As Michael Jackson biopic hits $1B, actors reflect on superstar’s life

LOS ANGELES – As “Michael” recently surpassed $1 billion in global ticket sales, making it the first biopic to claim that box office record, the film’s leads, Jaafar Jackson, Juliano Valdi, Colman Domingo, and Nia Long, talked about their roles and the late superstar’s life that triggered the blockbuster.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, “Michael” was released early this month on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD. The film’s appeal translated into $372 million domestically and $629 million internationally, resulting in the historic $1 billion total.

The movie, now also the highest-grossing musical biopic, dramatizes the rise of Michael from the young lead (played by Juliano) of The Jackson 5 to the King of Pop (Jaafar).

While “Michael” was phenomenally received around the world and earned praise for its performances, especially those of Jaafar and Julian, critics overall panned the film as a “puff piece,” as it avoided the scandals and allegations in the superstar’s life.

Some cited the Michael Jackson estate’s close involvement with the movie, implying that it made “Michael” a sanitized, friction-less depiction of the performer’s life.

However, not all Jackson family members supported the movie. Siblings Janet and Randy and Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris, reportedly opted out of the project. Janet and Randy, plus Rebbie, were not portrayed as characters in the film.

Still, “Michael” triumphed at the box office, toppling “Bohemian Rhapsody” as the biggest musical biopic earner and becoming Lionsgate’s highest-grossing release.

Jaafar Jackson

Jaafar Jackson in the title role of the movie that broke many records. Photo from Lionsgate

The biggest winner emerging from “Michael” is Jaafar, whose charisma and presence contributed to the movie’s popularity. Yes, he is Michael’s nephew – his father is Jermaine Jackson – so his resemblance to the late pop icon is not uncanny.

But Jaafar delivers in his film acting debut. “I grew up wanting to be a golfer, and then I got into more sports,” said the newly minted star, who will turn 30 on July 25, in a video press conference.

“Then I got into music, learning how to write songs, play piano, and produce music.  But in school, for one elective, some of my friends were joining a drama class for fun. I was so shy in school, and I looked at it as a way to get out of my bubble.”

Jaafar, whose mom is Alejandra Genevieve Oaziaza, a fashion designer born in Colombia, shared how he landed the role of a lifetime. “First, I saw an article that Graham King (the film’s producer) got the rights to tell Michael’s story.  And he reached out to me.

“But there was no, like, oh, let me go try and audition for it.  I just saw the article. I was like, oh wow, that’s gonna be interesting.  Like, they’re about to make a film about my uncle. That’s gonna be crazy.  I wonder how that’s gonna be.

“And then, months later, we (he and Graham) were having lunch. And yeah, it was crazy. Full circle.

“It’s interesting because I met Graham when I was about 12 or 13 years old. He knew my father. But I haven’t seen him since then. And then, I believe he saw a clip online of me performing with my father for a charity Christmas thing in Europe.

“He approached me more for my voice to maybe help with some post-production voiceover work or something like that. Then he wanted to meet and have lunch. I just saw him really observing me at lunch, like my mannerisms and things. I think he felt like I was auditioning for him at lunch when I really wasn’t.

“He saw a natural, like an organic thing that I had that he felt was very Michael. Then he asked me, have I ever acted before? I said, no, I’ve never acted.”

Jaafar, who released his debut single, “Got Me Singing,” in 2019, added, “I never thought of acting. I grew up loving films, but only as an audience. Not to want to make them or act in them. I’m more into music and sports.

“Graham asked, ‘Would you be opposed to meeting an acting coach to try it out? Maybe you’ll hate it, and maybe you’ll like it.’ I said, no, I need to think about it. But I knew where this was going once he started to ask those questions.”

Personal memory and performance craft

Asked which one was more daunting, the thought of playing Michael as the King of Pop or as his uncle, Jaafar answered, “I would say both were challenging. I looked at it from both perspectives, but I also wanted to separate myself as a family member and look at everything from the beginning as if I knew nothing about Michael Jackson.

“So, I prepared by reading a lot of books, listening to all his music again, from The Jackson 5 to the solo albums, and really just having a deeper understanding of who he was as a person.

“And about me being a family member, that really allowed me to go into my own personal memories and speak to certain family members to get nuances that you may not be able to find in a book, a video, or online.

“So, I would say both were very challenging, and just learning how to separate and have a balance of both.”

On navigating the line between personal memory and performance craft, Jaafar explained, “I would say it shaped my portrayal in the way I started. And it really started with understanding what acting is. And diving into how to express certain emotions or really tap into Michael’s point of view – that was the most important thing.

“It’s also finding my own inner confidence and knowing what that is, but really immersing myself in Michael’s world to a point where I didn’t have to think too much. It became kind of a second nature.

“So, just consuming everything that Michael would. I read everything he would read. I watched films he would watch. Listened to music he would listen to.”

“It all really came from just the preparation and building that confidence,” the singer-actor pointed out. “That would happen only from me practicing every single day, and then learning about Michael’s humanity – starting from the roots of when he grew up, what he was surrounding himself with, and the parents, the dynamic of the family.

“And just seeing how he was surrounded by his brothers. He grew up in a very family-oriented type of setting. And how that translated to when he had his solo career and won his creative freedom.

“He always wanted to create something that would be timeless. And to create music that would bring people together. That was really the driving force from the beginning.

“And seeing how even in The Jackson 5 days, when they were very young, they visited hospitals and spent time with the less fortunate, and really have that sensitivity for those things that were going on around the world.That just kept elevating more and more as Michael grew up, and that was his driving force.”

The hits

As for interpreting The Gloved One’s hits in the biopic, Jaafar answered, “It was all about understanding each song, the meaning behind it. Knowing the process of how each song was created. Also, the choreography and looking at who Michael was inspired by, like Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, and Sammy Davis Jr. The list goes on. And, of course, James Brown.

“Then, understanding those artists, studying their work, and really just having the feeling behind the movement and not wanting to imitate it. I always told myself that. I had a lot of conversations with Graham and Antoine – that it’s not an impersonation. It’s not an imitation.

“It’s about finding it within my own self of how to feel those things that Michael felt and get to a point where I can be free. Like, have the most freedom but in the way Michael would have it.

“So, be very loose on set but be as Michael. That allowed me to do that with a lot of practice and preparation, and to really just immerse myself completely in that world. And so, it comes as second nature because I didn’t want to think.

“I didn’t want to be caught in the world of thinking too much because that really takes you out of the acting part of it or out of the performance. And Michael would always say that.”

Dancing artistry legacy

Jaafar Jackson rehearsed the superstar’s famous songs and dances many times until he was satisfied. Photo from Lionsgate

In “Michael,” Jaafar also lived up to the outstanding dancing artistry legacy of his uncle, who died in 2009. The actor cited the legend’s work ethic, saying “how incredibly hard Michael would practice on his dancing, songwriting, just learning new things and how to exceed your own expectations, and to always stay curious. So, I always had that mindset with myself of how I wanted to go into the work.”

“I was never satisfied with how I would embody Michael if it were in the dancing. I always wanted to keep learning. Even after the first day on set, I kept continuing to go home and practice even after we would wrap sometimes. If I wasn’t too tired, I was like, let me go practice because I know the next day we’re gonna go and shoot this.

“So, I always had that mindset to keep going. And that really only worked because I know Michael had the same mindset. So, that just allowed me to get more into the character.”

“It was all about the feeling,” added the rising member of the Jackson clan. “It took a while to get to that place where I felt confident, where I can look in the mirror while I’m rehearsing, and kind of trick myself as to, like, oh wow, that really landed the way Michael did it. Or I hit that spin the way he hit it.

“It wasn’t very consistent for the first two years, but I kept striving to get better and have that perfectionist type of mindset.

“It was very grueling to start with. I was so self-conscious in the beginning of my own body, just really understanding the weight shift and the type of weight I had to lose to get to that body frame, and how the moves felt with that.  As time went on, it got better and better.

“But also, just building that stamina because performing top to bottom with that type of energy is a lot. And then, to translate that to set, where you might have to do 10 to 20 takes from front to finish.

“But to make sure that take 1 will still have the same energy as take 20. I did that in the preparation.  The way I prepared was from repetition – keep doing it over and over again until you can’t go on anymore. I got stronger as time went on.

“So, when I did go on set and was asked to do those big numbers and performances, I was confident enough to be able to tell myself, I can do that.  I can go for 15, 20, 25, and go in any direction.  It was really just making sure in the preparation process that I dived into all that in the most challenging way.”

The “Billie Jean” Motown 25 performance was the toughest to execute “because that was the longest song from front to finish with the most choreography that I had to do.’’

“And what made it really challenging was that it had to be frame-by-frame exactly what Michael did on the performance. So that’s the song I practiced the most out of all the performances. And that’s the first song I learned with the choreography out of all the songs that we performed.

“At first, I was practicing for about three hours a day specifically on that song. Then that grew more and more. I wanted to do that performance at least 20 times a day from start to finish.

“Even though after the 10th time, I was incredibly tired. But as a couple of years went on, like in the third year, I could do it over 20 times. Then I got to a place where I would put the actual recording of Motown 25 like in my rearview, and I’d see the reflection from the mirror I’d rehearse in.

“I’m hitting every pose, the timing and the rhythm were on point with Michael, just to make sure it felt very identical, to make sure the feeling’s not lost.”

Jaafar stressed, “I didn’t want it to be just like I’m copying the moves but there’s no feeling behind the performance. I wanted to feel exactly what Michael felt in that performance.  So understanding the backstory, the meaning of that incredible moment in Michael’s career, what that meant for him, how that changed the trajectory of ‘Thriller.’ ”

Aside from “Billie Jean,” performing “Bad” and “Human Nature also excited him. He said, “To do that on set and then actually sing it out because when I was performing, I was really in the mindset of performing. I was dancing but also really singing out into the microphone, and they were recording.”

Jaafar revealed, “But in post, I re-sang a lot of the songs, and it became a thing where it was a blend of both vocals.  Some little parts are me, and then a lot of it is Michael. So, it’s a blend of making sure it feels very dynamic in the performances.”

Juliano Valdi as young Michael

‘Michael’ traces the rise of Michael Jackon from a young boy, played by Juliano Valdi, to a superstar. Photo from Lionsgate

As the young Michael who became the lead of The Jackson 5, Juliano also won over moviegoers. The child actor, born in Las Vegas to parents who have Ecuadorian and Dominican roots, was 9 years old when he was cast.

Asked what the hardest emotions or scenes to pull off were, Juliano replied, “All the moments because Michael worked really hard as a kid.  He didn’t get a lot of time to actually be a kid.  And it was really hard for me because I had to express how he felt.

“And that was just not being a kid and having to work every day for hours and hours. Trying to fill in the shoes of a legend is incredibly hard, especially a legend like Michael Jackson.”

At age 4, Juliano, now 12, began learning Michael’s popular dance moves. The boy’s viral dance routines on social media caught the film producers’ attention.

“Oh yeah, I would listen to Michael Jackson songs for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Juliano eagerly answered when asked if he was already an MJ fan before he was cast.

On seeing himself costumed as The Jackson 5’s youngest member, Juliano said, “It was so surreal just to see me in the full outfit.  I felt like I was actually Michael Jackson.”

As with Jaafar, Juliano’s live vocals were blended with Michael’s original master recordings from The Jackson 5 era.

Colman Domingo as Joseph Jackson

Colman Domingo as the patriarch, Joseph Jackson. Photo from Lionsgate

On being congratulated for “Michael’s” record-setting earnings, Colman Domingo, who plays Joseph Jackson, the family’s strict patriarch, quipped, “I don’t see most of it in my pocket (laughs). I’ve celebrated that online.  It’s a really incredible achievement, and it shows Michael’s breadth and his impact on generations.”

As the Jacksons’ controversial and abusive father, Colman approached the role with empathy and humanity and drew from his experience with his strict stepdad in real life. As the parents, Colman and Nia also earned critical praise.

The highly respected actor said, “For me, it was like, let me give him his humanity in all these small ways. While he can still be the animal that he was as a businessman, and he can be a very harsh dictator in the house, whether he believes he is or not, that’s others’ opinion. But from him, he’s like, no. It’s respect. It’s rigor. There’s a moment where early on, we had a great discussion about the first time he gives Michael a whooping.

“I said, I come from a house where I got whooping. I don’t think I was abused. But I got spanked. And usually I got spanked when I was out of line, I was disrespectful, or I spoke out of turn. And so we made sure that we crafted that moment.

“So Joseph’s just not walking in, whooping children. He feels justified. He’s like, oh, so my opinion doesn’t matter, Michael? And Michael, the littlest one, is bucking up against his dad. I thought, in this house, Joseph has to assert authority.”

The “Rustin” and “Sing Sing” actor continued, “Otherwise, he has all these young men who are going to grow up and become big men, and they’re gonna take over him. So he had to assert his position. He was like, you get one, the rest will fall in place. You will know the line.

“So for me, it was always justified when Joseph was a little harsh. I had to find out through Joseph’s lens when he was actually trying to bring things back in. Whether that’s good or bad, you know?”

Colman elaborated on understanding Joseph, who passed away in 2018, based on his real-life stepfather. “My way into Joseph Jackson was to really examine a man from that time. I felt like I had to contextualize and to know where he has roots from Arkansas, being a blue-collar worker in the steel mill, a man of the Vietnam era, looking at his way in, and how to love his family is different than its very modern context.

“I examine him through the lens of looking at my stepfather, who was part of a generation of men who thought their job was to be the provider and the disciplinarian, and to provide structure for the family while the mother provided the softness and the care.

“And so by looking at that, I looked at the way Joseph knew how to love was through rigor, structure and discipline. That’s loving from his perspective. Once I went inside and looked through Joseph’s eyes, I had to look at him as a father first. Someone who had nine children, and was the provider.

“He knew that his children had talent. And wanted to give them the best that he has. He may not have had much, but he had to get the best out of his children. It’s an outside view whether or not that was dictatorial, or was it loving. But from his eyes, he was doing the best that he could.

“It is one of those things where you just have to examine a black man at that time. I feel like looking at him through a modern lens is not the right lens.”

Interesting to learn how Michael, the youngest of the Jackson boys, became the lead singer. Colman recounted, “Michael mentioned this in an interview – Jermaine was supposed to be the lead singer when they were kids. And then Katherine Jackson kept saying, ‘Oh, no. You’ve got to listen to Michael. Michael’s been singing around the house.  You’ve got to listen to him.’

“Joseph said, ‘No, Jermaine’s the lead singer.’ Once he realized Michael’s talent and knew what it could do, knowing what it was doing in that eight-year-old body, he thought this is where we go, and this is how we can be the best.”

Colman disclosed how he was physically aided to play the elder Jackson. “I was in two and half hours of prosthetics. None of it was mine. Eyebrows, forehead, nose, and some around the face. Makeup was lightened because he was lighter-skinned. I’m wearing contact lenses that are more his color.”

Nia Long as Katherine

Nia Long, who portrays Katherine Jackson, the mother of Michael (Jaafar Jackson). Photo from Lionsgate

If Colman was the sometimes terrifying father who whipped his kids, Nia’s Katherine was the quiet source of solace, especially for Michael.

The actress shared how she once met Michael himself. “It was really special because my mother used to work at Michael’s record label,” Nia began. “She was in charge of organizing the text on the back of the LPs. So when I was a little girl in my Catholic school uniform, she would pick me up, and we’d go back to her office so she could finish work.

“Anyway, we used to take the photos that no one else wanted of Michael Jackson. So I have all this amazing original art of Michael Jackson that my mom and I would just take because we were such fans of Michael.

“Cut to years later, I do ‘Boyz in the Hood’ with John Singleton, which was my first film. I’m walking up a staircase to go see a Stevie Wonder concert. Michael Jackson and John Singleton were coming down the stairwell.

“Michael just looks at me, and he goes, ‘Hi, Nia Long, I love your work.’ I was so young and dumb that I was like trapped inside of my body.”

Nia’s remembrance of meeting Katherine, now 96, after she had shot “Michael” is poignant.

She recalled, “I think it was Maddie (Simpson), Jaafar’s girlfriend, who said, ‘You know, Grandma’s in one of the rooms.’ I thought, I’m just gonna go over. I’m not even gonna ask permission.

“So, I walked in, and there she was. She had a group. I think it was some of the granddaughters, and they were making sure she had everything she needed. I just walked in, and I knelt next to her, and I said, ‘Have you ever thought about the fact that none of this would be possible without you? You are the Queen Mother.’

“I said, ‘There would be no Michael Jackson movie. There would be no Michael Jackson. There wouldn’t be this catalog of incredible music that is representative of the world. You’re not just a mother. You are the beginning and the creator.’

“‘And you created this amazing legacy that has inspired people all over the world.  I am so happy to meet you.’

“And I just said, ‘Thank you.’ She started to cry, and I got all emotional. What made it even more magical was that my mother was there with me.”

Like Colman, Nia also put her portrayal of Katherine in the context of the years depicted in the film, starting in the 1960s. “You have to look at where we were in the world during that time,” the actress said.

“We’re right smack dead in the Civil Rights Movement, and then we’re post-Civil Rights Movement. And Katherine is a very religious woman, so there’s a grace and a quiet strength that I believe was the center and the core of the family unit.

“I also believe that, even though she comes off quiet and more observant, I think, behind closed doors, she had a lot to say to her husband. You see it in the film when Colman and I are in that scene together, and Michael writes the letter (to his father) that says, ‘You’re fired.’

“She simply says the truth. And she doesn’t have to raise her voice. But she stands up for herself, and she draws that line in the sand. And that really changes the whole direction of the film.

“It’s a mother really supporting her son’s independence. There’s nothing like the divine feminine energy. I am a true believer that we carry this power that is oftentimes overlooked.

“I don’t necessarily believe she was in Joe’s shadow. I think she knew that being forceful with Joe or competing with Joe’s assertiveness and control, that it wouldn’t behoove her family. You have to take the path of least resistance. I think she was smart enough to know that.

“I actually changed the script. I said, this character reminded me that grace is quiet and still. But that doesn’t make her invisible. That actually makes her powerful.”

Sequel confirmed

As for a “Michael” part two, Colman gave a definite answer: “I can confirm that there will be a second movie. I know that Graham and Antoine are trying to figure out exactly what that is. I think they have some ideas. But it will be a concentrated time in Michael’s life, I believe. I don’t know exactly what it will cover.

“But I think what audiences really appreciated was that this is truly a celebration of this artist, his legacy and the music that he created for generations.  I don’t know how in-depth they will get into other things.

“I’m like, I feel you need 20 movies to tell Michael’s story. And versions of it. I think that there probably will be. Maybe it’s short-form, maybe it’s television. I don’t know. But I feel like he’s lived many lives.

“As long as Joseph has something to say in it. When it comes to knowing Joseph’s life, there are some things I’m interested in. As long as it serves the function for the next film, I’m game.”

Ruben V. Nepales is an LA-based journalist whose honors include nine first prizes from the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards and the Los Angeles Press Club’s Southern California Journalism Awards. He authored “Through a Writer’s Lens,” which won first prize in nonfiction at the 2020-2021 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards. In 2004, he became the first Filipino voter of the Golden Globe Awards, He is a member of the Golden Globe Foundation, one of Hollywood’s biggest philanthropic organizations.

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