the charts. Ice cream lovers, here�s your favorite flavor of the season! Milli Vanilli and �Baby Don't Forget My Number�... LISA Oh, wow! We got India. New Zealand. Now this is the first fan mail from South Africa, guys. Look at these kids in the township. I�ll send them ten autographs, okay? FAB Put some money in there, too. LISA In there. Watch your TH. There. FAB There. LISA And the RRR. Back of your throat. FAB RRR. There. ROB What�s a township, Lisa? LISA I think it�s a segregated area where only poor Black people live in a country where really only the Whites have all the power. It�s totally horrible. TODD Hi guys. Rob. Can I talk to you for a moment, please? ROB You can just say it, Todd. TODD You know, what we talked about. Your dad. We got a bunch of letters. But I think this one, you should see for yourself. ROB Dear Robert, I hope this letter reaches you personally. My name is Andrew Harrison. I was stationed in Munich 27 years ago. I was in a brief relationship with a lady named Sabine, who was working at a bar near the base. Your mother. TODD I don't know how serious this is. But should I get in contact? Rob? ANDREW ... Harrison. ROB Hi. This is Robert. Pilatus. ANDREW Oh man. Robert. I would have never expected you to call. Thank you. I'm very nervous now. ROB Me, too. So you're in Alaska right now, Andrew? ANDREW Yes. Anchorage. Been here for the past four years Robert, when I saw your music video, I was just blown away. Actually, my wife Sheila, she saw it first. And then she read about you. Being from Munich. Being adopted. ROB ... You're married? ANDREW Yeah. We got a son, too. Name's Tony. He's 18 years old. Very smart kid. Loves your music, too. ROB From that moment on. My dad and me, we talked every week FAB You even stopped taking drugs. We got ourselves a juicer, remember? FAB We really were working hard on our singing. ROB AND FAB Lalalalalala RICARDO Yes. Yes. Your progress is rad. Now go into the song. ROB AND FAB Girl you know it�s true... LISA I love it. You sound so much more... real than on your records. FRANK Hello...? MARKUS KLEIN Frankie! How nice that I've reached you! It's Markus! FRANK Who...? MARKUS KLEIN Markus Klein! Just wanted to congratulate you! I've heard we just hit number 1 in the USA today with �Baby Don't Forget My Number�! We're on top of the world, Frankie! FRANK We? What do you mean, we? My... cleaning lady contributed more to this success than you did, Markus! My neighbor's chickens contributed more! Goodbye! MILLI I'm really proud of... us. FRANK I could have never done this without you, Milli. MILLI I know. FRANK Now the next singles also have to hit number 1. And the album. Call John and Brad. MILLI I thought... we could take a break. Go away for a few days. To the mountains or someplace. FRANK Mountains? What am I supposed to do in the fucking mountains? Milli! Come on, go, go! Go! Back to work! Chop chop! BENNY To the Number 1 song in America. To Milli Vanilli! This is what America is all about! Everybody! BENNY Here's more fabulous news. The first ever CLUB MTV TOUR. Paula Abdul. Tone Loc. And... you two sweethearts. It's official. They want you. We're talking 17 cities in the U.S. And not some small clubs. Stadiums. Arenas. And Frank is not going to be making the money anymore. You are. Big time. FAB And you, right? BENNY What d'ya say, boys? 50,000 people screaming your name. You're gonna love it. ROB Sounds rad, Benny. FAB Yes. Sure. Big time. BENNY Fabulous. And there's something else. Clive and me, we found your new single. It's called �Blame It On the Rain�. BENNY Here's a demo tape. Diane Warren, she's a genius, she wrote it. Was supposed to be for Whitney Houston. But... we decided to give it to you. Yes. MILLI Frank. Do you have your car keys? You have to close the top. FRANK Psssst! Listen to this song. Listen. ROB Listen, Dad. I want to invite you and your family to come to our first big concert next month. We're going on tour. ANDREW Sounds wonderful. Can't wait, Rob. There's just one thing I wanted to talk to you about. It's a little embarrassing. ROB What's going on? ANDREW Well, you know. Tony has the chance to go to a very good school. But the tuition. Oh boy. You think you could help us out there a little, son? ROB How much you need? ANDREW Like 60,000 would help a lot. ROB You want 60,000 dollars from me? ANDREW Rob? You still there, son? Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable. Anything would help. If you can only do half. Like 30. Or 25. ROB What was the name of the base you were stationed in Munich again? JUNKIE The name? God, it's so long ago. ROB Was it the one right next to the river or the one by the mountains? JUNKIE The river. Definitely the river. ROB There is only one base in Munich. And it's nowhere near the river. So. Fuck you, Dad. ANTHONY RICHARDSON So how does it feel, man? Especially coming from another country... this is such an achievement. Where is Rob, by the way? CHARLENE Fab, can you sing the song for us? Please... That�d be so great. Turn down the song. Fab�s gonna give us a little concert. Bababababy. FAB I... I'm not in the mood now. CHARLENE Oh come on, man. We all want to hear the US number one single live! Right, people? ANTHONY He said he doesn't want to, okay? CHARLENE But why? We all heard the rumors. FAB What... rumors? LISA That you�re gay. Ridiculous. They�re so not gay. We both know that. CHARLENE No, silly. That you guys don't actually sing on your records. Arsenio Hall made a joke about it the other night. Jay Leno, too. So... we wanna hear you. Right? GUESTS Sing, sing, sing. ROB I want you all to get the fuck outta here. Now. Everybody! RICARDO ... Everybody? What about the inner circle? ANTHONY You heard what he said. Everybody. So go. Go! Move, people. FAB I'm so sorry. We all wanted it to be true. ROB You don't know how it feels. Not to know where you from. It's like I'm nothing. I'm nobody. FAB You're not, Rob. You don't need your dad or whoever to be someone. You are so much. Just you. You got balls like no one else. You make things happen. Look at where we are My dad left my family when I was eight years old. It hurt so much. I felt so lost. I do know how you feel. A little bit. ROB I love you, brother. FAB I love you, too. ROB Let's get really fucking high tonight, okay? Spread out on the table before Rob and Fab: packets of drugs, pills, powder bullets. Fab is sorting them again. FAB So let's talk about the drugs. ROB Why? FAB For my part, I started taking them more and more to kill that feeling inside. That I'm a liar. An impostor, strapped to a time bomb. ROB Oh, come on. We also took them because it was a lot of fun. FAB We were constantly on the road. Uppers to perform. Downers to sleep. Quaaludes in the 80s? Big time. ROB Hey. They understand. We were rock stars. In the 80s. They're not judging us. Right? ROB Blame it on the rain, that was falling, falling... ROB I mean, get this. They give it to us. Because we're bigger. ROB Bigger than Whitney, man! It�s crazy FAB It's just you. There�s no rap in this. ROB Whitney doesn�t rap. FAB And you�re really wanna sing live? On the tour? ROB We�re singing already. Our voices are in the mix, remember. FAB No, they�re not. They�re just in your head! ROB Are you getting a little jealous cause I�m the lead singer? FAB The lead singer is in Germany! And if anything, I should be the lead singer. I sing better than you. Everybody knows that. FAB Should we call an ambulance? ROB No, not again. Get the green pills.The �ludes. In the kitchen... Fast. FAB I don't know about this tour, Rob. Maybe we should start by singing... in front of a smaller crowd. ROB Okay. FAB I hear even Madonna is using playback. So maybe we... should think about that, right? ROB Hey! Why you're dancing in front of me?I'm singing the chorus! FAB You're not singing anything, okay! And what the hell do you want me to do? Just clap my hands for three minutes like an idiot? DIRECTOR Cut the rain, for God's sake! FAB Okay. Sorry, but that's too much. That fight in the rain. Didn't happen like that. They are exaggerating this for your entertainment. Again. ROB See? They look disappointed now. They're gonna start blaming us for ruining their illusions. Again. FRANK You're making deals to go on a US tour for Club MTV? And you don't talk to me about it?! Not once?! ROB We talked to... FRANK I don't care about Benny! I am your producer! So what's the plan? You wanna sing live in front of 30,000 people? Do you?! FAB Don't worry, Frank. We're thinking about using playback on the tour. FRANK Listen. Even if you sing playback - a tour like that?! It's goddamn risky! And do you know how difficult this is for me? I have to recreate all your playbacks, so they sound live. And... you have to talk to the audience. With your real voices. It's... risky. Why are you making these stupid deals without talking to me!? ROB If you'd pay us more money we... FRANK You'd throw it all out the window! WAITER Might I interest you in some... FRANK No, thank you very much! Leave us alone, damnit! FRANK ... Please, let's cancel it. I need more time to prepare something like that. Let's... postpone it. Okay? ROB No, Frank. We are the band. And we want to be on stage. Don't worry. It'll be rad. GARY Alright, so I'm gonna turn on the mics in between songs. So you can interact with the audience. FAB This is embarrassing. GARY No. Guys. A lot of people are using playback. Or semi-playback. Normal these days. GARY Have a great show. ROB Hear that? Everybody's faking. FAB They lip sync to their own voices. That's different. ROB Is it really? TONE LOC Thank you, Atlanta. You know I love you! Stay safe. JULIE BROWN How y a feeling, Atlanta? Are you ready for the next wild thing? ROB This is unreal. FAB This is real. ROB I just hope nothing goes wrong. FAB Let�s just show them we deserve to be here, brother. Love you. ROB Love you, too. JULIE BROWN Here's that ice cream flavor you're all craving! Give it up for Miiiiilli Vaaaaaaanilllliiii! JULIE BROWN Rock them, guys. ROB You couldn't hear the songs. 50,000 people screaming. Pure love. ROB Better than sex. Better than drugs. Better than anything. And we were such an amazing team, right, Fab? FAB Well... BENNY What the hell, Todd? You said this interview was gonna be a positive piece? Did Rob really say all that? That he's contributed more to music than Elvis Presley? Bob Dylan?! Mick Jagger? The Beatles? TODD Maybe something was lost in translation. I don't know. BENNY Why are you letting them do interviews when they're high? TODD They're high all the time, so... BENNY That�s it. Don't let them talk to reporters anymore. TODD What about the Today Show and Good TODD They need to rest. Last night was a * little... wild. BENNY Don't they have a concert tonight? TODD I just wanna say one thing. I always loved Rob and Fab. To me, they were these two lovely boys who got lost in this big game � this White game if you want - they didn't understand. And the fact that they didn't sing I was probably the last one to realize what's going on but I didn't care about it. ROB Well, at least our voices were in the back of the mix, Todd. FAB No, they weren't, Rob. Face it! Your voice was just in your head! TODD And by the way: I was the one who submitted them to the Grammys. Not Arista or Benny or anyone else. It was me. Because to me, Milli Vanilli were the greatest act that year. Singing or not. TODD But I do admit... Sometimes they could be a little difficult. ROB These sandwiches are shit. What is this? Where is our fucking sushi?! ROB Hello? I'm asking you a question! BENNY Hey boys, another fantastic show. We got Denise and Tom from Arista. DENISE MILAN Oh my God, it was... pure magic. Absolutely electrifying! TOM SACKS I haven't seen such a performance since... I don't know. Prince? ROB So why don't we have any fucking sushi in here then? BENNY I don't know. I'm so sorry. Todd? GARY I'm sorry, can I have a moment alone with Rob and Fab? FAB Oh. Here we go again. ROB What do you want, Gary? Just say it. GARY Okay. What was that tonight? Screaming �we want some pussy�? This is not a 2 Live Crew concert! There are 10-year-old girls in the audience! What's wrong with you? ROB Gary. You should be selling vacuum cleaners or something. GARY I've been managing tours for 15 years, buddy! Never had fucking problems like this with anyone. They�re believing their own hype, that�s their problem, you know! TODD Gary, let's talk this out... DENISE MILAN No, no. Let's hear this... Gary? GARY They're constantly late. Drunk. High. We keep changing travel arrangements, double-booking crews... They hit on every woman. Paula Abdul complained. And we lost Cathy Dennis because of it. DENISE MILAN Who's Cathy Dennis? GARY English singer. She quit because... BENNY Never heard of her. GARY And you are? BENNY Listen, Gary. I know you mean well. BENNY But let's just think for one moment how many people can feed their families and make a fabulous, happy living right now because of the hard work Rob and Fab are putting into their performances every night. Let's think of these people for a moment, okay? BENNY Just do your job, please, and make sure they have sushi every night in their dressing room. Because tonight... they did not. And that makes me sad, Gary. DENISE MILAN This isn't Sesame Street. This is Alphabet Street! Electric Avenue! If you can't handle it, then get off this road! Now go and get their sushi! Go, Gary, go! CARMEN Hello, this is Carmen Pilatus. Can I speak with Robert please? Yes, Robert Pilatus. I'm his sister. Okay. Can you tell him to call me back, please? Please tell him, he has to sleep more. He looks really tired in the pictures. And tell him I miss him... we all miss him. ROB Girl you know it's true... ROB ... Girl you know it's, Girl you know it's, Girl you know it's... ROB ... Girl, you know it's, Girl you know it's, Girl, you know it's... TODD Hey! Something's wrong with the tape! Stop the tape! Hello! TODD How the fuck could this happen? What are you doing? JULIE BROWN You gotta come back on stage! ROB This was on purpose, Julie! Somebody wants to fuck me up! JULIE BROWN It was an accident. Come back now! ROB You crazy? They'll kill me! JULIE BROWN People don't care, Rob. ROB What d�you mean they don't... TODD They don't give a shit! To them it's just some technical problem. They just want the show to go on! Listen, man! CROWD ... Rob, Rob, Rob, Rob! JULIE BROWN People love you, man. CROWD ... Rob, Rob, Rob, Rob! TODD ... some stuff in the local papers. Nothing big in the major news so far. So don't worry too much about it, I guess. FAB Maybe we should go to the public. Have a press conference. Tell them everything. Tell the truth. TODD You really wanna think that through. TODD On a more positive note. Nike. They want to create Milli Vanilli sneakers. Make the shoelaces look like your braids. What do you say? LISA You�re nominated. You�re nominated for a Grammy! They just announced it on the radio! Soul II Soul. Neneh Cherry. Tone Loc. And... Milli Vanilli. Oh my God, this is so rad! I knew it! You guys! I love you so much! BRAD HOWELL This was supposed to be a German project. One German single. Now we're talking about three number 1 hits in the US. The number 1 album worldwide and a Grammy nomination! FRANK They're not going to win. JOHN DAVIS You know they have to sing live there. Everybody has to sing live at the Grammys. You realize that? That�s gonna be real funny. I wanna see that. MILLI I think you should all be proud of your achievement... I am. JOHN DAVIS How can we be proud if we have to enter this studio through the fucking back door? While those two dumbasses get to hang out with Quincy Jones at the Grammys! MILLI Brad, you just bought yourself a house. With an apple tree. You can bake yourself wonderful apple pies. Right? I mean, Frank brought all of you together to create this amazing work of art. It's great for everybody. Right? BRAD HOWELL Andrea and I are grateful. But it's not just about money, Milli. MILLI It's about the music. And the music just got nominated for a Grammy. So, let's celebrate, guys. JOHN DAVIS How long is this supposed to go on? When will it be enough? Frank? ROB The fucking Grammys. Wow. It sounded great, but it was a nightmare for us. It felt awful. FAB We knew we didn't deserve to win. We were scared to win. It felt so wrong... So we made a plan. ROB Everybody has to sing live at the Grammys. So we decided to do that. Make it our moment of truth. We were ready to sing live. No matter what. TODD Guys. They're gonna go with the playback. ROB Whaddya mean? Everybody has to sing live here. TODD Apparently they're gonna make an exception for you. It's been decided. ROB Who the hell thinks they can make decisions without even talking to us? FAB Merde. And what if we make the decision not to go on stage!? TODD Fab, there are 50 million people waiting for you in front of their TV sets. And a room full of the world's biggest superstars. This is the biggest stage you will ever get in your life. ROB Okay. So they didn't let us sing. Again. But we still fuckin' rocked. FAB It's true. And all these super stars did go crazy over us. Unfortunately, for legal reasons, we can't show anything from that performance to you. ROB Thank you very much. We want to say there are a lot of artists here in the room, but there are also a lot of artists outside in the world, that could have achieved the same award we achieved today. FAB Thank you. LISA Don't listen to those airheads. You won the damn thing. You're winners. Right? Fab? FRANK Hey guys. Ehm. Congratulations again. ... Do you maybe know where Milli is? I'm looking for her. And we should talk about everything. Call me, okay. MILLI Gotta run. ROB Hold me one more time. BENNY So I talked to Clive and we have a fabulous idea. BENNY We think you should be leaving the US for a while. Travel the world. ROB I definitely could use a vacation. BENNY We're talking about a world tour. BENNY No other artists. Just you two darlings. And we're talking giant venues. Wembley Stadium. Open air concerts. 100,000 people. That sort of thing. ROB What about Michael Jackson? Isn't he planning a world tour right now? Maybe we could join forces? BENNY I don't think that's... FAB We are only doing another tour, if we can sing live. You understand. BENNY ... Technical issues. We�ll figure it out. ROB Point is: We are making the decisions from now on. Nobody else. FRANK Are you out of your mind? ROB What the hell do you know about our singing? You've never given us a chance, Frank! FAB And it's not about fucking Wembley, Frank! Maybe we have to start with smaller arenas, okay. But the point is... FRANK Don't you understand? Now with the Grammy and all. We gotta be extra careful. Keep a low profile... FAB No more lies, Frankie, okay! This tour will be called �Tour of truth�, you understand! FRANK Oh my God. ROB Arista and Benny are on our side! They want this world tour as much as we do! FRANK They cannot even use the word �Milli Vanilli� without my consent, you understand? I am the producer, do you understand that? FAB And we are the band! We're taking creative control now, Frank! You want a second album? Only with our real voices. And if you don�t want that, maybe we should go to the public and tell the whole world about this lie! TODD ... We hereby prohibit you from using the name �Milli Vanilli�... TODD .. throughout the world promoting any kind .of concert tour. BENNY That motherf... TOM SACKS ... subject to a penalty amounting to 100,000 Deutschmarks for each and every case of violation. CACOPHONY OF ATTORNEY VOICES ... all renegotiations must be completed by... additional 5 percent... wholly incompetent... your attempt to blackmail... 300,000 dollars up-front before doing any more TV shows, interviews, or... not compromising... CACOPHONY OF ATTORNEY VOICES wholly unprofessional... 12 percent... guarantee that all touring and merchandising income from the world tour will go directly to them... absolutely no world tour without his permission... final deadline... MILLI They won't give in. They want more money. They want the tour. And they want to write their own songs and sing themselves on the next album. Otherwise from now on, no more videos. No more concerts. No appearance on the �Wetten, dass..?� show, no nothing. And, oh yeah, the Washington Post called. Got a few questions for you. FRANK Book me a flight to New York. FRANK Good day, everybody... FRANK I am Frank Farian, the producer of the band Milli Vanilli. I hereby want to announce that... FRANK ... Robert Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan never sang a single note on their records... FRANK They didn't sing lead vocals. They didn't sing background vocals. They sang nothing. They merely lip- synched. ROB Kio, my friend. KIO The cat is out of the bag, Rob. Understand? The cat is out! FAB What cat? We don't have a cat. KIO The owner wants you to leave. And take this with you. I'm sorry. FRANK To me, this whole thing was kind of an art project. FRANK Maybe even a new art form. It was an artificial band. I think you'll see this more in the future. FRANK The music was fantastic, the videos, the shows were great, people were happy. So what's the problem, right? ROB It's all good. We're free now, Fab. We can work with other producers. Write our own songs. ROB And we can still do the world tour. Not as Milli Vanilli, but as Rob and Fab. We got Arista and Benny behind us. And we have our fans. This is not the end, it's the beginning, brother. DENISE MILAN Clive Davis and all of us here at Arista are shocked and appalled by these... disturbing news. Of course we hereby cancel the upcoming world tour and will delete all of Milli Vanilli's records from our catalogue. BENNY Like all of you, I feel betrayed. I feel used. I sincerely apologize to all the disappointed fans out there. This hurts me just as much as you. Trust me. ROB Fab? Is this real? FAB It is. TODD Hey guys. I brought you some groceries. You're okay? So... I just got fired. Benny says he wants nothing to remind him of Milli Vanilli. Including me. FAB I'm sorry about that. We gotta do something, Todd. ROB Brad Howell and John Davis are the real singers of Milli Vanilli. I think they should get this Grammy. KEVIN This is getting really weird. ROB We ended it. Rob and Fab ended Milli Vanilli. Not Frank Farian. ROB We told him, if we can't sing on our records, you have to go and tell the press that we don't sing. Only the producer can stop the contract. We can't. But we finished this game. We made a deal with the devil, so to speak, but we ended it. We did. ROB Girl you know it's true. Ooh, ooh, ooh, I love you. FAB I'm in love with you girl 'cause you're on my mind. You're the one I think about most every time... JOHN I'm not sure that was such a good idea. TODD It's great that you guys did that. People will have a lot more understanding for you now. I think the worst is over. DAMON No, I want to be Vanilli. KEENEN No! I'm Vanilli. You are from Germany and I am from Fraaaaance. ARSENIO HALL If Milli Vanilli fell in the woods - would someone else make a sound? DAVID LETTERMAN ...and the number one new job for Milli Vanilli? Who cares? As long as we don't hear from them ever again! SERIOUS NEWS ANCHORWOMAN We interrupt our coverage of the Iraq war for the latest update on the Milli Vanilli scandal... SONIA You shouldn't be watching this. SONIA So... I haven�t been paid in a while. It�s my last day. FAB I'm sorry, Sonia. SONIA You hungry? I�ll make some chicken for you. FAB Get the hell off our property! Why don't you go over to Clive Davis's house! Think he didn't know? He knows when a pin drops in his company! They all knew! FAB Actually, for legal reasons, I have to say this is only my personal opinion. I think Arista Records knew. I mean, come on. But that's just me. FAB I got it. Just a moment. FAB I said you don't have to send me any money, Maman. No. Don't believe what it says in the newspapers, okay? Why are you reading that? We're fine. Really... Please stop asking me that! I'll call you back, Maman. I love you. FAB What are you doing? ROB I called a bunch of people. We're going to have a party. Why are we hiding? Come on, baby. Get dressed. Don't get sucked into all the negativity. We are still stars, Fab! RICARDO I heard Lisa... she went on tour with New Kids on the Block. Well, thanks for inviting me. To this party. RICARDO You guys don't deserve all this. I always tell everybody how great you are. ROB I'm gonna call a limo. I'm going out. RICARDO Great idea. ROB Can I wear your jacket, Fab? ANTHONY RICHARDSON Hey. Door was open. That sounded nice, you know. What you just played. ANTHONY RICHARDSON So... you wanna talk? MOTHER My son won�t eat. He isn�t sleeping. Doesn�t wanna go to school or church anymore. All because of Milli Vanilli. ATTORNEY And poor Jeremy here is only one ofmany kids traumatized by this lie. Which is why we�re suing. CARMEN Robert. Please, please call me back. I�m very worried. Please tell me you�re okay. Call me, all right? Love you. TODD You have to be out of the house by the end of the month. Does Rob know? FAB He hasn't been home in a while. TODD I made you guys a list of apartments you can afford. FAB Thanks, Todd. TODD I'm going back to Arizona for a while. Maybe you should think about leaving L.A., too. FAB Where should we go? Another planet? TODD By the way, did you hear about the Real Milli Vanilli? ROB You really wanna talk about that? The Real Milli fucking Vanilli? ROB Pleeease. Frank did it again. He injected two young singers to replace us. And unsurprisingly, he was pretty successful with it, in Europe at least, while our comeback... well, let's not talk about that. ROB We sold like 50 records, guys. Worldwide. It was depressing. FAB I'm amazed you even remember that. You were high all the fucking time. I had to do all the work. I sang every song. But it was a tiny label. ROB Maybe the album just sucked. FAB Okay. So should we talk about... your suicide attempt? ROB It wasn't a... I would never kill myself. You know that. I was... trying to get some attention, I guess. No big deal. FAB So what do you wanna talk about? ROB What about Kevin? Numarx. What happened to them? FAB Actually, there is your happy end. KEVIN Okay, guys. Here's the deal. KEVIN This lawyer in Philly I've been working with for the past... SPEN Taneshia, what do you want? TANESHIA What? I wanna hear this. What about Ky, Junie and Wayne? KEVIN We'll tell them all about it. The main point is what Farian and Arista did was all legal. I'm not saying it was cool. But it was legal. And since we're all members of ASCAP and BMI now... ROD I still have to sign that appli- BILL Do it, man! KEVIN We're gonna get paid for the publishing rights. All of us. And I'm working on getting a share of the mechanical royalties as well. SPEN How much money we talking, KG? KEVIN Don't know exactly, Spen. But they sold over 13 million singles. So... ROB Wow. FAB And Kevin Liles became one of the most successful music executives ever. He says this experience made him get into the business side of things. They all became real successful in what they�re doing. DJ Spen, Bill, Ky, Rodney, Junie, Wayne. FAB And most importantly: They're still friends, Rob. FAB Did you call your sister back? She's been trying to reach you. FAB Please drink this. ROB Thanks, Mom. FAB Robert. I met someone. ROB You breaking up with me, brother? FAB No. I'm not. I'm just not going to live together with you anymore. ROB Do what you gotta do. Did I tell you about this producer Maurice? He says we can use his studio, whenever we like. FAB Maurice is a drug dealer. You've known him for two weeks. And he doesn't have a studio. He has a keyboard. ROB We can become superstars again, Fab. You gotta believe in it. FAB I don't want to be a superstar. If anything, I want to be a musician. And I told you to call me Fabrice. I'm more than just Fab. And you are more than just Rob, Robert. ROB You are damn right. We are so much more. We can make movies, too. I have some cool ideas. One's called Pop Cops! You and me working as undercover cops for the FBI. Pop Cops! Oh, come on. Don't look at me all serious. I'm starting to think you need therapy. FAB I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you. I tried for a long time. Your sister and I, we arranged therapy for you, but you wouldn't go. We fucking tried. But then I had to get away... And save myself. I had to make a fresh start. ROB I know. You did your best. FAB I don't know if that's true. ROB It's not your fault, Fab. HOMELESS MAN I don't think this is worth shit. It ain't real gold. Piece of shit. HOOKER What'cha doing here, Vanilli? Looking for Sunset Boulevard? MILLI Frank! I need 300,000 dollars from you. FRANK 300... What? MILLI Bail! Robert has been arrested. Stole a car. He's been living on the streets for the past few months, Frank. We have to get him out of there! Can't you cook up some project with him? Anything? FEMALE POLICE OFFICER I don't care if they were singing or not. I freaking loved Milli Vanilli. It was such a great summer. MILLI Yes, it was. FEMALE POLICE OFFICER Had quite a rough time in here. ROB And what about her father? Does he also live here? CARMEN No. We don�t need a man. Nice that you still have my Walkman. ROB I would have liked to speak to Dad. Explain everything to him. Mom, too. CARMEN They were proud of you, Robert. Honestly. They were always proud. CARMEN You can live here if you want. But only if you don't do drugs. Understand? ROB First I'm going to Sri Lanka for three months. For some therapy. CARMEN Ayurveda. ROB Exactly. Frank is paying for everything. And after that I�m going to Frankfurt and we�ll work on a new project. CARMEN Robert, what are you talking about? You're no singer. You never were. Cut all that damn music biz crap! Forget Farian! You don't need him, damnit. You can lead a normal life. MILLI Plane tickets. Don�t lose them, okay? And something to read about Sri Lanka. It�ll be fantastic. And... Here�s some cash. ROB Thanks. Come with me MILLI I can�t, Robert. You know that. Frank sends his love. He�s on Ibiza right now. Building a new studio. He�s also working on a new song for you. Yes. We got a song for you. Soon. FEMALE ANNOUNCER ... the troubled former pop star was found dead on Friday in a Frankfurt hotel room. The cause of death was unconfirmed at press time but a combination of... FEMALE ANNOUNCER ... of drugs and alcohol is suspected. Pilatus, alongside Fabrice Morvan, was half of the fashion-savvy, dreadlocked dance duo that rocketed to fame in... FAB I really wanted to come. But I couldn't. Because of my visa. It was expired. And they wouldn't have let me back into the... ROB I don't care, man. It's okay. MILLI I need some air. Could you stop? FRANK Why? MILLI Just let me out, please. You hear me? Let me out! PAULA And now let's welcome a great musician, a newcomer, who's playing here for the first time. Be nice to him. Fab Morvan. FABRICE Thanks a lot for the opportunity, Paula. And by the way, my name's Fabrice. I prefer that. I'd like to play a song for my brother. For Robert. ROB I like your voice. You really did that? You performed in front of 12 people. I respect that. FAB So is there anything else you wanna say? ROB I... kind of wish they would have shown how good I was with a soccer ball. ROB I was really good. I could have been a professional player maybe. They should have shown that. FAB So, who�s to blame for all of it? ROB The rain? FAB Besides the rain. Us? ROB Yeah. FAB Frank? The record company? Television? Big time. ROB What about them, Fabrice? FAB Maybe. They need some illusions to love. And something real to hate. We all do. In fact the whole world today is a little bit like Milli Vanilli, Rob. Everyone is trying real hard, faking real hard, to be seen, to be liked. But there are some good things, too. People yearn for something real. Everybody can be a superstar. And everybody can control their own narrative. More than we ever could. That's good. But it's dangerous, too. Social media - it's like the biggest drug ever. We would have been addicted. ROB So maybe that's the message. Get off social media. But before you do. Give us a like. Please. FAB I miss you, brother. ROB Miss you, too. I miss the whole world. The sun. The wind. My sister. Her daughter. Antonia. I never saw her grow up, you know. I miss my old friends. I miss laughing. Playing soccer. Dancing. Sushi. I miss food, man. People. Voices. I wish I would've known how to live a normal life. I'm sure it must be beautiful. So was it all worth it? Would I do it all over again? No. ROB And just for the record: it wasn't a suicide. It was a fucking accident, okay? I didn't want to die. ROB Listen, this movie shouldn't just end like this. I mean, come on. We gave them a great show. We made our fans happy. And they made us happy. They still love us. And we love them. So... Let's do it one more time, brother. FAB And... we sing live? ROB No, man, we don't.