By A new report released last night at Puck News claims that “Michael,” the upcoming biopic about singer Michael Jackson made in co-operation with his estate, has hit legally choppy waters and will need reshoots.
The $155 million-budgeted project is helmed by Antoine Fuqua and already completed filming back in May last year. The new report claims the producers are facing a “nightmare scenario,” one which will require serious rewrites and reshoots all tied to a clause in a settlement made with one of Jackson’s former accusers.
Jackson was accused in 1993 of sexually abusing a thirteen-year-old male and settled with the family out of court for a reported $25 million. The outlet’s sources claim that part of that settlement is an agreement that the teenager and his family can never be mentioned or dramatized in a movie.
Therein lies the problem. In John Logan’s script, it reportedly serves as the ‘backbone’ of the movie, and this legally binding agreement was overlooked when the script was previously vetted and approved by the estate. This has reportedly caught the filmmakers off guard, and the outlet claims it has rendered the “already shot third act of the film unusable”.
People spoke with a source close to the Michael Jackson biopic production who says the report is exaggerated and not anywhere near as disastrous as it sounds, downplaying the claims:
“The Michael Jackson biopic is not in total chaos. The inflammatory headlines about the moving halting are simply not true. The film is moving forward, and reshoots are happening in March.”
The film stars the singer’s real-life nephew Jaafar Jackson in the lead role along with Colman Domingo and Nia Long as parents Joe and Katherine Jackson, plus Miles Teller as Jackson’s lawyer. For now, it is still currently on track for an October 3rd release by Lionsgate and Universal.
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