Lionsgate confirmed that highly-anticipated Michael Jackson biopic Michael may end up being two separate films. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the movie stars Jackson’s nephew and Jermaine Jackson’s son Jaafar Jackson in the title role.
“At the end, when you look at the music library, when you look at what Michael Jackson was able to deliver in terms of music and contributions to art, whether or not that can be fit into one movie comfortably or not is a question that we are absolutely asking,” Lionsgate film chief Adam Fogelson said, via Deadline. “We’ll be ready to answer more specifically in the coming weeks.”
Fuqua currently has three and a half hours of footage, although Fogelson said that is not an actual cut of the film. “Any number of the biggest motion pictures over the last ten or 20 years have had first cuts of movies that were well in excess three and a half hours,” he said, adding that it is “an accumulation of scenes that we’ve seen.”
Michael was initially set for release in April, then moved to Oct. 3. It has now been delayed again, likely to next year, although Lionsgate has not given it a new date yet. Fogelson said the reasons for the delay are “twofold and kind of out there,” but didn’t specify anything beyond the length.
The second reason is likely the legal and contractual issues around the molestation accusations against Jackson from the early 1990s by the family of then 13-year-old Jordan Chandler. Jackson settled with the family for $20 million in 1994 with no admission of guilt. The Jackson estate asked the filmmakers not to include anything about Chandler in the film. Deadline has reported that the allegations do, in fact, appear in Michael.
Alongside Jaafar Jackson, Michael stars Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson, Nia Long as Katherine Jackson, and Miles Teller as Jackson’s attorney and advisor John Branca. The film, written by John Logan, wrapped production last May. Other cast members include Larenz Tate as Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, Laura Harrier as music executive Suzanne de Passe, and Kat Graham as Diana Ross.
From Rolling Stone US
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