The rumours have been going around since 2017 and after “Bohemian Rhapsody”, the Queen’s biopic, more rumours about a Michael Jackson Biopic surfaced.
Few days ago, The Hits Daily Double interviewed David Lande, David Byrnes and John Branca from Ziffren Brittenham about being the best entertainment and corporate attorneys.
During a very short interview of all 3, John Branca said:
“As the co-producer of the Michael Jackson: ONE show in Las Vegas and the MJ biopic and Broadway play we have in development, the work has been ongoing. I’m looking forward to once again putting Michael’s music and the work done by the talented team of the producers, directors, choreographers, dancers, actors and other creators involved in these productions in front of his fans and the public. The Estate of Michael Jackson continues to develop projects that honor the life and music of, in the memorable words of Berry Gordy, “the greatest entertainer who ever lived.””
Due to the pandemic, MJ ONE will reopen its doors expecting to be in August and tickets for MJ Musical is now open for open doors December 2021.
But this is the first time that the Estate of Michael Jackson confirmed they are working on a MJ Biopic. In the past, the Estate have been denying such project will be considered but then when asked again few years later, they were aloof to the question.
Knowing their poor choice of selecting Lynn Nottage to do the book for the MJ Musical, fans can be worried about such biopic. Not to mention, Michael Jackson is maybe the most complex and changing artist that ever lived and depicting his life without offending his fans or the black community or people suffering of vitiligo will be a challenge! That’s just for the casting of actors! Unfortunately, a biopic cannot and should not omit any aspects of his life, including the darkest times such as the allegations, his dependency to painkillers and his tragic death.
But the Estate have been sugar-coating the image of the King of Pop since 2009, showing him as the greatest artist that ever lived, using mostly “Thriller” and “Bad” as imagery to remind the public of his greatness, being the king of music, dance and videos but also avoiding imagery post “Dangerous”. Ignoring that Michael Jackson was also a human being, he had vitiligo, he wrote and sang about the allegations in “HIStory”. All this have been ignored so would they do the same to a biopic? Time will tell.
SOURCE: The Hits Daily Double
Check out Pez Jax’s article from 2017 “Why a Michael Jackson Biopic should never Happen!“
Best way to deal with vitiligo era is just to use a mixed race person of African descent with very light skin, and apply make up and special effects. There’s absolutely no reason ever to use a completely non-black actor. The reason black community got upset with previous attempts was because casting directors tried to use Whites when there were far better options. It showed just how LAZY and insensitive they were. Just because his skin became lighter didn’t mean he wasn’t still black. Outside the additional nose jobs and the skin, he was still the same Michael from Thriller. The other thing is the actor doesn’t even need to look exactly like Michael. Denzel Washington was able to play Malcolm X so well that he convinced many he actually was him. It didn’t matter that they didn’t look exactly alike. His acting skills and talent made his performance believable.