[h=1]EXCLUSIVE: Joseph Fiennes 'as Shocked as You' to Portray Michael Jackson in New Film[/h] by Jackie Willis 8:01 AM PST, January 27, 2016
Photo: Getty Images
Joseph Fiennes understands that some fans of Michael Jackson will have their reservations about him portraying the King of Pop in a British TV movie.
"I'm a white, middle-class guy from London," Fiennes exclusively told ET of playing the late music icon. "I'm as shocked as you may be."
The movie, Elizabeth, Michael and Marlon, will air on Sky Arts and is based on an urban legend that showed up in a May 2011Vanity Fair article. Fiennes says it's a "light tongue-and-cheek look" at a story about Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor and Jackson renting a car and taking a road trip together after they were unable to catch a flight out of New York City due to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Brian Cox takes on the role Brando and Stockard Channing will portray Taylor.
"It's kind of off the wall, but the writing is a delight, and the kind of interaction between the three of them is funny, and also full of pathos," the 45-year-old actor said of the movie. "It's people who are so iconic, but also can be detached. You know, you can get detached from society. So it's examining that kind of wonderful and mad detachment."
While Fiennes acknowledges that he might receive some criticism for playing an African American, he doesn't think his race should come into play. "[Jackson] definitely had an issue -- a pigmentation issue -- and that's something I do believe," the Shakespeare in Love star explained. "He was probably closer to my color than his original color."
He added in defense of the movie, "It's a light comedy look. It's not in any way malicious. It's actually endearing."
Fiennes was a "huge fan" of Jackson when he was a kid, and says he now has a new appreciation for the music legend. "The more I actually looked at Michael," he gushed, "The more I kind of fell in love with him."
ET has reached out to members of the Jackson family for comment on the upcoming TV movie. Meanwhile, Fiennes is busy promoting his upcoming film, Risen, which hits theaters Feb. 19.
I would think though that the thread should be in this section right? Shouldn't this topic be in the Michael Jackson news section? As for the movie I'm offended and think the whole thing is rediculous.
Not that these kinds of weird daydreams don't pop into my head on a regular basis, but this one is actually based on a true story.
No, it is NOT!
seany;4131116 said:Well you should write to them and correct them... unless they know something we don't?
“That’s completely, completely inaccurate. After 9/11, Michael and I, his family, his kids I should say, got in a car and went to my family’s house in New Jersey and we were there for a couple of weeks, maybe two or three weeks. We were in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. And that story is completely inaccurate.”
However, it may be a shaggy-dog story. One of Taylor’s assistants told Vanity Fair that the actor stayed behind in New York, visiting Ground Zero and praying in a church.
Detached like a white actor who gets himself cast as a black icon in the current atmosphere of disillusionment about black people's access to Hollywood?"It's kind of off the wall, but the writing is a delight, and the kind of interaction between the three of them is funny, and also full of pathos," the 45-year-old actor said of the movie. "It's people who are so iconic, but also can be detached. You know, you can get detached from society. So it's examining that kind of wonderful and mad detachment."
It's also not the first time a real person was used in a fictional movie.
Wait, you're telling me Abraham Lincoln didn't actually hunt vampires?!
I swear the god, the stars are not lining up for any Michael release, there is always something else to take attention away from good thing.
Maybe next time
Btw, for those interested: someone made a petition..: https://www.change.org/p/sky-arts-re-cast-michael-jackson
“It’s offensive to me and my family for my Uncle Michael to be portrayed in a comedy taking place around 9/11,“ Jackson says in a statement released to Entertainment Tonight.
“Like everyone else, he was distraught, saddened and trying to process what had just happened. Following the events of 9/11, my uncle, Michael, with our entire family, took multiple busses back to Los Angeles as planes were grounded. There was no road trip with Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando. I have no comment on the casting of the project.”
I don't think they can if it's a satire. It's like doing a parody. Legally, someone like Weird Al doesn't have to get permission do a parody, but he does so out of courtesy. There was a biopic out not long ago about Jimi Hendrix starring Andre 3000. Jimi's estate (aka Janie Hendrix) denied the use of any song Jimi wrote and his recordings. The filmmakers set the film in his early years before he became really famous and got around that. There's movies about The Beatles that I doubt were given permission like the John Lennon/Brian Epstein movie I mentioned earlier in the thread. There was also another movie called Nowhere Boy about John & his family when he was a teen. It didn't really have anything to do with Beatles music, so song approval from any of the living Beatles and Yoko & Olivia was not needed.Can't the the Estate stop them alleging unauthorized/innapropriate use of Michael's image and likeness? If that idiotic crap of a movie can't be stopped, I hope it's a complete flop.
Can't the the Estate stop them alleging unauthorized/innapropriate use of Michael's image and likeness?
barbee0715;4131146 said:And how did this guy get to be the head of a prestigious little art channel if he read that VF piece and thought it was true. At least he could call it urban legend.
I think its a brilliant concept.
Firstly its a comedy, 30 mins long on a respected channel called SKY Arts. Below is a quote from the Head of SKY Arts, Phil Edgar Jones:
"And in a job where every day is different from the last, the thing I'm thinking about most today is a road trip with Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando and Michael Jackson. Not that these kinds of weird daydreams don't pop into my head on a regular basis, but this one is actually based on a true story. In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, this unlikely trio decided to launch their own escape from New York and embark on a cross-country excursion in a hire car. No, really. So next year we're telling our version of that story in Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon, a dramatisation starring Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes and Stockard Channing."
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/phil-edgarjones-/sky-arts_b_8852336.html
I think its a brilliant concept.
Firstly its a comedy
Those of you making an issue about a white man playing Jackson need to explain how it was then ok that Michael wanted to play Peter Pan as well as Charlie Chaplin. Not only did MJ look as white as Marilyn Manson by 2001 but my respect for him is tied to his philosophy that color should not matter. (It don't matter if you're black or white...) As Martin Luther King said. In this instance the only issues for me is the quality of the writing and the talent of the performers. I do not care if they are red, yellow, transgender or midgets. They just need to act well and look a bit believable. It's theater and magic. As MJ would have said.
Not only did MJ look as white as Marilyn Manson by 2001
the people it's about are real. and it's not ok to mock legends like thatso what? this is a movie about a not real event. it doesn't even matter since its not real anyway.