Jaafar Jackson wrote down a $1bn goal before playing Michael Jackson
Two years before filming began on Michael, Jaafar Jackson wrote down his targets. Beat Bohemian Rhapsody. Cross US$1 billion at the worldwide box office, according to Variety.
Antoine Fuqua's film opened on 24 April. It then passed US$1 billion worldwide, becoming the first biopic in history to do so and Lionsgate's biggest release ever, Variety reported.
Jackson is Michael Jackson's real-life nephew. He was 26 when his casting was announced, Reuters reported, and he had never acted professionally before. He was 12 when his uncle died in 2009. He spent two years preparing before he officially landed the part, building his own archive of songs, demos, journals, rehearsals and performances.
He worked with acting coach Angela Gibbs and studied Stanislavski, Meisner and Uta Hagen techniques. These are systems for building a character from the inside out, through memory, repetition and behaviour. He also sent producer Graham King an unsolicited voice note speaking as Michael. He had a vocal coach the next day.
It was shot entirely in Los Angeles. Colman Domingo plays his grandfather and Nia Long plays his grandmother Katherine Jackson. The film closes with the performance of "Bad".
The road to release was not smooth. The production went through major reshoots after the third act, the final stretch of the story, was deemed unusable, according to Variety Australia. Scenes featuring Diana Ross were cut. The initial screenplay had recounted a 1993 lawsuit.
His father Jermaine Jackson first watched the film at its Berlin premiere. He told his son the next day that he could not tell him apart from his late brother.
Michael was criticised for not addressing child sexual abuse allegations against Michael Jackson, The Root reported. Jackson has said a planned sequel will stay with events from Michael Jackson's point of view and will address those allegations.
What makes this stand out is the chain. A newcomer set a public box-office number before shooting a frame, then carried a troubled shoot to that number.
For fans, this means a wait for the rest of the story. For now, Jackson has moved on. He wrapped his second film, Supermax opposite Will Smith, two days before his Variety interview after 40 days of shooting in Australia. He said the role is completely different from Michael, with no dancing or singing.
