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An MJ Biopic?

Gatesy2006

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Went to see the N.W.A biopic SOC at the cinema yesterday and it got me thinking.

Will we ever see a good and accurate biopic made of MJ's life and career? He's soared as high as just about anyone in the history of mankind and had some pretty harrowing lows, which would make for an interesting narrative.

What are peoples thoughts on this?
 
I personally would like a biopic... I would expect it to take years to make (done well) but I would like one... And even then big fans like us will find many flaws in it lol!! It's just the name of the game..

Even the American Dream movie, while done well had some simple flaws that were no correct and it is a bit annoying haha...

There's not really people that can embody MJ though.. that would be the hardest part, the only person I know of that get's at least a feel to him is E'cas - like on blossom. But who knows what he can really do on the screen/off the stage when it's not a little spot and head/hand gestures..
 
I think we should avoid this...I totally agree with Spike Lee on this....don't fix what isn't broke!
 
I don't want a biopic. For one, it would have to be a series as a standard 2-3 hour film is simply not enough to capture MJ's ~40-45 year career. In addition, we have the issue of MJ's appearance changing drastically through the 80s/90s (both as a result of a vitiligo and plastic surgery) so there would need to be a potential for multiple actors. His face, especially post-surgery, is very distinctive imo and it's hard enough finding someone who looks like Michael, who can also act decently in addition to being able to perform like MJ.

And I've never seen anyone dance like MJ and it would just throw me off seeing some actor dance at a fraction of the level MJ could. A good voice impersonator would be needed as well, if they don't look like Michael they could dub the physical actor's voice over... though that could create more hardships in post-production. Certainly not impossible, but depending on factors it does jack the cost and time up.

I remember there was an Elvis biopic they made (This is Elvis I think it was called). Alright doco, they merged actual live footage of Elvis with that of an actor and I remember in general finding it difficult to differentiate between the real Elvis and the fake Elvis at times... although I remember sometimes I was distracted from the film by that fact. Sometimes I'd be watching a scene and wondering if it was actually from the 1950s or if it was shot specifically for the doco and usually I could tell from a number of factors, but I was thinking about that often rather than taking in it like I should've.

Then you have the issue of facts. No doubt one of the things I see argued and debated about most in the MJ community is how legitimate claims are about Michael and whether things happened or not, how they went down etc. I can easily see the biopic doing something that would cause the MJ community to get into debates about whether something really happened that way or not, and there would honestly be some slight changes as to what actually happened for drama reasons.

So no, I don't really want a biopic. I'm always down for documentaries but especially when it comes to Michael Jackson, a biopic would be extremely hard to pull off at the level that Michael would deserve. IF they are going to do one, I'd rather it focus on one time/conflict of Michael's life, not his whole life.
 
HIStoric said:
So no, I don't really want a biopic. I'm always down for documentaries but especially when it comes to Michael Jackson, a biopic would be extremely hard to pull off at the level that Michael would deserve. IF they are going to do one, I'd rather it focus on one time/conflict of Michael's life, not his whole life.
Click to expand...

I agree with your post, but especially this part.
 
HIStoric said:
I don't want a biopic. For one, it would have to be a series as a standard 2-3 hour film is simply not enough to capture MJ's ~40-45 year career. In addition, we have the issue of MJ's appearance changing drastically through the 80s/90s (both as a result of a vitiligo and plastic surgery) so there would need to be a potential for multiple actors. His face, especially post-surgery, is very distinctive imo and it's hard enough finding someone who looks like Michael, who can also act decently in addition to being able to perform like MJ.

And I've never seen anyone dance like MJ and it would just throw me off seeing some actor dance at a fraction of the level MJ could. A good voice impersonator would be needed as well, if they don't look like Michael they could dub the physical actor's voice over... though that could create more hardships in post-production. Certainly not impossible, but depending on factors it does jack the cost and time up.

I remember there was an Elvis biopic they made (This is Elvis I think it was called). Alright doco, they merged actual live footage of Elvis with that of an actor and I remember in general finding it difficult to differentiate between the real Elvis and the fake Elvis at times... although I remember sometimes I was distracted from the film by that fact. Sometimes I'd be watching a scene and wondering if it was actually from the 1950s or if it was shot specifically for the doco and usually I could tell from a number of factors, but I was thinking about that often rather than taking in it like I should've.

Then you have the issue of facts. No doubt one of the things I see argued and debated about most in the MJ community is how legitimate claims are about Michael and whether things happened or not, how they went down etc. I can easily see the biopic doing something that would cause the MJ community to get into debates about whether something really happened that way or not, and there would honestly be some slight changes as to what actually happened for drama reasons.

So no, I don't really want a biopic. I'm always down for documentaries but especially when it comes to Michael Jackson, a biopic would be extremely hard to pull off at the level that Michael would deserve. IF they are going to do one, I'd rather it focus on one time/conflict of Michael's life, not his whole life.
Click to expand...

Need I say more!
 
I agree about the biopic-I really don't think it can be done-certainly not now-and maybe not even in 25 years. A lot of the allegation stuff has to be resolved-because you're always going to have that stigma hanging over the filmmaker's head-until at least Jordan finally confesses the truth. And Michael kept an awful lot of stuff about his own illnesses and demons private-even from his own family, friends, colleagues-that's why you have so much differing opinions on things-and just flat out speculation by people you'd think would know everything. (that includes Quincy and his own mother, among others).

I think American Dream is a great movie-except for the fact that they get Michael's birthdate wrong, and I personally would have cast Brandon Adams instead of Jason Weaver in the Michael part, it's pretty historically correct and really well done. It's a watered down version of the truth-but every time I watch it, I'm surprised that they put certain things in there, and I personally think as proud and strong and as dignified Michael was, it's the version of his life he'd prefer everyone to see.
It reminds me of "Moonwalker" in many ways-you have to read between the lines when you watch/read it.

Oh, and you only have to watch about 20 minutes of that Flex Alexander "Man In the Mirror" to know how a biopic can become pure garbage fast.
 
barbee0715 said:
Oh, and you only have to watch about 20 minutes of that Flex Alexander "Man In the Mirror" to know how a biopic can become pure garbage fast.
Click to expand...

That's a little generous. Let's be more realistic.

2 minutes :p
 
A big studio biopic will be done at some point. The problem is, if it's one that has the estate involved, it's gonna suck because they will wanna make sure they don't depict things a certain way. I think thats why the Queen/Freddy Mercury movie was stalled because Queen didn't want to do a darker movie that Sasha Baron Cohen was more interested in playing.

I think it would be more interesting to pick a certain period of time in his adult life and focus on that. The new Steve Jobs movie coming isn't a biopic, but Steve during 3 key Apple keynotes (the imac, ipod, and iphone).
Maybe pick 3 key moments in his life. The VH1 movie showed how bad it can be to fit in his whole career into 2 hours.

Imagine a movie purely focusing on the end of the OFF THE WALL era as a start point, at ending at the start of the Bad era.
 
I don't want an MJ biopic and I don't it is needed either. MJ was such a huge star that everyone knows the key elements of his life. His career with the Jackson 5, his solo eras, the controversies etc. I think biopics are more needed for people whose life is a lot less familiar for people or are a bit forgotten. But Michael's whole life played out in front of the public.

And whose version of MJ will it be? There are certain elements of his life about which there isn't a general consensus in the general public - even if they are clear for us. (Imagine if they'd portray the allegations based on tabloid reports, for example.) I think MJ's life is just too complicated and too big to be accurately portrayed in a biopic and like I said I do not think he needs it either, because more or less everyone knows the main events in his life.

I agree The American Dream was good, but that was the simple part: Jackson 5 until his early adulthood, before the controversies.

I hope it doesn't happen, I'd rather see accurate and in-depth documentaries focusing on certain eras in his career and life.
 
I don't mind if it is done like Bob Marley's movie bio.
Marley's bio movie was made of actual footage, so was Cobain's recent one, so docu movie seems to be the trend now.

MJ is just too big not to have 1 or 10 biographies made of him.
 
My favorite part of Man In The Mirror movie is when Michael announces on stage at the last Victory tour show that it will be their last, and they cut to the brothers faces and they're like "wtf??" :D

Seeing the ACTUAL video, they don't make these faces (but I'm sure they were thinking it in their heads).
 
barbee0715 said:
I agree about the biopic-I really don't think it can be done-certainly not now-and maybe not even in 25 years. A lot of the allegation stuff has to be resolved-because you're always going to have that stigma hanging over the filmmaker's head-until at least Jordan finally confesses the truth. And Michael kept an awful lot of stuff about his own illnesses and demons private-even from his own family, friends, colleagues-that's why you have so much differing opinions on things-and just flat out speculation by people you'd think would know everything. (that includes Quincy and his own mother, among others).

I think American Dream is a great movie-except for the fact that they get Michael's birthdate wrong, and I personally would have cast Brandon Adams instead of Jason Weaver in the Michael part, it's pretty historically correct and really well done. It's a watered down version of the truth-but every time I watch it, I'm surprised that they put certain things in there, and I personally think as proud and strong and as dignified Michael was, it's the version of his life he'd prefer everyone to see.
It reminds me of "Moonwalker" in many ways-you have to read between the lines when you watch/read it.

Oh, and you only have to watch about 20 minutes of that Flex Alexander "Man In the Mirror" to know how a biopic can become pure garbage fast.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean here, JW did an excellent job.
 
^^I think Jason did a great job too. But I think Brandon looks more like Michael and has the same physical frame.
I thought maybe he had aged out of the role but I saw him in a movie made around the same time and he would have been perfect.
(I didn't say Jason was bad in the part). I love the movie.
 
After the utter crap they did with with Man In The Mirror, I don't want a biopic. Michael should have sued them but his life was at stake when that crap came out, so he was focusing on the trial and I understand why he didn't.

if the Estate are able to pull a movie documentary or several ones with actual footage of Michael, I'll be happy to support it knowing MJ himself recorded almost everything in his life since the early 80s. But not not other actors trying to perform him
 
I'd rather see an MJ documentary like Senna or the new Amy Winehouse one, with behind the scenes footage of MJ which there is plenty of and I think it would narrate the story better than his so called "friends" would.
 
After watching the TLC biopic I would be interested in an MJ biopic but I think it would be hard to pull off... especially since there's no one who could or would be able to dance almost exactly like Michael and replicate Michael's unique appearance
Also, after watching the Aaliyah biopic, that kind of turned me off biopics for a while anyway until I watched The Jacksons: An American Dream again, which is a great biopic with the exception of some factual errors
If a biopic was considered, just don't let Wendy Williams or Lifetime anywhere near it ;)
 
Hey regarding Jason Weaver vs. Brandon Adams - I feel they both bring out different likeness of MJ... Brandon Adams has a softer look to him which we identify MJ with while Jason had some feature resemblances that Adam didn't have as well.. As far as moves go, Brandon had it lol for sure.. Vocally Jason was very similar to a young MJ "Kansas City" which was Jasons voice along with his speaking voice was good.. I still trip out a bit listening to his version of "I wanna be where you are."

... Doing a good biopic on MJ would be so hard, way hard, and maybe too hard.. But I would like one. I mean finding someone (or people) to resemble a bit and STILL can pull off his likeness AND act... that would be a serious challenge.

I remember yeas ago I tried coming up with a cast In my head just on 'looks' alone.. I remember I had Danny Tidwell for MJ for later 70's and Off The Wall - maybe lead into thriller.. E'Casanova from later Thriller-Bad and Dangerous. But that all just started cuz I thought Dany resembled MJ a bit in late 70's a bit.

Danny
http://www.rickey.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/danny-tidwell-dance-03-2007-06-07.jpg
http://www.rickey.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/danny-tidwell-01-2007-07-121.jpg



 
KOPV said:
Hey regarding Jason Weaver vs. Brandon Adams - I feel they both bring out different likeness of MJ... Brandon Adams has a softer look to him which we identify MJ with while Jason had some feature resemblances that Adam didn't have as well.. As far as moves go, Brandon had it lol for sure.. Vocally Jason was very similar to a young MJ "Kansas City" which was Jasons voice along with his speaking voice was good.. I still trip out a bit listening to his version of "I wanna be where you are."

... Doing a good biopic on MJ would be so hard, way hard, and maybe too hard.. But I would like one. I mean finding someone (or people) to resemble a bit and STILL can pull off his likeness AND act... that would be a serious challenge.

I remember yeas ago I tried coming up with a cast In my head just on 'looks' alone.. I remember I had Danny Tidwell for MJ for later 70's and Off The Wall - maybe lead into thriller.. E'Casanova from later Thriller-Bad and Dangerous. But that all just started cuz I thought Dany resembled MJ a bit in late 70's a bit.

Danny
http://www.rickey.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/danny-tidwell-dance-03-2007-06-07.jpg
http://www.rickey.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/danny-tidwell-01-2007-07-121.jpg
Click to expand...

But that's the problem right there, why not look for talent first and foremost? What the person looks like can be overcome by makeup, masks, costume, lighting, CGI etc. If going by looks alone, then Danny Tidwell looks NOTHING like a late 70s MJ.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=m...ackson+off+the+wall+era&imgrc=x6Jo7BoXwMt0kM:
 
Bubs said:
I don't mind if it is done like Bob Marley's movie bio.
Marley's bio movie was made of actual footage, so was Cobain's recent one, so docu movie seems to be the trend now.
Click to expand...

It's interesting you mention Cobain because Francis Bean (his daughter) was the executive producer on Montage of Heck (which is a great film by the way) and yet was only 2 or 3 when he died, so her information must come from Courtney, those that knew Cobain, and photographs/videos. Knowing Prince is going into film school, and knowing he was a little older when MJ died (just turned 12) along with having a sister similar to his age with her own memories (not so much Blanket because I think he will have been too young), and knowing how famous MJ was and how huge the Jackson family is to be able to share info., I would be interested to see if later on down the road he ends up putting something together?

As for a biopic, no, it's not needed. Anyone and everyone knows who Michael Jackson is, most know his general life timeline, and I fear it would just turn his story into another trashy spectacle of the rise and fall of an Icon.

As for Lifetime, 3 things come to mind: Whitney Houston, Saved By the Bell, and Lindsey Lohan as Elizabeth Taylor ... Yikes.

Question: What's the name of the TLC bio?
 
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Most people know the story of the NWA, still makes for compelling viewing. I would like to see an MJ biopic (done right of course) to be made to educate younger people on the greatness of the man.
 
Gatesy2006 said:
Most people know the story of the NWA, still makes for compelling viewing. I would like to see an MJ biopic (done right of course) to be made to educate younger people on the greatness of the man.
Click to expand...

Well in comparison to Jackson and outside of America, I don't think a lot of people do know the story of NWA? In addition to that, the biopic that came out recently is a sugar coated version of true events created to portray NWA to mainstream audiences in a more or less positive light while conveniently leaving out most of the negative and often illegal actions of all members and associates. If anyone remembers who Dee Barnes is, I suggest reading this great article she posted right after the movie came out: http://gawker.com/heres-whats-missing-from-straight-outta-compton-me-and-1724735910
 
The only person who could tell Michael's story accurately is the man himself. Using his own home movies and official footage would serve the purpose instead of talking heads. Bad 25 was a nice try but not good enough because Spike relied more inn other people to talk for him than letting Michael to speak.
 
No to a bio pic unless it's actual footage and unreleased material of MJ. I don't care to see some actor who doesn't compare to the man himself, try to act, sing and dance like him.
 
Snow White luvs Peter Pan said:
Bad 25 was a nice try but not good enough because Spike relied more in other people to talk for him than letting Michael to speak.
Click to expand...

Speaking of such, anyone else see the recent photo of Spike Lee and Mark Ronson regarding Off the Wall? Am I confused, or I am right in thinking that Mark never worked with Michael?
 
^^I haven't seen that pic but Mark was friends with Sean Lennon and that back stabber Robson and they had sleepovers at Neverland. Mark recently told a story about how Sean and him tried to make Michael to watch porn in one those sleepovers and he told them to stop watching. So they were buddies, they met but I don't know if they ever worked together. I don't think so.
 
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