This Michael Jackson biopic has a fraught history — for example, they had to reshoot the entire third act of the film because somehow no one involved in the production realized they were not legally allowed to dramatize anything regarding Jordan Chandler, the 13-year-old boy who accused Jackson of sexual abuse. This case later settled out of court, and Jackson was not found guilty in a criminal trial. The New York Times reports:
Its original script, a copy of which I obtained, went to great lengths to exonerate Jackson, portraying him as the victim of a shakedown by the family of the first child to come forward, Jordan Chandler. Larry Feldman, who negotiated a multimillion-dollar settlement for Chandler in 1994, told me the terms of the agreement meant that “neither side was allowed to do anything about publicizing or communicating what occurred, except to the extent that the Chandler family was allowed to talk to the police and testify under oath.” When I described scenes in the early draft exonerating Jackson and discrediting the Chandlers, Feldman laughed and said he had no knowledge of the contents of the script. But, he said, “that’s exactly what they couldn’t do.”
The release of the film, which now appears to primarily be the story of a very talented person with an extremely awful parent, was accordingly pushed back an entire year. That linked NYT story, which is excellent, goes into further fascinating detail about how the Jackson family has, beyond this film, with which they are deeply involved (Jackson’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, is playing him), “transformed Jackson’s troubled legacy into a lucrative, well-insulated machine.” Apparently, Paris Jackson isn’t thrilled about any of this, having complained about what she calls the script’s dishonesty, and writing on Instagram that, “the film panders to a very specific section of my dad’s fandom that still lives in the fantasy. And they’re going to be happy with it.” It does not appear that she attended the premiere, although her brother Prince did and so did several of her uncles and aunts (no Janet).
I agree with her that I think it’s likely this movie will open well and probably make a lot of money. Let’s see what people wore to the premiere, which got a very healthy turn out — the cast for this thing is major.
[Photos: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images, Amy Sussman/Getty Images, Savion Washington/Getty Images for Lionsgate, Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images, Earl Gibson III/Deadline via Getty Images]
