Michael star Jaafar Jackson gives sequel update
Michael star Jaafar Jackson has given an update on plans for a sequel revealing he hopes the second film will allow Michael Jackson's "voice" to be heard as it covers his troubled later years.
Michael star Jaafar Jackson hopes the second film will allow Michael Jackson's "voice" to be heard.
The Michael Jackson biopic - which featured the King of Pop's nephew Jaafar in the title role - ended with the words "His Story Continues" and the Lionsgate studio is pushing ahead with a follow-up, with the first movie wrapping up amid the King of Pop's Bad tour in 1987.
Now Jaafar has admitted he wants the sequel to show his uncle's "kindness" even though he was "broken" after battling child molestation allegations for years. Speaking to GQ Middle East, Jaafar explained: "It’s someone else’s story. It’s someone else’s idea of what it is, and it’s mainly driven by an agenda.
"And that’s really the issue we’ve been having as a family – not having Michael’s voice being heard. I think that’s very, very important, especially in the late years."
He added: "This first film focuses on Michael from his roots. o you get that idea of who he was before he had all the success and became the icon that people are familiar with, you understand who he was as a human being first, because at the end of the day, that’s who he was in the ’90s until he passed.
"He never changed that purity, that sense of always wanting to find the good in other people. And no matter all the stuff he went through, how he was treated, what things were said about him, he never stopped treating people with kindness.
"He never stopped believing in and wanting to look for the good in people … even though he was broken, his heart still stayed the same … I hope that this is felt in the second movie."
The first movie was set to explore the fallout of Michael Jackson's molestation allegations on his life, with a third act dedicated to the scandal.
However, attorneys for the Thriller hitmaker's estate discovered a clause in a settlement with Jordan Chandler, one of the singer's accusers, which barred him from being depicted or mentioned in any film project.
At this stage, it doesn't appear that Michael 2 could feature that part of Jackson's life without breaking the terms of the settlement.
However, Lionsgate film chief Adam Fogelson previously insisted there is plenty of the pop icon's story to tell, including some of his "biggest and most popular" music.
Speaking in a quarterly earnings call in May, he said: "I would say that there is a ton of incredibly entertaining Michael Jackson story, and much of the biggest and most popular parts of his music catalogue that were not touched upon in the first film.
"There are so many other events that happened, even in the time frame of the original movie that weren’t touched upon, so we’re very, very confident that we’ve got an incredibly entertaining movie that will appeal once again to a global audience as the pieces come together."
