When it was announced that Bohemian Rhapsody producer Graham King would be making a Michael Jackson biopic, he said it wouldn’t be a “sanitized” version of the musician’s life. The upcoming 2025 movie will not only show how Jackson took the music business by storm, but it’ll also cover his troubled childhood and the sexual abuse allegations covered in the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland. But after the musical biopic Michael experienced early criticism, Colman Domingo, one of its stars, shared his take on those reviews.
Colman Domingo, who received his first Oscar nomination for Rustin, will be playing a key role in the Michael Jackson biopic as “the controversial patriarch of the Jackson family,” Joe Jackson. While Michael has experienced early criticism, Domingo spoke with ET at the 2024 BET Awards shutting down any negativity the movie has faced:
My message is Michael Jackson is undeniably one of the most prolific artists that has ever been on this planet. And he's a complicated human being and I think what the film will do is tell the story of a very complicated person. So I feel like everyone has a story, and I feel like everyone has a story to tell. So that’s what we’re gonna do, strive to tell it in the best way we could.
Telling the story of a “complicated human being” has the potential of hitting some audience members the wrong way. For instance, critics have so far been talking about the scenes that cover Michael Jackson’s history with sexual abuse allegations. As his lawyers and his estate have denied the allegations, Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed has called the upcoming biopic “disingenuous” to Variety, believing the script was aiming “to convince you Michael is innocent.”
Despite the early criticism Michael has gotten, Colman Domingo still has faith in his project. He continued to tell ET that his focus is centered on the art of the new movie and telling the multi-layered story of a celebrated musician:
I think it will be [complicated movie]. And it will also be entertaining, and I think it also will be something that, I don’t know, will shine a different light on Michael Jackson.
What we know so far about the Michael biopic is that director Antoine Fuqua plans to tell the facts about Michael Jackson in terms of the good and bad he endured in his life. Audiences will get a glimpse into his early bout of fame joining his siblings in the musical group the Jackson 5, as well as releasing some of the most famous albums of all time, like Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad. But the movie apparently doesn't shy away from the complicated history the pop culture icon faced, like his legal troubles and other allegations he dealt with before his death in 2009.
Among the things I hope to see in Michael is the struggle period before Michael Jackson’s breakthrough album Off the Wall came out. This way, audiences can see the honest depiction of the “Beat It” singer not achieving instant fame right away, and that he had to take a few steps before getting there. It would also be nice to see the sweet interactions he had with the Jackson siblings, including Janet Jackson, with whom he was very close. Even looking into the best-selling artist’s affliction of vitiligo would bring great awareness to the skin condition that we don’t see often on the big screen.
Another reason why Colman Domingo thinks we should be very excited for Michael is the chance to see the late singer’s nephew Jaafar Jackson play the lead role. He believes audiences will be “blown away” by the 27-year-old’s performance as he channels his uncle. I can understand that since based on the first-look Instagram photo Antoine Fuqua posted of his lead, it’s like you can’t even tell the difference between the two.
The Michael Jackson biopic may be facing early criticism, but Colman Domingo has a lot of faith in it. As the Billboard Top 100 artist led a very complicated life, Domingo believes the movie did a great job portraying the good and bad elements of Jackson’s life. Be prepared to bust into a moonwalk to see Michael in theaters on April 18th, 2025.
