I’m of the personal belief that everyone has gone through a Michael Jackson phase at some point in their lives, whether it was a deep obsession for about a year when you were eight (speaking from personal experience here), or a lifelong appreciation for the music.
Whatever it may be, Michael Jackson is the “King of Pop” for a reason. So, it comes as no surprise that Hollywood has decided to turn his rise to fame into a new biopic.
Of course, the pop superstar is a polarising figure thanks to the controversy that plagued the later days of his career, but Nine’s Entertainment Editor, Richard Wilkins, says he doesn’t think the controversy will hinder the film’s success.
I sat down with Wilkins shortly after he returned from the world premiere of Michael in Berlin, where he was lucky enough to watch the film and chat with some of the cast.
Thankfully, for the Jackson fans nervous about how they’ve tackled such a monstrous career, Wilkins says he “really enjoyed” the movie.
“For the first part of the film, it’s young Michael, because it pretty much runs chronologically,” he explains.
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“And the young Michael [Juliano Valdi] is lovely. He’s beautiful. I spoke to him at length, and he’s a beautiful young guy. He knows exactly what’s going on.”
Wilkins said the casting is a real highlight of the film, singling out Colman Domingo for his “terrifying eyes” as the family patriarch, Joe Jackson, and Nia Long as the family matriarch, Katherine Jackson, as his standout performers.
Like any biopic, it takes a minute to adjust, and Wilkins acknowledges that it took him a minute to settle into the idea of Michael’s nephew, Jafaar Jackson, taking on the title role.
But once he adjusted, he says the performance was “terrific”.
”The dancing, the way they replicate some of the domestic scenes of the kids growing up, the Motown 25 performance where Michael unveiled the moonwalk for the first time to Billie Jean, [it] was terrific,” he says.
“I really enjoyed the film. If you’re a Michael Jackson fan, you’re going to love it.”
Michael doesn’t cover the star’s entire career, finding its ending before the controversy of the later days. And while it’s great to see his rise to fame and the peak of his career, Wilkins noted that it would also be interesting to see what happened next.
“I’d kind of like them to make a sequel and see what happens,” he says.
“There was a lot of controversy there as well. A lot more good music to come after this movie ends.”
Even though the film skirts around some of the more contentious parts of Michael’s career, Wilkins thinks it won’t deter people from going to cinemas to see the biopic, predicting that “it’ll be a big hit”.
“I think it’ll do well. I think most fans will love it to bits, [there will] probably be some people who pick holes in it for whatever reason,” he says.
“But I think it’s a big, brave, ambitious, audacious project, and I think they pull it off.”
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