The saga of the controversial Michael Jackson biopic continues. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the Jafaar Jackson (son of Michael’s brother, Jermaine) starring film has been in the works for years now, and ostensibly finished shooting last year. But now, it seems, the troubled production is heading back to the drawing board in a sense, as it was recently reported that the film will complete an extensive bit of re-shoots that they are calling “Additional Photography” — 22 days’ worth, in fact, which is damn near enough time to film an entirely new movie. It also had its release date shifted, too.
In a new report from The Hollywood Reporter, the outlet states that “the not-insignificant shoot comes as King, the Jackson Estate and studio partners Lionsgate and Universal are still mulling how to move forward in light of a legal issue, with the movie most likely being split into two parts. The new shoot seems to indicate that headway is being made.” Considering the fact that Lionsgate has already said the film will be the “biggest” they’ve ever made, it’s not surprising to hear that they’re throwing as much behind it as possible. What is surprising is hearing how much of an alleged mess the film‘s third act is, and that the Jackson Estate somehow overlooked a stipulation in a settlement that bars them from ever representing one of Jackson’s sexual assault accusers on-screen.
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That’s right: apparently a huge part of the third act hinges on a dramatization of a Jackson accuser, whose settlement with the estate guaranteed that he would never be depicted in a dramatization of the actor’s life (all of this is per a report from Puck News from January). According to THR, the film was originally supposed to span the entirety of the late singer’s career, but doing so has created some roadblocks when it comes to landing this proverbial ship — hence the desire to split it into two films.
As THR put it: “Sources say the new film will now end with Jackson leaving the Jackson 5 after the release of his first solo album, Off the Wall.” This is, it seems, the reason these additional 22 days are being categorized as such: if the movie ends earlier, what they currently have then really only works for half of a film, and needs to be fleshed out with new scenes and storylines. The film also stars Colman Domingo, Nia Long, and Miles Teller, with Domingo recently going on record to say that Jafaar Jackson’s performance “dazzling.”
Want to know more and see a clip of Jafaar Jackson rehearsing “Man in the Mirror”? Keep reading in the section below!
Will The Michael Jackson Biopic Show All Sides Of The Controversial Singer?
Perhaps the biggest question on everyone’s mind when it comes to the Michael Jackson biopic is: will they show us all sides of the performer? Jackson, beloved by many, also dealt with multiple sexual assault and abuse allegations from young people and children in the latter part of his life. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly back in 2023, Fuqua sounded hopeful that the film would be able to show all sides of him — not just the good stuff (which is surprising, considering the film is being done in conjunction and with the blessing of Jackson’s Estate). For Fuqua, though, he hopes to “tell the facts as we know it. About the artist, about the man, about the human being. You know, the good, bad, and the ugly.”
We hope that ends up being the case — hagiography never does anybody any good — but we’ll have to wait until at least 2026, if not 2027, to find out the true answer.
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