Paris (France) (AFP) – A new Michael Jackson biopic will shortly arrive in cinemas, telling the story of the King of Pop’s early career. However, it’s a tightly controlled narrative that avoids any reference to the child sex abuse allegations that dogged his later life. Titled “Michael” and beset by production and legal problems, the film spans Jackson’s childhood in Gary, Indiana, and climaxes with the moonwalking megastar performing in London during his Bad World Tour.
Distributors Lionsgate are hoping for global revenues of $700 million from a production budget of $200 million, which would push it close to the $910 million earned by “Bohemian Rhapsody” in 2018—a record for a musical biopic. Made by the same producer as the Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Graham King, it features Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson in the main role. Jaafar, a 29-year-old with no previous acting experience, remarked, “They threw me right in the deep end,” during an appearance on US talk show host Jimmy Fallon’s show earlier this month. He added that he had received help with dancing from his uncle’s real-life choreographers. “It was really a surreal, spiritual moment,” he said of playing one of the most recognizable characters in pop music.
Jaafar Jackson delivers a strong performance as the gloved and thrusting singer, while the concert scenes are sure to delight fans of the “Thriller” and “Bad” albums. At the Berlin premiere on April 10, Jackson’s sons Prince and Bigi were joined on the red carpet by his brother Jermaine—Jaafar’s father. All the surviving Jackson siblings are credited as executive producers, meaning they had a right to review the film before its global release starting Wednesday. However, the involvement of the family has led to accusations that the film sugar-coats the image of a man who was dogged by sexual abuse allegations before his death by overdose in 2009, at the age of 50.
His daughter Paris, who had no involvement in the film, has been one of the most outspoken critics. She noted, “A big section of the film panders to a very specific section of my dad’s fandom that still lives in the fantasy, and they’re gonna be happy with it,” in an Instagram post last September. “The narrative is being controlled, and there’s a lot of inaccuracy and there’s a lot of just full-blown lies.”
A third of the original film exploring allegations against the star had to be cut and re-shot. Lawyers for the Jackson estate discovered a clause in a settlement with one of the singer’s accusers, Jordan Chandler, that barred any mention of him in a film, according to Variety film magazine. Although Jackson was never convicted in criminal or civil court, other alleged victims filed lawsuits after his death, several of which are still active. The film was originally scheduled for release on April 18, 2025, before being pushed back by a year.
Several documentaries, including 2003’s “Living with Michael Jackson” and 2019’s “Leaving Neverland,” focused on Jackson’s habit of inviting children to spend nights with him. Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of African and African American Studies at Duke University, expressed hope that the film would tell “the most human story about Michael Jackson possible,” but acknowledged that “we’re in a period of time where Hollywood does not deal with celebrities in that way.”
The film is almost certain to give another boost to the money-spinning family franchise. “MJ: The Musical” opened on Broadway in 2022 and has been staged in other countries, while the Cirque du Soleil production “Michael Jackson ONE” has been running in Las Vegas since 2013.
© 2024 AFP
