Hot on the heels of a Variety piece about the last-minute reshoots and chaos surrounding its third-act revisions, Lionsgate dropped the final trailer for Antoine Fuqua’s Michael, the long-gestating biopic about the one-and-only Michael Jackson. It’s been a bit since we’ve had a controversy-laced box-office smash, and you better bet folks are polishing their metaphorical knives for the ensuing war of words (and who can really blame them, honestly). Who knows how it’ll turn out — but one thing we can say is that Jaafar Jackson looks and sounds the part, and if nothing else, it’ll be a pretty decent time listening to him run through his uncle’s songbook.
Peep it:
Like you really need a synopsis for Michael, but here it is anyway:
“‘Michael’ is the cinematic portrayal of the life and legacy of one of the most influential artists the world has ever known. The film tells the story of Michael Jackson’s life beyond the music, tracing his journey from the discovery of his extraordinary talent as the lead of the Jackson Five, to the visionary artist whose creative ambition fueled a relentless pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world. Highlighting both his life off-stage and some of the most iconic performances from his early solo career, the film gives audiences a front-row seat to Michael Jackson as never before. This is where his story begins.”
Michael hits theaters on April 24. Instead of ending this post on a pithy joke or something, we’d like to point you to one of our favorite mixtapes of the ’00s — Rhymefest’s Man in the Mirror, produced in part by Mark Ronson, with features from Wale, Talib Kweli, Ghostface Killah, and Mary J. Blige. It came out a year or two before the King of Pop passed on, and it whips. Take a listen: