Michael moonwalked into Hollywood on Monday night, as the story of Michael Jackson‘s early career premiered with the support of the film’s cast and the superstar’s family members.
Siblings La Toya, Marlon, Jermaine and Jackie Jackson were all in attendance not only for the movie itself but also for Jaafar Jackson, Michael Jackson’s nephew (and Jermaine Jackson’s son) who transforms into his uncle in the biopic. “I was flabbergasted. I have to tell you that you think it’s Mike,” La Toya Jackson told The Hollywood Reporter of the portrayal. “You forget it’s Jaafar, you think it’s Michael.”
The Jackson family, and Michael Jackson’s estate, was heavily involved in the making of the film, with producer Graham King revealing that in addition to frequent talks with the siblings, Michael Jackson’s son Prince Jackson “was on set every day” during shooting and was also around during the film’s development.
Prince and brother Bigi Jackson have taken part in the film’s promotion — walking the carpet together at the Berlin premiere, while Prince Jackson was solo at the L.A. event — but sister Paris Jackson has spoken out against the movie, saying she wasn’t involved at all after she “read one of the first drafts of the script and gave my notes about what was dishonest/didn’t sit right with me and when they didn’t address it I moved on with my life.”
Paris Jackson added on social media in September, “They’re going to make whatever they’re going to make. A big reason why I haven’t said anything up until this point is because I know a lot of you guys are gonna be happy with it. A big section, 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.”
King acknowledged he hadn’t spoken to Paris Jackson recently and writer John Logan said he didn’t talk to her during his research. “Certain people in the family weren’t interested in talking and that was fine; they didn’t want to be represented in the movie or dramatized in the movie, that’s totally fine,” Logan said. He continued, “And look, Michael is a complicated person, people have complicated opinions, and that’s fine. We chose to tell the uplifting story of his triumph in the movie, and that’s what we did.”
Michael has faced a number of challenges on its way to the big screen. Reportedly, the film’s third act originally included some of the child sex abuse allegations against the superstar, but it was later discovered that Jordan Chandler, who alleged that Jackson sexually abused him in 1993, had reached an agreement to not be depicted in any dramatization of Jackson’s life. The movie then had to push its release date and do reshoots to rejigger the story.
“I think it’s very important that everybody in the family was involved and took part in this to make sure you get it right. A lot of times people think they know the story and they read about things, but when the family’s involved, the family can say yay or nay,” La Toya Jackson noted, dodging a question on Paris Jackson’s comments but saying that “everybody has their opinion and their choice.”
And as for Jaafar Jackson’s transformation, co-star Mike Myers admitted he was “starstruck” because the young actor seemed so much like the pop icon.
That came from “many, many months, a couple years of preparation just allowing myself to understand everything behind the music, everything behind the moves, what was behind all of that, which was his heart,” Jaafar Jackson said. “Of course I wanted to pay attention to the little details and nuances of the performances but most important was his essence in his heart of how he truly treated people, how he was with everyone. And that was the most incredible experience I could ask for.”
Michael hits theaters on Friday.
Tiffany Taylor contributed to this report.
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