“Michael,” the impending Michael Jackson biography directed by Antoine Fuqua, might be divided into two films.
The Lionsgate and Universal Pictures International project will therefore probably move forward with its existing release date of October 3.
Although “Michael” played a significant role in the Lionsgate CinemaCon presentation last year, no project footage was screened during this year’s event. Although primary photography for the picture, which was produced by Graham King of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” concluded in May 2024, John Logan’s script is currently being reworked in preparation for reshoots.
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Jaafar Jackson, Jackson’s nephew, makes his on-screen debut in “Michael,” which has a budget of about $155 million. Miles Teller will portray Jackson’s lawyer and advisor John Branca, while Colman Domingo and Nia Long will portray Jackson’s parents, Joe and Katherine. Kat Graham will play the iconic Diana Ross, Laura Harrier will play the trailblazing female music producer Suzanne de Passe, and Larenz Tate will play Berry Gordy, the creator of Motown Records.
The other cast members are Kendrick Sampson (“Insecure”) as industry legend Quincy Jones, who first met Michael Jackson at the age of twelve; Jessica Sula (“Split”) as Michael’s older sister La Toya Jackson; Liv Symone (“Power Book III: Raising Kanan”) as Gladys Knight; Kevin Shinick (“Robot Chicken”) as Dick Clark; and KeiLyn Durrel Jones (“The Other Two,” “How to Die Alone”) as Jackson’s former security-turned-trusted friend and confidante Bill Bray. The two would later work together on three of Michael’s best-selling albums: “Off the Wall” (1979), “Thriller” (1982), and “Bad” (1987).
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“I’m constantly interested in how people are made. Joe Jackson is a really strong and formidable human being, and we have a notion of how he moved around the world. “Yeah, but he also created some legendary performers and this legacy of a family,” I thought. Earlier this year, Domingo told Variety, “I’m like, I want to know who that man is.” I had to dive inside and discover everything that I adore about Joe Jackson, including his survival tools, the tools he gave his kids, and whether it was his parenting style or his background. I want to look at all of that. The goal was to create a fully realized, sophisticated human being with a soul. I was delighted to contribute anything I could to the Joe Jackson performance.
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