Jaafar Jackson, star of the biopic Michael, has said the sequel will address the sexual abuse allegations against his uncle from the late singer's point of view. The first film, directed by Antoine Fuqua, became the highest-grossing biopic of all time, surpassing Oppenheimer.
Sequel to Include Jackson's Perspective
Speaking to GQ Middle East, Jackson said: "I think the second film will give even more insight from [Michael Jackson's] point of view, because at the end of the day, [the allegations] are always from someone else's [point of view]. It's someone else's story. It's someone else's idea of what it is …"
He added: "And that's really the issue we've been having as a family – not having Michael's voice being heard. I think that's very, very important, especially in [his later] years."
Production Challenges and Box Office Success
The first film faced criticism for omitting the abuse allegations, partly due to a legal clause that prohibited depicting one of the accusers in a fictionalised account. A police raid scene at Neverland ranch was cut, and $50m (£37m) of reshoots were funded by the Jackson family.
Despite these issues, the film's commercial success has made a sequel inevitable. Jackson downplayed the production difficulties, telling Variety: "I've heard many stories from other actors about how much you shoot on a project that doesn't make it into the final picture. In the editing room, you go through scenes looking for specific performances or takes and things change constantly. So going in, I knew not everything we shot would make it into the final picture."
Character Continuity and Criticism
Jackson also spoke about his uncle's character, saying: "He never changed that purity, that sense of always wanting to find the good in other people. And no matter all the stuff he went through, how he was treated, what things were said about him, he never stopped treating people with kindness. He never stopped believing in and wanting to look for the good in people … even though he was broken, his heart still stayed the same."
Fuqua earlier said the sequel would not "sensationalise" Jackson's life, adding: "I think the key is, like, who was he as a human being? Stay on that path and then we'll be OK, because that's what it's about. It's a biopic, it's about a human being, he's a real person."
The 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland detailed further allegations against Jackson. Its director, Dan Reed, criticised the biopic, saying it contained "zero insight into what makes Jackson tick" and that "the issue of his relationship with children is completely distorted by the fact that they portray him as an eccentric, overgrown child, which we know is not the full story."
Jackson's solo sales topped 500m records. He was first accused of sexually assaulting a child in 1993 and settled out of court in 1994. In 2005, he was acquitted on other child sexual abuse charges. He died from an accidental propofol overdose in 2009, aged 50.
