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Who will direct ‘Michael: Part Two’?: I teased this yesterday on The Town, but it’s true: Michael producer Graham King has floated the idea of stepping in to direct the sequel, once it’s officially greenlit. That might sound nuts given that King has zero directing credits, but he was very hands-on in coordinating the reshoots and assembling the final cut after legal issues required a total overhaul of the first film.
Plus, if King and Lionsgate want Michael: Part Two to shoot later this year for a 2027 release, that will require replacing Antoine Fuqua, who directed Michael but is committed for the rest of this year to Netflix’s big-budget Denzel Washington epic about Hannibal (the general, not the cannibal).
Fuqua shot a bunch of additional musical performances and long sequences at Neverland Ranch (hence why Ron Burkle, the owner of Neverland, is a credited executive producer on Michael). That footage was not used when the original three-hour story was truncated to end in 1988, but given his familiarity with everything, King might make sense to step in and direct, with Fuqua serving as a producer, rather than King bringing in another filmmaker to combine the existing footage with new stuff. (Ironically, that’s exactly what happened on King’s Bohemian Rhapsody, when director Bryan Singer was fired and replaced with Dexter Fletcher for the final few weeks of filming.)
Fuqua isn’t the only Michael talent with scheduling issues, of course, so punting the shoot until 2027 may still happen. A follow-up film will also require negotiating new deals with all the principals, who, now that Michael opened to a massive $219 million worldwide, have tons of leverage.
And unlike on the first film, whose budget ballooned due to a legal oversight by the Jackson estate, co-executor John Branca is unlikely to want to foot the bill for the additional footage needed for a second film. (A rep for King declined to comment.)
And speaking of ‘Michael’ pay…: Nia Long, who plays Jackson’s mother, Katherine, in Michael, is quietly fighting Lionsgate over her compensation on the movie, according to three sources.
Long had a “favored nations” clause in her contract, meaning she could not be paid less than her co-stars, and she is said to have learned that both Colman Domingo and Miles Teller earned more than she did. Not great, if that’s true.
She’s now threatening to take the studio to mediation over the discrepancy. Before you note that Long appeared far less in Michael than Domingo, remember that the movie changed significantly from what she signed on for, and in the original script I read, Long’s part was bigger, including a key scene at the end of the film. Lionsgate declined to comment, and reps for Long did not respond to my email."
