Moviefone Editorial

Tag: michael-jackson

  • Watch the Haunting Trailer for Controversial Michael Jackson Documentary ‘Leaving Neverland’

    Watch the Haunting Trailer for Controversial Michael Jackson Documentary ‘Leaving Neverland’

    HBO

    HBO has debuted the first trailer for its upcoming two-part documentary, “Leaving Neverland,” which features firsthand accounts from two men who allege that late pop superstar Michael Jackson sexually abused them when they were children.

    “Leaving Neverland” chronicles the experiences of James Safechuck and Wade Robson, who claim that Jackson — who passed away in 2009 at age 50 — abused them for years, beginning when they were 10 and 7 years old, respectively. In the trailer, the men and their mothers discuss what it was like to visit Jackson at his idyllic Neverland Ranch, which Robson describes as “magical,” and offered “anything you could ever want as a child.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_Ze8LjzV7Q&feature=youtu.be

    “He just came across as a loving, caring, kind soul,” Robson’s mother says of Jackson. “It was easy to believe that he was just that.”

    But Neverland was also the place where Robson and Safechuck say that Jackson abused them, and coerced them into silence. Now, Robson says, “I want to be able to speak the truth as loud as I had to speak the lie for so long.”

    Jackson’s family has publicly condemned “Leaving Neverland,” as have his fans, some of whom staged a small protest when the film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Sundance attendees reportedly found the documentary so disturbing that several had to leave the screening midway through. Counselors were standing by in the lobby to speak with those upset by the events on screen.

    “Leaving Neverland,” directed by Dan Reed, will air in two parts, on March 3 and March 4, on HBO.

  • Michael Jackson Docuseries Alleging Sex Abuse to Debut at Sundance, Air on HBO

    Michael Jackson Docuseries Alleging Sex Abuse to Debut at Sundance, Air on HBO

    Leaving Neverland
    Amos Pictures

    A new two-part docuseries exploring sexual abuse allegations against the late Michael Jackson is soon to make its debut.

    Amos Pictures’ “Leaving Neverland” will first premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 25 before later airing on HBO, Deadline reports. The film centers on two adult men and their families who claim Jackson exploited them when the men were children. Both men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, previously filed sex abuse lawsuits against Jackson or his estate that were ultimately dismissed.

    The documentary has proven controversial already. A rep for the Jackson estate issued a statement calling it “yet another lurid production in an outrageous and pathetic attempt to exploit and cash in on Michael Jackson,” according to Rolling Stone.

    “This so-called ‘documentary’ is just another rehash of dated and discredited allegations,” the statement also reads in part. “It’s baffling why any credible filmmaker would involve himself with this project.”

    “Leaving Neverland” director, producer, and cinematographer Dan Reed, however, spoke out in support of the men and their stories.

    “It took great courage for these two men to tell their stories and I have no question about their validity,” he said in a statement (via Rolling Stone). “I believe anyone who watches this film will see and feel the emotional toll on the men and their families and will appreciate the strength it takes to confront long-held secrets.”

    Viewers will have a chance to decide for themselves how they feel about “Leaving Neverland,” either at Sundance or when it airs on HBO.

    [via: Deadline; Rolling Stone]

  • Joseph Fiennes Was Seriously Cast as Michael Jackson in 9/11 Comedy

    Admit it, when you watched “Shakespeare in Love,” you thought “That Will Shakespeare actor should play Michael Jackson some day.” Congrats, ’cause that day is here!

    Believe it or not, British actor Joseph Fiennes will play Michael Jackson — opposite Stockard Channing as Elizabeth Taylor and Brian Cox as Marlon Brando — in a road trip comedy called “Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon,” following the celebrity trio’s rumored cross-country trip after the 9/11 attacks in New York City.

    Joseph Fiennes recently described (and defended) the project to WENN:

    “I got the script the other day. It’s a challenge. It’s a comedy. It doesn’t poke mean fun but it’s a story, possibly urban legend, whereby Michael, Marlon Brando, and Liz Taylor were all together the day before 9/11 doing a concert. Airspace was shut down and they couldn’t get out and Michael had the bright idea to go to hire a car and drive. So the three of them got in a car and drove 500 miles to Los Angeles. It took them a while because they had to stop at a lot of Burger Kings for Marlon; but they got out! It’s a lovely thing about Michael’s relationship with Liz Taylor and Marlon Brando. It’s a fun, light-hearted tongue in cheek road trip of what celebrity of that kind is like. But also it’s rather beautiful and poignant about their relationships as well.”

    Sky Arts issued a statement (via Entertainment Weekly) on the half-hour comedy, which is meant to air sometime later this year:

    “‘Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon’ is a Sky Arts comedy which takes a light hearted look at a reportedly true event; Joseph Fiennes is cast as Michael Jackson. It is part of a series of comedies about unlikely stories from arts and cultural history. Sky Arts puts the integrity of the creative vision at the heart of all its original commissions and we believe in giving producers the creative freedom to cast roles as they wish, within the diversity framework which we have set.”

    That sounds like a pre-emptive strike against anyone threatening to be offended by the white Joseph Fiennes (brother of Ralph Fiennes) taking on the role of Michael Jackson. And, in fact, HitFix has already posted the news under its “Outrage Watch,” sharing reaction tweets from critics.

    Orlando Jones had a good take:


    That would’ve been great. But it’s not happening. And it follows Charlie Hunnam’s casting as a Mexican-American drug lord. Needless to say, this is not the diversity many viewers were hoping to see on screen.


    Do you think it’s in bad taste for Fiennes (and Hunnam) to take roles like this, or should fans just wait and see before judging? Maybe we should be most “offended” by the idea of a comedy set around the September 11 attacks.

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  • ‘Star Wars’: Michael Jackson Wanted to Play Jar Jar Binks, George Lucas Said No

    Michael Jackson, like most fans, wanted to be in a “Star Wars” movie. The King of Pop campaigned for a role in “Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace”; he hoped to play Jar Jar Binks, an unfortunate choice for several reasons, one being that George Lucas didn’t want to go in that direction. MJ may have found Lucas’s lack of faith disturbing, but — in hindsight — *not* playing Jar Jar Binks is something we should all feature on our resumés. So who really won in this deal?

    Ahmed Best was the guy who ended up playing the much-derided character and he recently talked to Vice about meeting the late pop star who wanted his job.

    In a Reddit interview, you mentioned that Michael Jackson originally wanted to play the role of Jar Jar Binks. Was that a joke?
    That’s what George told me. Me, Natalie Portman, and George’s kids—we were at Wembley arena at Michael Jackson’s concert. We were taken backstage and we met Michael. There was Michael and Lisa Marie [Presley]. George introduced me as “Jar Jar” and I was like, That’s kind of weird. Michael was like, “Oh. OK.” I thought, What is going on? After Michael had driven off, we all go back up to a big afterparty. I’m having a drink with George and I said, “Why did you introduce me as Jar Jar?” He said, “Well, Michael wanted to do the part but he wanted to do it in prosthetics and makeup like ‘Thriller.’” George wanted to do it in CGI. My guess is ultimately Michael Jackson would have been bigger than the movie, and I don’t think he wanted that.”

    It was probably for the best, all considered. “Phantom Menace” came out in 1999, and Michael Jackson would be gone just 10 years later, leaving a legacy that would not include Jar Jar. Ahmed talked about how poorly Jar Jar was received and his reaction to his co-star and the movie being criticized:

    When was the first time you can remember being genuinely hurt by the negative reactions to Jar Jar Binks?
    It didn’t happen until the New York press junkets. The first person who kind of gave me an idea of where it was going was a writer from The New York Post. I didn’t really think much about it because I always felt like the The New York Post was a paper that fed off of that type of energy, that type of negativity. Growing up in New York you know which papers give you the news and which papers give you the gossip and the Post was definitely heavier on the gossip side than anything else. But I was really surprised that everyone picked up on that afterwards. It’s a very American thing to take somebody down when they’re at the top and a lot if it had to with that; people really wanted to see George crash and burn. Unfortunately, this character was so new, so experimental; he became a lightning rod for all that. It was me, and it was [original Anakin Skywalker] Jake Lloyd who took a lot of the heat for the movie. Fortunately, I was in my 20s. I wasn’t eight years-old like Jake, who I think took it worse. Jake had it far worse than me. I’m a 20-year-old from from the Bronx; I’ve seen and I’ve done things that were a lot harder than criticism in that newspaper. Although it hurt me emotionally and it was hard to take at the time, it wasn’t debilitating for me. I just put my shoes on and went back to work. But Jake had a difficult time.

    Did you find yourself ever having to jump in and defend him like a big brother?
    I did. Earlier I did. Say what you want to say, but leave the kid alone, let him grow up. The amount of vitriol he took as an eight-year-old was just wrong, and it affected him.

    Kinda feel bad now… but it’s fair to have a negative opinion of a character, especially when there was SO much expectation and hype and excitement for a return to “Star Wars” and many fans were left disappointed by Episode 1. It’s definitely not about wanting to see George Lucas crash and burn. However, there are still many Jar Jar fans and defenders out there, and hopefully Ahmed thinks of them and not the critics.

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  • The 10 Weirdest Non-‘Star Wars’ George Lucas Projects

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    This week, the George Lucas-produced animated film “Strange Magic” hits theaters nationwide and, really, it cannot be overstated just how weird it is. This is an animated movie set in a kind of fairy tale kingdom of fairies and goblins and other mystical beings. It’s also a jukebox musical, featuring pop songs from the last forty years (everything from the titular ELO track to Kelly Clarkson to everything in between). And it’s been rendered, by the talented people at Industrial Light & Magic (and their Singapore off-shoot) with a kind of hyper-real texture that is both incredibly realistic and undeniably trippy.

    And it could have been even weirder. In a recent press conference that I attended, Lucas said that he originally wanted to push things even further. “At first I wanted it to be an opera, all music, with no talking. When we got to that phase, everybody beat on me real hard and said that’s not going to work,” the “Star Wars” creator confided. So, yes, “Strange Magic” could have been even stranger.

    It got us thinking about how odd Lucas’s non-“Star Wars” projects really are, so we decided to rundown the 10 weirdest non-“Star Wars”-related George Lucas projects, which unfortunately meant that we couldn’t do a deep dive into the infamous “Star Wars Christmas Special” or the pair of Ewok-centered feature-length movies. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of left-field material here, each one conjuring its own undeniably strange magic.george lucas movies