After months of rumors, production chaos, and legal drama, it looks like “Michael” has finally wrapped editing. But according to recent reports, it’s not quite the movie director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter John Logan originally intended to make.
Sources close to the production say that Fuqua and Logan were forced to completely rethink the film after a rights dispute involving one of the former accusers made a significant amount of already-shot footage legally unusable. The fallout from that dispute was huge: entire storylines and sequences had to be scrapped, leaving potentially only half of the original film set to release next year.
Puck’s Matt Belloni, who, it must be said, has a reputation for leaning on rumor more than verified fact, recently reported that the final version of “Michael” now concludes with Michael Jackson’s meteoric rise to superstardom in the 1980s, stopping before the turbulence, controversy, and the Neverland years that defined much of his later life.
That’s despite the fact that Fuqua reportedly shot two full weeks of footage at Neverland Ranch which, if true, would be scrapped completely.
Producer Graham King, however, isn’t throwing in the towel. He’s already laying the groundwork for a potential follow-up film that would focus on Michael Jackson’s “King of Pop” years, provided, of course, that “Michael” performs well at the box office. The plan would be to reunite the core cast, including Jaafar Jackson (Michael’s nephew, who portrays the man himself), Colman Domingo, and Miles Teller, and continue the story from where the first film leaves off.
The sequel only moves forward if “Michael” becomes a hit when it opens next April. If it doesn’t, the unused footage, reportedly hours of it, will go straight to the vault. Given that the Estate has been footing much of the bill for this production, that would mean swallowing a major financial loss.
Earlier this year, when things were looking more optimistic, Fuqua’s original cut was said to run nearly four hours long. Lionsgate had even considered splitting it into two parts, turning “Michael” into an event film in the vein of “Wicked.” Now, it seems the second half, about two hours of finished material, may never see the light of day.
Still, Lionsgate (handling domestic distribution in the US) and Universal (managing international) are pressing ahead. The first official trailer for “Michael” is expected to drop in November, attached to “Wicked: For Good.” How that trailer is received could determine whether this ambitious project rises or falls.
Again, these are still rumors, but multiple independent sources and film industry insiders have reported the same story. As Michael Jackson fans, we know that to truly understand Michael, his entire story needs to be told, especially the later years of his life. We also know that Michael continued to create incredible music, visionary short films, and experience significant life events throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Omitting those decades is simply not acceptable to us.
