The Michael Jackson biopic is a drama both onscreen and off
By Lisa Respers France, CNN
(CNN) — If there was one place the new Michael Jackson biopic was sure to be warmly received, it was Gary, Indiana.
The pop superstar grew up there with his famous siblings. Their home in the city, referenced in the 1989 The Jacksons track “2300 Jackson Street,” is now a tourist attraction. And on one night last week, the city’s only high school was the venue for a homecoming for members of the Jackson family, who trekked there for a screening of the new film “Michael,” about its most famous former resident and starring his nephew, Jaafar.
Several of Michael Jackson’s brothers, the singer’s eldest son Prince and one of the film’s producers Graham King attended, in addition to the film’s star.
The city’s mayor, Eddie D. Melton, moderated a panel during which they discussed the making of the film and the Jackson family legacy — but not all of it.
“I don’t think there’s a need to address the actual allegations,” Melton told CNN by phone the day after the event, referring to Jackson’s alleged sexual predation.
The accusations surrounding child molestation and sexual abuse that Jackson faced in life and after his death have long divided his admirers. The movie is set to be similarly polarizing. As sure as his defenders will laud the new film, others will take issue with its approach to a complicated legacy.
Such has been the unsolvable — and largely unwinnable — issue with looking back at the King of Pop’s life.
For his part, Melton said he found the new film “phenomenal.”
Referring to Michael Jackson, he said: “I think we need to celebrate who he is in our hearts and our minds in this very moment in time. But also what he has contributed to the world. His music has changed lives.”
The Michael Jackson biopic, directed by Antoine Fuqua and featuring a cast that includes Colman Domingo and Nia Long, who play Jackson’s parents, is due to be released on April 24 after years of delays.
The original version of the film addressed the 1993 case in which Jackson was accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy, but required a massive overhaul after it was discovered that the approximately $25 million settlement that had been reached with his accuser and his family prevented the estate from making mention of the case in any type of film about Jackson, according to a report by Puck.
Variety, who talked to sources with knowledge of similar projects, recently reported that the estate footed the bill for the reshoots, which cost between $10 million and $15 million.
The estate had been involved with the production from the beginning and was reportedly aware of the original script. CNN has reached out to representatives for the estate.
Jackson, who died in 2009 at the age of 50, maintained his innocence against all accusations of child molestation and other crimes, including the 2003 charges he faced of which he was later acquitted.
The Jackson estate continues to deny all allegations against him.
Earlier this year, new allegations against Jackson surfaced. In February, four now-adult members of a family who had been close to the singer filed a suit in which they accused him of being “a serial child predator” who drugged, raped, groomed and sexually assaulted them while they were children.
The suit also accuses Jackson of sex trafficking, as some of the alleged crimes took place during interstate and international trips, including, among others, during stops on Jackson’s Dangerous World Tour.
The family had, in the past, made media appearances discussing their relationship to the singer, including a sit-down with Oprah Winfrey.
Marty Singer, who is representing the Jackson estate, called the lawsuit a “desperate money grab” in a statement issued to People earlier this year.
In March, a motion brought by Jackson’s estate to move the case to arbitration was granted.
CNN has reached out to the plantiffs’ attorney, Howard King, as well as Singer for comment.
The whole story
Jackson’s life is not a simple story to bring to the stage or screen and many who have tried have struggled with how to handle the child abuse allegations.
A 2017 Lifetime film based on the book “Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days,” by former Jackson bodyguards Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard, painted a sympathetic picture of the singer as a devoted father with Jackson’s legal troubles serving mostly as a backdrop.
“MJ: The Musical,” meanwhile, which won four Tony Awards in 2022, manages to largely sidestep the accusations because it’s set in 1992, before the first batch of allegations were made against him.
“You can’t tell the story without telling the whole story,” said James L. Walker Jr., an entertainment lawyer who has invested in “MJ: The Musical.” “The good, the bad, and everything in between.”
Walker Jr. believes that rather than be repelled by the past allegations, moviegoers will support the new film because of the enduring love for Jackson and his music.
That remains to be seen.
In 2019, HBO, which is owned by CNN’s parent company, released “Leaving Neverland,” a documentary featuring allegations from two men who said Jackson sexually abused them. The Jackson family issued a stern statement at the time, making denials on his behalf and calling the documentary a “public lynching.”
With “Michael,” they are more involved, though, to varied degrees.
The “Thriller” star’s 28-year-old daughter Paris recently shared a video on social media where she said, she hasn’t been outspoken about the film “because I know a lot of you guys are going to be happy with it.”
“The film panders to a very specific section of my dad’s fandom that still lives in the fantasy,” she said. “And they’re going to be happy with it.”
Her brothers, Prince, 29, and Bigi (formerly known as Blanket), 24, have walked the red carpet of recent premieres.
The film marks the acting debut of Jaafar Jackson, who was 12 years old when his famous uncle died.
Jaafar Jackson is the son of Alejandra Genevieve Oaziaza and Michael’s brother Jermaine, who along with Jackie, Tito, Marlon rounded out the original lineup to the Jackson 5.
Oaziaza, who was married to Jermaine Jackson until they separated in the early aughts, also has two children with Randy Jackson, the second youngest sibling.
The cast did not appear on the cover of any major Hollywood trade publications ahead of its debut in theaters, an odd move for an anticipated release. Jaafar Jackson, as well as Domingo and Long — made some network TV appearances, including on “Today.” Asked about the film ending in 1988, before the first allegations against Michael Jackson surfaced, Domingo said the film was centered “on the makings of Michael, so it’s an intimate portrait of who Michael is.”
He held out the possibility of a sequel. “There’s a possibility of there being a part two that may deal with some things that happened afterwards,” Domingo said. “This is about the making of Michael.”
In a chat with actor Miles Teller, who portrays Michael Jackson’s attorney John Branca in the movie, for Interview magazine Jaafar Jackson described the research he did for the role, reading his uncle’s personal writings, including journals, poems, mantras and affirmations.
“To be able to live in those shoes, feel some of what he was feeling, see life through fresh eyes the way Michael did—it was important to feel all those things so I could come from a place of truth, rather than trying to imitate or copy the shape of the moves,” he said. “I wanted to learn the meaning behind the move, the essence of it.”
He also shared what he hopes audiences will take away from the film.
“I’m most excited about people getting to understand Michael from a point of view they haven’t seen before, to feel the quiet moments,” he said. “Because a lot of people are familiar with the iconic moments, but there’s a whole emotional layer that hasn’t ever really been seen. I feel like people will understand him a lot more.”
CNN has reached out to representatives for Jaafar Jackson and the Jackson estate for comment.
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