Fuqua's Michael Jackson Biopic Called 'Bland Hagiography'
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Antoine Fuqua's 'Michael' runs 127 minutes, tracing Michael Jackson's life from the Jackson Five childhood to his 1988 Wembley Stadium concert at age 30, and ends with a 'The story continues' surtitle.
- Jaafar Jackson, Michael's 29-year-old nephew (son of Jermaine), plays the adult lead after Juliano Valdi handles the 10-year-old version, and earns praise for his dancing and singing.
- Colman Domingo plays Joe Jackson as the one character 'allowed to let rip,' while Miles Teller plays lawyer John Branca — a credited producer on the film who receives a notably prominent amount of screen time.
- The review brands the film a 'bland, slick, corporate hagiography' and 'cruise-ship entertainment' that cannot bring itself to show Michael as an abuse victim or address the sexual abuse allegations.
- Producer Graham King and the Jackson family estate are reportedly weighing a 'Michael 2' to cover the later, darker period of Jackson's life, including the hotel-balcony baby incident.
- Mike Myers has a cameo as CBS president Walter Yetnikoff bullying MTV into giving Michael airplay; Nia Long plays Katherine Jackson and Kendrick Sampson plays Quincy Jones in largely muted supporting roles.
Why it matters: The review's central charge — that the film deliberately halts in 1988 to dodge the sexual abuse allegations and the balcony-baby incident — frames a 'Michael 2' as the only path to completing the story, putting producer Graham King and the Jackson estate under pressure to decide whether (and how) to depict those later chapters.
