Filming for the forthcoming Michael Jackson biopic Michael wrapped in May 2024. Now, its cast and crew are being called back in to re-shoot scenes that shape a significant portion of the third act. While they get their schedules aligned once again, Lionsgate is waiting on a new script rewritten to address the film’s recently-revealed violation of a legal agreement between representatives for Jackson and Jordan Chandler, who accused him of molestation in 1993 and later received a $20 million settlement.
The agreement stated Chandler’s story and personhood would never be dramatized in film, according to a report from Puck, which is exactly what the original version did. The report claims Michael filmmakers and producers — which includes director Antoine Fuqua, screenwriter John Logan, and lead producer Graham King, among others — were not made aware of the legally binding agreement until after filming wrapped. Within two months, the film starring Jaafar Jackson, Nia Long, Laura Harrier, Miles Teller, and Colman Domingo was delayed to October 2025, six months after its planned April 2025 release date.
They were told only after the Financial Times published a report in September 2024 uncovering payments the Jackson estate made to five other accusers to keep them quiet after HBO released the documentary Leaving Neverland in 2019. In February 2023, the documentary’s director Dan Reed penned an op-ed in the Guardian stating that the film “will glorify a man who raped children.”
Lionsgate announced the biopic in February 2022, at which time the estate already signed off and Logan was already attached as screenwriter with King as a co-producer. In July 2024, Fuqua appeared on a San Diego Comic-Con panel where he revealed the film was in the early stages of editing. He signed on in January 2023. Now, it’s crunch time. The film’s original budget was $150 million. The estate will be financially responsible for the reshoots. The cast and crew are expected to come back together in March to make the needed corrections and potentially save the film.
The dramatized depiction of an investigation into Chandler’s claims against Jackson open and close the script, Puck states. The film reportedly frames the accusations as the efforts of a money-hungry family attempting to take advantage of Jackson and champions his innocence. The musician, who died in 2009 at the age of 50, was never convicted of any crimes relating to pedophilia allegations, but was prosecuted in 2005.
“The film presents his triumphs and tragedies on an epic, cinematic scale — from his human side and personal struggles to his undeniable creative genius, exemplified by his most iconic performances,” the original synopsis of the film reads. “As never before, audiences will experience an inside look into one of the most influential, trailblazing artists the world has ever known.”
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