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- #michael2026
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The story of pop superstar Michael Jackson -- from his extraordinary early days in the Jackson 5 to the visionary artist whose creative ambition fuels a relentless pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world.
#Michael
#Michael2026
#Michaelfullmovie
#Michaelmovie2026ondailymotion
#Michaelfullmovieondailymotion
#Michael
#Michael2026
#Michaelfullmovie
#Michaelmovie2026ondailymotion
#Michaelfullmovieondailymotion
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Magic.
00:05We are so excited to introduce you to the people who have created this movie,
00:13the producer and the cast and the director.
00:16And let's get started.
00:21First of all, we would like to welcome up on stage the producer of Michael Graham King.
00:36Hi, Graham.
00:37Good to see you as well.
00:40Wherever you want to sit.
00:42In the middle.
00:43Yeah.
00:44Okay.
00:45Next up, the man who brought it to the screen, the director.
00:50Please welcome Mr. Antoine Fuqua.
01:06And there would be no movie, Michael, without Michael Jackson.
01:10Here's Jafar Jackson.
01:30And next up, there was once a young Michael Jackson.
01:34Please give it up for Giuliano Valdi.
01:48Good morning.
01:52She is the center of the Jackson family.
01:55Please welcome Nia Long.
02:05Hello.
02:08Wherever you want to sit, yes.
02:10That's the spot.
02:11And also another very important figure in Michael Jackson's life
02:15was his head of security, Bill Bray,
02:18which is portrayed in the movie by Mr. Cale Keelan Daryl Jones.
02:27Please give it up.
02:31You want to sit?
02:34Please take a seat.
02:36So great to have you here.
02:38Graham, have you had the chance to digest what happened last night
02:44at the global fan celebration of Michael?
02:46Michael, did you like it?
02:48Did I like it?
02:51If I liked it, did you guys like it?
02:58Yeah, I mean, it's still very surreal after all these years
03:02to be here and have people enjoy the movie
03:05and that feeling we got in this theater last night was unbelievable.
03:09Hence my voice has gone singing too much.
03:11Singing too many Michael Jackson tunes afterwards.
03:14The most amazing moment, I don't know if you caught it last night,
03:18after the movie was over, everyone stayed in the hall
03:23singing along to Michael Jackson's songs, enjoying themselves.
03:27There was so much love.
03:28Thank you so much.
03:29It was amazing.
03:30Well, I think we've been saying what Michael did so well
03:36was bring people together through his music
03:38and our hope was to bring people together through the film.
03:41And I think we all need that in the world today.
03:45Talking about bringing people together,
03:47this is an amazing movie.
03:49And as we've heard from the crew, it's a labor of love.
03:54And you brought all these different departments,
03:56all these great people together.
03:59Why, and we spoke about that last night,
04:02did you tackle this amazing person,
04:05I mean the greatest of all time, as your next project?
04:07What intrigued you?
04:09What triggered you?
04:10Why did you say, okay, after being in Rhapsody,
04:12I'm going to go even bigger.
04:14This is going to be my next movie?
04:17Antoine called me and said,
04:18let's do a Michael Jackson movie.
04:21The exact opposite.
04:24You know, knowing Michael since the early 80s and the family,
04:31you know, it felt like a challenge beyond.
04:34And it was never really in the early days taken that seriously.
04:38Oh, let's think about a Michael Jackson movie.
04:39Let's see if we can make it work.
04:41And every step we took seemed to be positive and moving forward.
04:46And the next thing you know,
04:47John Logan delivered a phenomenal screenplay.
04:50And then, you know,
04:53just like Michael,
04:55I always take on a spiritual journey with these biopics.
04:59And I don't know what got into me to call this guy one day
05:03and say, let's have lunch together.
05:06And that's how it all started.
05:08And then to have the most phenomenal cast and crew
05:12and everyone,
05:13we had 415 crew members on set every single day
05:16that was doing it for one reason,
05:18for the love of Michael.
05:20And you felt that.
05:22And you felt that.
05:52incredible role that you played.
05:55Is it true that when you found out about the movie
05:59that you kept it secret for a year
06:01before you told your folks back home?
06:04Yeah,
06:04Yeah, I did keep it a secret from my family for up to a year,
06:09I would say.
06:10And the main reason for that is because I really wanted to see for myself
06:15how well I can do it in the beginning.
06:18And I wanted to make sure that it was something I knew for sure
06:22that I had it before I spoke too soon.
06:24So that was the main point.
06:27And you found out you had it in you.
06:29Yeah,
06:29I did many months,
06:31many months in.
06:32Wow.
06:33Wow.
06:35And what did you need to understand first in order to approach Michael,
06:40your uncle,
06:42in a way that it felt truthful?
06:45How did you approach this?
06:48For me,
06:49it was most important to really understand,
06:50you know,
06:51what is acting before even trying to embody Michael
06:55and what that was like.
06:57So I had an incredible coach,
06:59Angela Gibbs,
07:00that Graham set me up with.
07:02And we did scenes from many other films,
07:05many screenplays from plays as well.
07:08So we did that for about six months.
07:10And then we started to do certain scenes from the script that Graham would send us.
07:16And everything was recorded so Graham can see my progression as months went on.
07:20Then I started to work with other actors.
07:23And it was a long process until we had a screen test,
07:28I think was two years in.
07:30And from that screen test,
07:32it was a hair and makeup full test.
07:34And Dion was there.
07:35And I think that's the clip that Antoine saw when you were in Italy shooting Equalizer.
07:41And then I had a great lunch with Antoine and Graham.
07:45And that's when it really all started.
07:46And I felt that this project was in the right hands.
07:51Mm-hmm.
07:52And you're portraying someone who is the most famous pop star in the world
07:57and whose artistry was very deeply personal to you as family.
08:03How did that connection shape your process once you stepped into the role,
08:08the connection to Michael?
08:11I felt very connected.
08:13And I realized that because when I first read the script,
08:17there were so many moments I would just cry.
08:19I got really emotional.
08:21And I felt a deep connection with that.
08:23And it brought me back to my early memories when I was a kid,
08:27around four or five years old,
08:29just studying his Dangerous Tour specifically in Smooth Criminal.
08:34That was my favorite as a kid,
08:36watching those clips just back to back,
08:38trying to mimic the moves.
08:41And so a lot of those memories came back when I was reading the script
08:44and also just that process of going through it for the many months to come.
08:48Mm-hmm.
08:49Wow.
08:50Antoine, what I love about the movie,
08:52and probably the audience as well who have seen it,
08:56is that it's not only the spectacle of Michael Jackson,
09:00you know, the short films and the concerts,
09:02but it's also those intimate and passionate scenes within the family,
09:06within his brothers, with his mom.
09:09How did you approach those scenes?
09:11I mean, because they're so important and integral
09:14to telling the story of Michael Jackson.
09:16Yeah, good question.
09:19You know, for me, it's the material to begin with,
09:25John Logan with a great script.
09:26And then it's the actors.
09:28They bring so much to it.
09:30They bring so much magic.
09:33It's the only way I can describe it that you can't write.
09:36And so it's the moments in between the words
09:39where you can see the humanity of each character.
09:42So I always look for those moments,
09:44especially when you already got a great script
09:46and great actors who can deliver it.
09:49How did you...
09:50Because we've been talking to Jafar about, you know,
09:53the performances,
09:54but how did you create those intimate scenes?
09:57Because that's something that we never, as a fan,
10:00had the chance to experience.
10:01Did you get them together, for example,
10:03Keelan and Nia and Jafar
10:06to sort of bond on a different level?
10:09Or did you basically put out of 415 people
10:12just five in the room
10:13to have like a more passionate and enclosed space
10:17and safe space for the actors and actresses?
10:19Yeah, I mean, we always try to get actors together
10:22and do that sort of thing,
10:23but that doesn't always work.
10:26They have to do it on their own.
10:28It's something that happens, like I said,
10:30you know, me and Graham, we get everything ready
10:33and all the technical stuff.
10:35They're doing their work, you know,
10:36and it's not...
10:38It's their process that makes it so special
10:40that belongs to them.
10:42And so sometimes the great actors,
10:46you don't see it until you see it.
10:48Right?
10:49You see them talking and laughing,
10:51but then when they're together in the moment
10:54is really when you see the closeness.
10:57But that's a bond that they create.
10:59It's not something that we could create.
11:01That's what actors do.
11:02That's part of their magic.
11:04And it was magical.
11:05I would just like to ask Nia and Keelan,
11:09you know, two so important characters
11:12within the bond of the family
11:14and especially important, Keelan,
11:15your character for Michael Jackson's career.
11:18How did you research your relationship
11:22to your son in the movie
11:25and your friendship
11:27and being the bodyguard on the other hand?
11:30I think I asked a million questions.
11:34I was always asking Antoine and Graham questions
11:38about Michael.
11:39I also had the opportunity to meet Michael
11:42very early on in my career.
11:45and I was with John Singleton
11:47walking down a staircase
11:48and there's something about his essence,
11:51about his spirit, about his presence
11:54that is unforgettable
11:55and it's also very effortless.
11:58And so I really wanted to make sure
12:02that my depiction of Katherine Jackson
12:07was rooted in love and safety
12:09because I think the biggest challenge for Michael
12:12was growing up in front of the world.
12:15We all get to do it in private.
12:16We get to make mistakes in private.
12:18We get to love in private.
12:19We get to cry in private
12:21and experience joy in private.
12:24But this was a man who was so young when he started
12:29and the transition from boyhood to manhood
12:32can be very difficult.
12:34And so I just knew that if I stayed in the space
12:39of being the ultimate nurturer
12:41and creating that safe space
12:43that the performance would hopefully resonate
12:45with audiences.
12:47And I'm also a boy mom,
12:48so it was kind of easy.
12:51Practice at home.
12:55Yeah, I echo that.
12:56I also asked a lot of questions
12:58and the more we worked on set,
13:00the more I would meet people
13:02who actually knew the men and their dynamic.
13:06Also, Jafar and I sort of,
13:08as we got to know each other
13:09and work together more and more
13:10throughout the process,
13:11we sort of built our own sort of rapport.
13:14Also, we'd play pranks on each other
13:15and whatnot.
13:17And so, similar to what Antoine was saying,
13:20we would, you sort of have to cultivate
13:23those rapports and dynamics on your own
13:26as part of the work, believe it or not.
13:27It's a fun part of the work,
13:28but it is part of the work.
13:29And fortunately for me,
13:31Jafar made that very easy.
13:32He's one of the sweetest men I've ever met.
13:33You know, he's just a great human.
13:35And as far as building the character of Bill Bray,
13:38early on when I was invited
13:39to be a part of the process,
13:40I asked if there was any footage.
13:42There's tons of pictures of Bill,
13:43but not a lot of footage of Bill.
13:44And they gave me about a 28-second clip
13:48of Bill talking backstage to the fellas
13:51before they went on stage.
13:53And so that helped me with perceived notions
13:55as far as building the man,
13:58mannerisms, voice, et cetera.
13:59And I just watched it ad nauseum,
14:02asked a lot of questions of the people
14:03that I met along the way,
14:04and trusted Graham and Antoine and Jafar.
14:08It also helps...
14:11I was just going to add that it also helps
14:14when you put on your hair and your makeup
14:15and your wardrobe.
14:16That's so much of the process
14:19because, you know, we come to work
14:21in sweatpants and T-shirts and half asleep,
14:24and then we go into this trailer
14:26where we have amazing artists
14:28who do our hair and our makeup,
14:30and you walk out,
14:32and it gives you the confidence
14:33to really step into the shoes of the character.
14:35I remember seeing your transformation.
14:37I was like, oh, oh, wow.
14:40So it's fun for us to see other people transform.
14:44Like, I remember the very first time
14:45I saw Jafar do his transformation.
14:47I was like, oh, my gosh,
14:49you really look like Michael Jackson.
14:52Yeah, shout out to the hair department.
14:53They built my wig out of a beard.
14:58Not your beard.
14:59A sort of half...
15:00No, not my beard, thankfully.
15:02A sort of a half wig, you know,
15:04because of hairlines.
15:05And Carla Farmer in the hair department
15:09just made it work
15:10and made me look like Bill.
15:13Wow. Yeah.
15:18Hair and makeup.
15:19Shout out to Bill Corso.
15:21Yes, he's here today.
15:22Where is he?
15:22Where's Bill?
15:23Where's Bill?
15:25There he is.
15:25Stand up, Bill.
15:27Yeah.
15:32Now, Michael once was also a kid.
15:37And in the movie,
15:39it is the role of Giuliano Baldi.
15:43And you nailed it.
15:45Yeah.
15:48Hello.
15:49Okay, there.
15:51Absolutely fantastic.
15:52What you pulled off in this movie, really.
15:55Heads off.
15:56Heads off.
15:57How did you prepare for that role?
16:00I mean, did Michael Jackson and his work mean something to you?
16:05Yeah.
16:05I mean, he's always had a big inspiration in my life.
16:10And I prepared by watching a lot of his interviews and just trying to practice his mannerisms,
16:15the way he moves, the way he talks and the way he moves his body.
16:20And I'm really glad that I had my mom and my aunt and, you know, just my entire family supporting
16:27me through this movie.
16:28And I'm really glad that Antoine Foucault and Graham trusted me with this gigantic responsibility.
16:37No, we love Giuliano.
16:43He's the best, best kid ever.
16:46So much energy.
16:47When all of us retired, he was still going.
16:49You know, they keep your feet still.
16:52Yeah, that's him.
16:53Really.
16:55He's the best.
16:56We love you, kid.
17:05The performance sequences in the film are physically very demanding, very extraordinary.
17:12What was the hardest thing for you to learn?
17:16The dancing and specifically the James Brown splits.
17:23When I was practicing, when I was rehearsing it with Michael Jackson's choreographer,
17:28first Rich in Tone, I had to, I wasn't flexible at the time.
17:33So every morning I would stretch my hamstring.
17:36It still hurts.
17:38Wow.
17:39Wow.
17:40Was it worth it, though?
17:41Yes, it was very worth it.
17:44Right.
17:45Graham and Antoine.
17:46I just want to say one thing.
17:48I can't stress enough about, these guys have never acted before.
17:51Yeah.
17:52I mean, come on.
17:53It's insane.
17:59And it feels like they've done it all their lives.
18:02It's amazing.
18:03I mean, the work that you two put, or all of you put into this movie is just mind-blowing.
18:09And the great thing is, if you had the chance to talk to some of the fans and some of
18:13the guests at the premiere yesterday,
18:14there were lots of people who've never seen Michael Jackson live.
18:19I had the pleasure to see him live, but some of them haven't.
18:22But they still fell in love with the music.
18:23Looking at the performances, and especially the Wendy Stadium scene, how did you go about, from a producer's standpoint of
18:33view and from a director's standpoint of view,
18:35to create something that would engage the people who had the chance to experience what he did,
18:41and the people who've just listened to the records get into that move and vibe of the performances?
18:48Because that is something, I think, that unites everyone here today and all around the world.
18:54I mean, first, I had had the experience of doing that with Bohemian Rhapsody and Live Aid,
18:59and really learning about what the audience enjoys in those performances.
19:03You've got to put the audience in with the audience, and seeing the emotion of their reaction.
19:09The hardest thing with Michael is, it was hard to cut out of his performances,
19:13because you don't want to miss a move that Michael would do.
19:15And so, in the edit room, finding those moments where we can cut out and go to the crowd,
19:21because that's what will give our audience the emotion, was really tough to do.
19:25Yeah, really tough to do.
19:26A lot of credit, I've got to tell you, to Richard Tone, the choreographers.
19:30They really are amazing.
19:33Really amazing.
19:34Because you've got to remember, Jafar had to learn Michael Jackson moves.
19:40And make it look natural.
19:42All of those small nuances, all those little details that only Michael Jackson could do, he had to learn.
19:48And then Giuliano had to learn all the dancing before his era, that he had no idea what to do.
19:54And then, for me, coming out of music videos, I understood the language of music videos.
20:01But as Graham said, with Michael, it's different.
20:04I mean, to Jafar's credit, we shot bad the very first day.
20:11One of the hardest performances you could do.
20:13The first day, he's never been on a film set before acting.
20:16The first day, he did bad.
20:18You know how many times we shot that?
20:20His feet were bleeding.
20:23He couldn't feel his toes half the time.
20:25Right?
20:25That's the level of discipline.
20:27So when you get to the editing bay, you had to have enough material to make sure you could put
20:32something together exciting as if you were at a concert.
20:34Right?
20:35And that's what me and Graham would talk a lot about.
20:37But then, it's Michael.
20:39So you've got all these angles.
20:40And you go, this is a great angle.
20:42I love this angle.
20:42As a director, they were like, can't use it because you missed Michael's little move.
20:47Little way he moves his hips or anything like that.
20:49The camera has to go wide again.
20:51Right?
20:51So it's a learning process with Michael.
20:54You have to get it all, though.
20:56You can't miss it.
20:57They re-shot that so much.
20:58I got it.
20:59Jafar is like an athlete to do that.
21:03Over and over.
21:04Michael did it in a concert every night.
21:06He had to do it 20, 30-some times a day.
21:10The whole song.
21:12Every day.
21:14That's a Hercules task.
21:17Yeah.
21:18That's a Hercules task.
21:19And remember, he's still acting.
21:22He's still acting.
21:23And he's singing.
21:25That's a lot of work.
21:26Can I just add one quick thing?
21:28Because there's this little sweet scene between you and Graham in the featurette where you hug each other.
21:34And I think that was like the first day of shooting after Jafar's performance.
21:40Can you just tell us what went through your mind in that moment when you were sort of looking at
21:44each other, smiling, hugging, and then sort of going separate ways again?
21:50Well, for me, it's being on that long journey of development and prep and all the hurdles we have to
21:59cross.
21:59And then getting to that first day of shooting and then getting to that first day of shooting and seeing
22:03Jafar just show up almost just so naturally it was too good to be true.
22:10Right?
22:11We kept talking about like...
22:13We just couldn't believe what we were saying.
22:15And he just walking off.
22:17I remember you walking up the stairs the first day onto that stage.
22:20And both of you were there.
22:21And both of you, they were kind of warming up to James Brown together.
22:25And that's what started for me, the emotion.
22:27And then we kicked off the first take of bad.
22:31And it was like, because you never quite know until you're in it.
22:34And it was, oh, my God, incredible.
22:36And it was very emotional.
22:37I mean, the reason we hugged each other, because screen test, him doing his own homework, staying at Haven Hirst.
22:46I mean, I walked into a room one day where Jafar was studying.
22:49It was like a beautiful mind.
22:51He did his homework.
22:53These are years of work.
22:55But even with all that work, you don't know if someone's going to freeze on a day when you've got
22:591,000 extras, you've got 500 crew, he's in costume.
23:05On day one, he has to walk out and do that entire bad performance with about 12 cameras.
23:12And he's never done it before.
23:14As soon as he started and we were watching it, I just couldn't believe it.
23:18And that's when I turned and hugged Graham, because Graham found Jafar.
23:22And I was like, you're fucking right.
23:23This guy is special.
23:35That's how that happened.
23:36I'm a very proud mom.
23:40And rightly so.
23:43Please welcome to the stage, beginning with rich and tall.
23:49head of carography.
23:57Good morning.
23:58Good morning.
24:00Good morning.
24:01Good to see you.
24:02Yeah.
24:03Hi.
24:04Next up, please give it up for Carla Farmer, head of the hair department.
24:16Hi, Carla.
24:18Good morning.
24:20Please take a seat.
24:22Wherever you want.
24:23Hi.
24:23Close to rich and tall.
24:27And next up, also very important role in the movie, Bill Corso, makeup design.
24:35Give it up.
24:36Give it up.
24:45Good morning, Bill.
24:46Hi.
24:48And last but not least, please welcome Marcy Rogers, costume design.
24:59Good morning.
25:01Hi.
25:04Welcome.
25:05This is quite an audience.
25:07A couple of people are sitting here.
25:09First of all, what we would like to know is, did you enjoy yourself last night?
25:13And what did you think of all the people celebrating Michael, Marcy?
25:19Over the moon.
25:21Oh.
25:22Exciting.
25:23Amazing.
25:24Like, oh my God.
25:27I agree.
25:30It's funny.
25:30I was actually going to say that.
25:32I think it's a blessing to see everyone celebrating his legacy and the excitement that's starting
25:39to brew.
25:40And just to be here with the cast and crew and just have this moment in time.
25:44I think we all need it.
25:46Ben and Carla.
25:48I agree.
25:49And I just love the Germans.
25:52It's been great.
25:53And I love the way they love Michael.
25:57Oh.
25:59And I second that, everybody's comment.
26:02And I just want to say, finally, we are here to open this gift up to the rest of the
26:08world.
26:09So I am very happy to share this beautiful film with everybody.
26:14Finally, we made it.
26:16Yes.
26:19You know, it's been a long road for us.
26:21I mean, we, like you all, we are fans.
26:24We're huge fans.
26:25You know, we were kids when Michael was at his zenith.
26:29And I was obsessed with everything Michael, as we all were.
26:33So for us to be able to bring our talents to this movie, which was, you know, talk about a
26:39dream job bucket list that I didn't even know you could have.
26:43You know, this movie was such a gift for all of us.
26:46And to be there from the very beginning and to be here last night and today with you guys to
26:52celebrate all the work that everybody put into it is such a thrill for us.
26:57It's a thriller, really.
26:59No pun intended.
27:00So thank you guys for all coming and thank you for loving the tone.
27:08And we're here today to also celebrate your work in the movie, your excellent work.
27:14And we'd like to start with the choreography.
27:18And we got here rich in tone, Talauega.
27:20And you guys were once discovered by Travis Payne, choreographer for Michael Jackson.
27:28And you were on the history tour.
27:30You were on stage in the history tour.
27:33So what perfect match for you to be back in this movie?
27:41What was your reaction when you heard this film was being made and you shall be a part of it?
27:47What was your reaction?
27:50Excited.
27:52Living the dream.
27:53The dream has finally come true.
27:55And to actually be on it, you know, being pitched to the movie by Graham King, it was surreal.
28:00I didn't really understand what was going on.
28:03All I know is that all I heard was Michael and biopic and movie.
28:08That's all I heard.
28:11But it's beautiful because it's like a full circle moment, right?
28:15Germany is one of the biggest markets for Michael.
28:17We spent a good three, four months out here on tour.
28:22And it's surreal to come back to Berlin and open this movie internationally.
28:27Actually, that right there, I think, is the moment I was looking forward to.
28:32And I was just so blessed to be here.
28:37I mean, when I first heard about this biopic being made, the first thing I thought of, I was like,
28:48elated, first off.
28:50But also, I had a question that I was looking at.
28:53My brother was like, so who is going to play the King of Pop?
28:58Because to me, I mean, that was the million-dollar question to be answered.
29:02And, you know, when I heard the name Jafar Jackson, you know, obviously we did a deep dive on him.
29:09And then I was like, okay.
29:11He checks the boxes on terms of, like, certain things for us in terms of number one thing was rhythm.
29:18And I would say that got us really, really excited to even go deeper on the film.
29:24And we were then, again, my brother and I also doing the research.
29:31We just thought that this is a time for the fans to finally get a story about the greatest of
29:39all time.
29:40Wow.
29:43Amen.
29:44Yeah.
29:45And you have worked with Michael, of course, for many years.
29:51And you had now Giuliano and Jafar, who are doing a fantastic job on this movie, Young Michael and Older
30:00Michael.
30:00Fantastic.
30:02So your experience helped you to transform the dancing into Jafar and Giuliano, I guess.
30:10Yes.
30:10Oh, yeah, most definitely.
30:12Just starting off, we were really young, working for Michael Jackson.
30:17My brother was 15.
30:18I was 17.
30:19I mean, Tony had to get a GED to make sure he could work as an adult.
30:26But just years and years of experience, being able to, you know, we all grew up with him, like what
30:31Bill said earlier.
30:32We were all kids.
30:34We all grew up to Michael.
30:35His energy, his dance, his song, his style, his fashion.
30:41And it's surreal that we're all on stage together and we're able to share this, our way of understanding what
30:49Michael is and to be able to do that.
30:52And taking that energy into the long hours of training with Giuliano and Jafar, I mean, you know, I think
31:00the number one thing I would say for us is what we shared with them was this.
31:06Yes, we're going to do the work six to eight hours a day.
31:09But the real work was when you left the studio, you know, like how obsessive and possessive you can be
31:17with learning about this man.
31:19And how he glided, how he walked, how he dressed, how he talked, and to understand the influences that influenced
31:28him.
31:28From James Brown to Jackie Wilson to Sammy Davis to Fred Astaire to Charlie Chaplin, like so on and so
31:35forth.
31:35Just to take that all in, how can we make that something?
31:39Look, what we did will probably take a generation to learn, but the team that you see on this stage,
31:47we all came together, we united, and we gave that sort of energy to the cast, primarily Giuliano and Jafar,
31:56and it all came together quite well.
31:58Quite well.
31:59Very well.
32:01And Marci, because we're talking about fashion and style, you are the head of the costume department, and you did
32:08an amazing job, and we just heard that it was very important to get Jafar and Giuliano moving.
32:15But movement within a costume is quite difficult, I suppose.
32:20So how did you go about approaching the design to stay movable, and on the other hand, being accurate to
32:28what we know of Michael Jackson's style?
32:31Well, I think one of the approaches I took was to make sure that, one, it replicated what the fans
32:37and what everyone had seen.
32:39But there were times where I would have conversations with Rich and Tone, and I mean, admittedly, you would have
32:45to kind of figure out where this ripped.
32:50Wear that ripped, and we would just come up, I would come up with ways where I could hide certain
32:55areas where Jafar was able to actually do the kick, you know, and so his pants wouldn't split.
33:01And I think that, honestly, transparently was a collaborative effort, because they were with him.
33:07And I also know that I provided rehearsal clothing.
33:12So Jafar was really in pretty much a version of his costume all day.
33:18Right.
33:19All day.
33:19And I think for him, that was important, because he was embodying Michael, but he also had that second layer
33:25of skin for me, which is clothing, and his shoes.
33:29And we workshopped the shoes, and he was a great asset to my process, because I read the research, but
33:38having to have him put the clothes on was something completely different.
33:41And you did a great job.
33:43And you did a great job.
33:43And Carla, I mean, let's talk about the hair, because that's an integral part as well.
33:48If you look at the different hair styles throughout his career, and the movement, I mean, this is something that
33:54people, fans have paid attention to.
33:57Does it fit?
33:58Does it work?
33:58How did you go about creating that look and that the hair styles stayed the way it was, especially during
34:06the performances?
34:07Well, there were different elements of the approach.
34:12I used his hair in all the wigs.
34:16His hair was exposed in some sort of way.
34:19There were scenes where we used Jafar's hair, and there were scenes where we used a wig, and there were
34:28scenes where we used both his hair and wigs.
34:30So I think that's why it reads the way it does, because it was not just a wig put on
34:38his head.
34:39You know what I'm saying?
34:40So I think that really...
34:42What I would like to know is, because Bill and I just had a talk about it backstage.
34:48Did you get the chance yesterday to objectively enjoy the movie, Bill?
34:54Or have you been paying attention to all the details that you could have done differently or better in a
35:02way, because you've been saying,
35:03you know, we worked so hard on this movie, and now I can see it on the big screen, and
35:07I could have done this one.
35:12So, if anybody saw me last night, I was the one like this.
35:18You know, Jafar and I had long talks about this, and I was with Jafar.
35:24Jafar would leave them, and there were times where Jafar would just be at the house at Havenhurst by himself
35:30dancing all day long.
35:32And so I would go to the house with Jafar and do makeups on him just to see how they
35:36would hold up.
35:37And during those times, we spent a lot of time together.
35:40This is a year before we started shooting the movie.
35:43And we talked about a lot of things about Michael and about how he was.
35:48And one of the things was Jafar working so hard to prove it to the family and to himself that
35:55he could do it.
35:56And he had every Michael affirmation planted, like, postered onto a wall in a room.
36:03And so I took that and decided to do that with my work.
36:07I had all of Michael's affirmations, and one of which stared at me every day on the mirror was,
36:12doing good is not good enough.
36:14Like, every day it's got to be better.
36:16And strive for perfection.
36:19So I watch it last night, and there's not a single look that I wouldn't want to go in and
36:25tweak and make better.
36:29There's some shots in the movie we had to redo, and I was always so excited about that because it
36:32gave me a chance to tweak it a little bit more.
36:34It was never good enough for me.
36:37And as a fan, I wanted it to be so good for you guys.
36:41But that was Michael.
36:43You know, Michael was with us through the whole production.
36:45Every department, right up to Graham and Jafar and, you know, speaking to us.
36:50And, like, it's got to be the best.
36:52It's got to be great.
36:53It's got to be the greatest ever.
36:54And so I looked at that, and I always have him in my head going, what can I do to
37:00make it better?
37:01You know, so that was my mantra going through.
37:03It's, like, trying to, what can I do to elevate it and do Michael justice?
37:09Amen.
37:10Yeah.
37:17Bill, you have a real history with Michael Jackson.
37:21Michael Jackson, Thriller being the first paid job to recreate the look in a high school production.
37:28Is that right?
37:28Yeah.
37:29So I was 15 when Thriller came out.
37:33And I was, you know, my dream was to be a makeup artist in the movies.
37:39That was my passion, my goal.
37:41Everything I did was makeup-oriented.
37:44And so you have to understand, for a 15-year-old kid who was obsessed with movie makeup, for Thriller
37:51to come out.
37:52And if you were alive at that point, Thriller didn't just come out on MTV.
37:57The making of Thriller came out on MTV, which was a half-hour movie of the making of Thriller.
38:05And then at the end of that video was the video, was the mini-movie of Thriller.
38:10But what I saw as a young, budding makeup artist was, you know, seven-time Oscar winner Rick Baker doing
38:17Michael's makeup.
38:18Woo!
38:19Taking his life cast and turning him into a werewolf and turning him into a zombie and doing all the
38:24zombies and turning himself into a zombie.
38:26And I was just, I and my entire generation of makeup artists were glued and stunned.
38:33It was a life-changing moment for me.
38:37And so to be able to, so I did my friend's high school production of Thriller and turned him into
38:44Michael and all the friends into zombies.
38:46And they paid me $20 for makeup.
38:49And that was my first paying job.
38:50And so for me, to do this movie and to recreate Thriller was, it was a culmination of an entire
39:00lifetime.
39:01And you talk about full circle.
39:02There is no greater full circle than what we did on this movie.
39:05That's right.
39:08Marcy, let's stick to the topic of the short film Thriller.
39:12I mean, there are a couple of iconic, you know, costumes that we need to talk about.
39:16I think leather jackets are very important and gloves.
39:19Yes.
39:20How did you go about researching, you know, those iconic designs and especially in recreating them?
39:29Well, I pride myself on saying that my research book was over 800 pages.
39:35And so one of the things that I did was I took a trip to downtown LA where I literally,
39:42like a student, pulled out my measuring tape and measured each and every aspect of the Thriller jacket.
39:50To the point where color was, like a student, to get the color, to get the color correct and to
39:56replicate that was something that I definitely wanted to execute.
40:00As far as the glove is concerned, you know, I have books upon books upon books, Jet Magazine, any magazine
40:11that Michael appeared in.
40:13And I literally would study the gloves.
40:16I would study the Motown glove.
40:18I would study the Victory Tour glove.
40:20I would even study everything that went with it.
40:22The glove, I think, the glove, I think, was the icing on the cake, right?
40:25But, like, his aesthetic.
40:29And it was a journey, you know?
40:31And, like Bill, it would be times where I would zone in so closely that I had sometimes to pull
40:40out just to make sure that it was correct.
40:42But it was an interesting journey with Thriller because one of the things that I learned at the time in
40:49the design, red, the jeans that he wore were created.
40:54So, that was interesting as being a student of my craft because then I had to recreate that red, right?
41:01And so, it had to be exact.
41:04Crazy.
41:04But you did a wonderful job.
41:06Amazing what you created on the screen.
41:09The movie also has a drama in it.
41:12There was the Pepsi incident back in 1984, which changed Michael's appearance dramatically.
41:20It was a turning point.
41:22How did you handle the moment in the film and what did it mean to you to get it right,
41:27this transformation?
41:29Yes, Carla.
41:30Can we do that together?
41:32Yes, sure.
41:33Well, only because we had with us, you know, we all went out of our way to try to include
41:39people that knew Michael, that worked with Michael, so to maintain a sense of accuracy.
41:44And in the case of the Pepsi incident, we had many members of our crew that actually were there that
41:51day.
41:52A very good friend of mine was the still photographer that day, and he took the pictures of Michael.
41:56One of my makeup artists was there that day doing the brother's makeup.
42:02I think our script supervisor was there that day.
42:04Her boyfriend was one of the lighting technicians, I think.
42:07So, there were a lot of people who had a very sensed memory of that day.
42:10So, and no one really knows that day very well.
42:14Like, they know the horror of it.
42:16We all live through it.
42:17But what physically happened to him was so intense.
42:21And to show a glimpse of that, you know, we got a hold of real photos of what his head
42:26looked like, what the injury was, and tried to replicate that and be true to it.
42:30Because it was very important to us.
42:32It's such a turning point in his life that we be accurate to that.
42:36It changed everything for Michael.
42:38And, you know, a Jehovah's Witness who never took a drug in his life, not even aspirin, and to have
42:44to go on medication and everything, which altered the course of his life.
42:47So, that was a very crucial sequence for us.
42:50And so, Carl and I, and my prosthetic designer, Christian Tinsley, who we couldn't do this movie without, Christian and
42:58I worked very hard to come up with a, you know, a mock, bald, burnt section of hair that we
43:05actually burnt and singed and to recreate what happened to Michael.
43:09And then Carl is genius of how to make it work on Jafar.
43:13Yeah, that was, it was a difficult scene, especially for my assistant.
43:19She was there as well.
43:22And she was a young girl.
43:25And it was really hard for her.
43:27But what I gleaned from that situation and research, I found out to the day, it was half of Michael's
43:38life that happened that day.
43:40And I thought it was so interesting that, as you saw in the film, he went off his course and
43:50that situation occurred.
43:53And I think that is a lesson within itself, when you are on your path and you have pressures of
44:07your family or outside forces.
44:10I think Michael is trying to tell us something in that story.
44:18It's very emotional to us, you guys.
44:21You can tell.
44:24Everything we did in this movie was like that.
44:27I mean, there are not, there's not a moment that we created in this film that had a very strong
44:33emotional impact to all of us.
44:34You know, I mean, what Graham King did, you have to understand, is hired, he didn't hire a crew of
44:41people to work on a movie.
44:42He hired artists who were obsessed and passionate about Michael Jackson.
44:49So every single one of us has a connection or an affinity to Michael that was well above the norm.
44:55And that's why he wanted to assemble a team of people that would do Michael's legacy justice.
45:03And so for every single one of us and every person we hired, it was important that we didn't just
45:08hire a makeup artist, a hairstylist, a customer,
45:11but somebody who loved Michael and would do Michael and his legacy right.
45:16And so that's what you see on the screen is all of that love.
45:20It's what you feel.
45:23No, that's right.
45:24I just want to just double that to a degree is that this wasn't a gig.
45:29This wasn't a job.
45:30This was a labor of love for all of us working on that film.
45:34What we brought to that film was respect and honor for the greatest of all time.
45:40And it felt really good every day to go to rehearsal, to go on set, to have the arguments, to
45:48have the debates and to hug and to see each other face to face, eye to eye and to know
45:54that we were on the same team for the King of Pop.
45:57That's what it felt like.
45:58Big time.
45:59Rich and Tone.
46:01Let's talk about the labor of love, recreating some of his signature moves, because there's so many out there.
46:08There is.
46:09And how did you go about picking the ones that were really Michael Jackson's signature moves,
46:16and especially how did you implement them in the training for Giuliano and Jafar?
46:22Because we spoke about it yesterday.
46:24One thing is impersonating someone.
46:27The other thing is acting like that person, but having your own sort of vibe moving into it so it
46:35looks authentic and natural.
46:37How did you go about that?
46:39And which one was the hardest to recreate, most difficult one?
46:43I would say Billie Jean was the test for not only our department, but for Jafar, because that was the
46:52first number that we approached for the movie.
46:55And the reason why we chose Billie Jean is because you have nothing to hide behind.
47:05You have the audience, the mic, Michael, and the band.
47:12No dancers, no lighting, just him.
47:16One single person.
47:17And we thought to ourselves, if he could pull this off, he could do any number.
47:23And we told Graham King that if you just give us a month just with this one number, just to
47:29go into the details and the nuances,
47:30because when you look at that number, there's two dance breaks.
47:35That's how we see it.
47:36There's one in the beginning, right, with the hat, but there's also the iconic dance break with the moonwalk.
47:44So it has all these different levels of style, technique, method, in terms of how to move while you're singing.
47:55And so we spent a whole entire month.
47:58The first week, I would say, was the roughest.
48:01It was because, mind you, Jafar, you know, he has rhythm, but this was the first ever time he attacked
48:09dance on this level, movement on this level.
48:12And we all know the King of Pops vocabulary and syllabus of movement is not an easy thing to do.
48:19It looks very simple, but it's very complex on so many different levels.
48:26But I think the first week was about just sitting down and watching and doing homework, research.
48:36We analyzed that Motown 25 from so many different perspectives.
48:41And also, you know, this is something that's very important in terms of movement, right, and not to be an
48:47impersonator, right, is to live it.
48:51Is coming from the point of view of watching, knowing how to use your eyes and study with your eyes.
48:59Because that's how Michael learned how to do James Brown, Jackie Wilson, is he learned in his living room, watching
49:06a television.
49:07He didn't go to no studio.
49:10They didn't exist back in those days where you had to go take a class, right?
49:14So he came from that era.
49:16So we wanted to take Jafar through that same journey of watching video and then pausing after 30 seconds.
49:25And then we would just have a conversation about, so tell me, what do you see?
49:31Because, you know, movement, it's a language, right?
49:35But I wanted to hear, me and my brother wanted to hear him vocalize what he's seeing before we jump
49:42into a mirror and go through the steps.
49:45So we thought that that was a really, really critical ingredient in terms of his process of learning.
49:51Not just Billie Jean, but all the iconic numbers like Thriller and so on and so forth.
49:57But to, because I know my brother wants to add a couple things to that, but it's the art of
50:05learning with your eyes,
50:08knowing what you're studying and knowing how to describe it and then getting up and us teaching the technique and
50:17method on how to accomplish the goal of learning it the real way.
50:23That's right.
50:24That's right.
50:25And just to add on to what Tone is saying is we had to break down Michael's style.
50:32We had to give it terminology.
50:35And there's this base foundation of movement that Michael has, and it starts with his core, his hips, his feet,
50:41his fingers.
50:43We call it time keepers.
50:44That's what we call it because Michael is keeping time with the music.
50:47It is a magic trick that he does.
50:50He's a magician.
50:51He's amazing.
50:51Okay.
50:52So that's one thing right there.
50:54And to just parlay over to Giuliano.
50:57Oh, my God.
50:58You know, like I can't.
51:00One of the hardest things to do is to work with kids.
51:04You know, you're on a time schedule.
51:06There's only so much you can do.
51:07You got to you got to understand how how how to push, how when not to push.
51:13And you don't know whether this kid is going to show up and just be amazing or whatever.
51:19Right.
51:19Like, man, Giuliano, man, this kid walked in as a ball of fire, pure sunshine, electricity.
51:29He was so determined and focused to make sure that he does a great job.
51:39Now, there's a few there's a few stages of Michael.
51:42Right.
51:43Whenever I talk to people, it's like, OK, which stage you think is the best?
51:46Because, yeah, there's one thing about Thriller and Bad.
51:48But then again, you have to Jackson 5, Michael, when he was 8, 10, 12.
51:52Right.
51:53To me, that's probably when he was young.
51:56It was probably the most ecstatic of all because that's a child doing what adults do.
52:02OK, so I think our thing that worked with making sure that we can get we built half of the
52:09bridge to Giuliano was James Brown.
52:13The Godfather.
52:15OK, this is this is.
52:18Yeah.
52:19You can clap.
52:19That's right.
52:20That's right.
52:21Clap for the Godfather.
52:23Michael watched James Brown as a child on television.
52:27OK.
52:28Perfected everything that James Brown has done.
52:31This is the bridge that we built with Giuliano.
52:34And every morning when you walked in, you put on James Brown and we go over the mashed potato and
52:41the James Brown steps.
52:42And he started picking it up.
52:44And that's when we knew, OK, we good.
52:49Amen.
52:50Wow.
52:51Close it with that.
52:51If I can just say, too, you have to understand just from our perspective what these guys did.
53:00Michael Jackson was a prodigy.
53:03He worked his whole life to become who he was and obsessed over everything.
53:08These guys did it with Jafar and Giuliano in months.
53:11What Michael took his whole life to do.
53:14That's how amazing these guys are.
53:16Thank you, Bill.
53:18Marcy, Bill, Carla, Rich and Tone.
53:22Unfortunately, we have run out of time.
53:23Are you serious?
53:24Don't we get all day?
53:25I know.
53:25We just get it started.
53:26We would love to continue.
53:27But first of all, I think everyone is in awe of your work.
53:31Thank you so much for your labor of love.
53:34I mean, this is so exciting to be able to talk to you.
53:37Thank you for bringing Michael to Berlin.
53:40Have a great time.
53:41All the best of luck with the movie.
53:43And big round of applause for our guests, please.
53:47Brandon, where are you?
53:50Thank you so much.
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