Jaafar Jackson never found himself thinking about tossing his name into the hat when the casting calls for Michael started. “When I first heard about the movie, my thought definitely wasn’t ‘I’m going to play Michael,’” shared Jackson, whose real-life uncle is global pop icon Michael Jackson. “I’d never even dreamed of being an actor.”
Michael tells the extraordinary story of one of the most iconic musicians in history, delving deep into Michael Jackson’s life like never before. A show-stopping experience that mimics the energy of the King of Pop’s stage performances, the film is full of his all-time greatest shows, songs, and personal moments. The film is directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Magnificent Seven) and produced by Graham King (The Departed).
Growing up, Jackson was drawn to his uncle’s performances, watching his sets as fervently as any fan. “As a kid, I was obsessed with him,” he admits. “I would sit in front of the TV in the same living room where Michael once sat watching his tours and videos, just studying him. I couldn’t really understand then what it really was, but I knew I wanted to be immersed in this awe-inspiring energy.”
For producer Graham King, however, Jackson’s fate was already sealed the moment they met. “It wasn’t about what Jaafar was saying or even his look. It was just a feeling of rightness that was so strong I couldn’t ignore it,” King recalls. “I felt something a bit like it when Rami Malek walked into my office and said, ‘I’d love to play Freddie Mercury.’ But this took it to a whole new level. There was something so spiritual about Jaafar that just talking with him about Michael got me emotional.” King says, “We looked at nearly 200 actors around the globe, and no one could beat Jaafar.”
Director Antoine Fuqua also felt the same energy upon meeting Jackson. “When I first met him, I thought Jaafar had to be acting because he came across exactly like Michael with that gentle soul. Then I realized this is truly who he is. Soon after, we did a screen test with hair and makeup and the degree to which he looked like Michael freaked us all out. When we asked him questions in character, his answers were so beautifully poetic in that same way of Michael that our DP Dion Beebe, Graham, and I all had tears in our eyes.”
What followed was two years of relentless training, practicing with Rich + Tone Talauega, the choreography team who toured with Michael Jackson starting with his 1996 “HIStory” tour. Jackson also immersed himself with all available media concerning his uncle. “Michael was always watching artists who inspired him, analyzing their work to understand what made them great, and incorporating those qualities into his own. I used the same process with him that he did with others. In addition to all the training, I was watching tons of interviews and private home videos, soaking up the nuances, the mannerisms, and most of all, the human.”
As he was fortunate enough to have plenty of primary resources on hand, he also dove into his uncle’s work on different genres. Michael Jackson not only became the first Black artist who was in heavy rotation on MTV, but his music videos were legendary, becoming pop culture mainstays.
“Michael would always say that he wanted his music to be universal, to be for everyone,” says Jackson. “That seems to have been his vision from the beginning, to bring people together through music. He didn’t want corporations to define what music you should listen to. He fought hard for that and opened up new paths for all the artists to come.”
King recalled a heartwarming moment during the early stages of production, “One of the most emotional moments of my entire career came the day I showed Jaafar’s screen test to Michael’s mother Katherine. Her reaction was everything. She called me over and simply said, ‘That is Michael.’ And I replied, ‘That’s all I need to hear.’”
Michael arrives in Philippine cinemas on April 22.
