‘The Michael Jackson Biopic’ I

With the success of the Oscars this year and the unbelievable “outrage” of slapgate the previous year, all eyes in the Michael Jackson world are geared and targeted towards the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic. So, let’s see where we stand. Well, there have been attempts at biopics in the past, the most successful in my opinion being the television series, The Jacksons: An American Dream. It followed Michael and his family, and the growing pains associated with making the journey from 2300 Jackson Street in Gary, Indiana, to Hollywood, and what this show did well was that it humanized Michael and situated him in the context of his family, as controversial as that may seem.

I recently started reading Scripts of Blackness by Noémie Ndaiye and in this book, she explores Early Modern (16^th-17^th) century performances of blackness. The performance of blackness concerns me the most with the upcoming biopic. Okay, it has Antoine directing, and a black director is a step in the right direction. However, Fuqua made his fame with breakout thrillers, such as 2001’s Training Day, which I must admit that I loved. The fact that Fuqua’s background is in directing music videos may add more points in his favor, and was notable for directing Coolio’s video for “Gangsta’s Paradise”. I like that video and I like the thriller style that Fuqua brings to the table. There was also the breakaway hit, The Equalizer and its follow-up, The Equalizer 2.

Fuqua knows how to light and make-up and direct the black protagonist, but Michael Jackson is a more complex subject than Fuqua has been faced with subsequently. So, in January of this year, 2023, Fuqua announces Michael, the biopic on Michael Jackson, starring Michael Jackson’s own nephew, Jaafar Jackson and being produced by Graham King. It got me wondering, who is Graham King? Well, he was the producer behind hit films such as The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006) and more recently, Bohemian Rhapsody, which made its initial budget back many times over. Of the films that King has produced I must admit I have a few favourites and that includes the Djimon Hounsou spectacular, Blood Diamond, and The Unforgivable, starring Sandra Bullock as a convict with a murky past.

King is known for pulling big names onto his productions and building a comprehensive, holistic world filled with intriguing characters, and he was co-executive producer on 2002’s Gangs of New York. I am hoping that King and Fuqua will bring a distinctly early 2000s style and Hollywood cinematic grace to the silver screen for the Michael biopic and I hope that it will provide more than a cradle-to-grave rendition of Michael Jackson’s life.

March 31, 2023

Elizabeth Amisu