Michael Director Fuqua Doubts Jackson Abuse Allegations
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- "Michael" director Antoine Fuqua revealed in a New Yorker interview that the Jackson biopic underwent $15 million in reshoots over 22 days to overhaul its structure, with the Jackson estate footing the bill after its error necessitated the changes.
- The original film opened with a dramatized 1993 police raid on Neverland Ranch over Jordan Chandler's abuse allegations, but all Chandler-related scenes were stripped after attorneys discovered a settlement clause blocking his depiction in any movie.
- Fuqua said he is "not convinced that Jackson did what he is accused of doing" despite five accusers, and suggested accusers' parents may have been motivated by money — pointing to Chandler's father being recorded threatening to "humiliate" Jackson.
- Jackson settled with the Chandler family for $23 million before the investigation was closed when the family stopped cooperating with prosecutors; he was later acquitted on all 10 charges in 2005 related to another 13-year-old accuser, and the 2019 documentary "Leaving Neverland" added two more accusers.
- The restructured "Michael" ends with the icon at the height of his career and centers the family tension between Jackson and his domineering father Joe Jackson as its dramatic throughline, opening in theaters Friday from Lionsgate.
Why it matters: The Jackson estate paid up to $15 million to scrub all Jordan Chandler dramatizations from the biopic after discovering a settlement clause, and the director's public skepticism of five accusers signals the film will offer a largely uncritical portrait of Jackson at the height of his career, erasing the 2005 trial and Leaving Neverland from the narrative arc.
