A leaked version of the script for the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, is said to tackle the child abuse allegations head-on and paint the pop star as innocent.
According to a report from Matthew Belloni of Puck, an iteration of the screenplay read by the reporter shows that the movie dig into the accusations that MJ sexually abused children at his Neverland ranch. The news is all the more surprising considering Jackson’s estate is directly involved with the Antoine Fuqua-directed biopic, which stars the late pop star’s nephew Jaafar Jackson in his acting debut. However, the context in which the topic is tackled appears to want to convince viewers that he’s innocent.
“If the script as written ends up onscreen—which is a big caveat here because words and scenes are often changed during shoots, and not everything goes in the final cut—this will be super controversial,” wrote Belloni. “It not only engages, it wants very much to convince you Michael is innocent.”
Belloni chose not to reveal too much of the script he reviewed, out of respect for the filmmakers of the currently in-production project, but he did reveal that the version he read actually opens with Jackson watching police arrive at his estate following allegations made by a then 13-year-old Jordan Chandler. The boy alleged in 1993 that Jackson molested him. The singer later reached a $20 million settlement with him. The screenplay is said to minimize the claims made against Jackson, including a scene in which lawyers John Branca and Johnnie Cochran describe the allegations as an “extortion” attempt.
“This assault, this scorching trauma, will shake him to the core and never leave him,” reads one passage of the script, which includes a scene of him being strip-searched by police. Another portion describes Jackson, who faced a criminal trial over seven counts of alleged child molestation, as “uniquely comfortable around kids.” Branca, in another scene, says, “It’s not the kids I’m worried about, it’s the parents. He’s opening his door to tons of people we don’t know. And there’s a lot of greedy people in the world.”
Belloni noted that overall, the screenplay tackles these topics head-on in an attempt to launder his image and depict him as a tragic, exploited figure who was drawn to children because he was robbed of his own childhood due to the Jackson 5's success and his abusive father, Joe Jackson, who will be played by Colman Domingo. (Nia Long is set to play matriarch Katherine Jackson.)
“The takeaway from Michael is that Michael Jackson had an abusive father who caused him to become a horribly insecure yet harmless Peter Pan, constantly reliving the childhood he never had. And ultimately, that was weaponized by bad people trying to exploit him,” wrote Belloni. “What’s interesting is how aggressive the script is in the pursuit to make Michael look innocent.”
Jackson was never found guilty of the allegations made against him, but they followed his legacy from the early '90s and beyond his death from an accidental overdose in 2009 at age 50.
In 2019, Dan Reed’s HBO-produced documentary Leaving Neverland focused on two men who said they were sexually abused by Jackson when they were children. The doc, which is set to get a sequel entitled After Neverland, was met with a lawsuit from the Jackson estate against HBO.
