We all remember “The Jacksons: An American Dream”, the five-hour American miniseries broadcast in two halves on ABC and originally broadcast on November 15 through November 18, 1992 and telling the history of the Jackson family, one of the most successful musical families in show business.
While she is currently nominated for an Oscar for playing mother to a different kind of dynasty, one of the roles that made Angela Bassett a screen icon was matriarch Katherine Jackson in the 1992 miniseries “The Jacksons: An American Dream,” a job she said she was advised not to take.
During an appearance at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on February 9 to accept the 38th annual Montecito Award, the “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” actress sat down for a career-spanning conversation with the festival’s executive director Roger Durling and revealed that she was in the middle of auditioning for the ABC TV event about the musical family when her agents said, “You know what, there’s a lot of allegations about Michael [Jackson] in the press, and we don’t think you should do this project.”
The situation was a blow to Bassett, as someone who had been a lifelong fan of the Jacksons. “They were the first concert I ever went to as a little girl. I had posters on my wall,” she said. “Here’s one of them in the room, auditioning me to portray his mom. This was a crazy trip for me.”
Bassett said, “I remember telling my agents ‘No, no, no, I’m not going out for the role of Michael, I’m going out for the role of their mother. And no matter what, whatever the allegations, or whoever, whatever we think — one thing is true, that I believe, that I can see, is that they adore their mother. They revere their mother. And that, a reverence for motherhood, for mothers, that’s what I want to put out into the world.”
Katherine Jackson became one of Bassett’s most memorable, most popular performances.
Rumor has it that Michael Jackson once said that if anyone should play his mother, Katherine, it should be Angela Bassett. Which has happened with this mini series.
With the up-coming official Michael Jackson Biopic, we wonder who will play each part, including Michael’s mother, who had a huge influence in the King of Pop’s life. We can only see one actress to be at the level we expect for this role, she is talented, amazing and capable to do Katherine Jackson well: Viola Davis. Just to put that out there! if any of the filming crew is reading this!
