‘Michael’ movie: Why the Michael Jackson biopic may require reshoots

Michael Jackson in Santa Maria, California in 2005. (Kevork Djansezian/Pool/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

A biopic about the complicated legacy of Michael Jackson was always going to be an ambitious undertaking.

The planned release of the film, starring Jaafar Jackson as his late uncle, has been moved from April to October, reportedly due to complications with the script, according to a recent story from Puck.

A representative for Lionsgate, the distributor of “Michael,” declined to comment when contacted by CNN.

Here’s what we know about the project so far.

Starting with the man in the mirror

Directed by Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day,” “The Equalizer” films) with a script by three-time Oscar nominee John Logan, “Michael” tells the story of the late superstar, who died in 2009 at the age of 50 as a result of acute propofol intoxication.

The son of Jackson’s older brother Jermaine Jackson was cast to play the lead, who the film’s producer, Graham King, has praised.

“With Jaafar, every look, every note, every dance move is Michael,” King said in a statement in a press release in February 2024. “He embodies Michael in a way that no other actor could.”

Fuqua likened it to magic in the same press release.

“We have assembled an incredible team of artists for this project – hair & makeup, costumes, cinematography, choreography, lighting, everything – and some who knew and worked with Michael are reuniting for this film,” the director said. “But most importantly, it’s Jaafar who embodies Michael. It goes beyond the physical resemblance. It’s Michael’s spirit that comes through in a magical way. You have to experience it to believe it.”

The movie costars Miles Teller, Colman Domingo, Nia Long.

Dealing with a dark period

Last week, Puck’s Matthew Belloni reported that the US$150 million budgeted film has hit a rather massive roadblock.

According to the report, the script for “Michael” includes the 1993 investigation into sexual abuse allegations made against Jackson by a then 13-year-old Jordan Chandler. However, a settlement in the case reportedly includes a clause prohibiting dramatization of the Chandler family that the film’s creative team was not aware of until after shooting on the project was complete, requiring the movie to be reworked, Puck reported.

CNN has reached out to representatives for the Jackson family estate and Fuqua.

Chandler was not the only person to accuse Michael Jackson of sexual abuse. Jackson denied all such allegations when he was alive, and his family members continue to do so.

In 2003, Jackson was charged with seven counts of perpetrating a “lewd act upon a child” based on allegations from a cancer-stricken boy invited to the star’s home.

The boy said he was 13 when Jackson served him alcohol and fondled him. Jackson pleaded not guilty and was acquitted of the charges.

In 2019, HBO (owned by CNN’s parent company) released a documentary titled “Leaving Neverland,” which detailed disturbing claims by James Safechuck and Wade Robson that Jackson sexually abused them over a period of several years when they were children.

Robson said he stayed with Jackson at his Neverland Ranch in California on several occasions when he was a child. Safechuck appeared in a Pepsi commercial as a child with Jackson and said he was also a frequent visitor to the singer’s home.

Both defended Jackson from allegations of sexual abuse, but later filed suits – Robson in 2013 and Safechuck in 2014 – against the singer’s estate with abuse allegations of their own. (Jackson’s estate denied the accusations. According to their attorney, their cases were initially dismissed on technical grounds but litigation is ongoing.)

The Jackson family denied the allegations in “Leaving Neverland,” calling the film a “public lynching” and suggesting that the accusers are motivated by financial gain.

“Michael” is currently scheduled to release on Oct. 3.

Lisa Respers France, CNN