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Never have audiences been so eager to watch a real-life story we’re already all too familiar with, and maybe even know by heart if you’re a die-hard Michael Jackson fan. Still, that didn’t stop folks from erupting with utter excitement this week when Lionsgate finally unleashed the first teaser footage from the King of Pop’s long-awaited biopic.
The minute-long trailer for “Michael” stars Jackson’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson (son of Jermaine Jackson), completely transformed as the icon in all his glitz and glory. From his iconic sequined wardrobe to his signature choreography to his legendary album eras (“Off the Wall,” “Thriller,” “Bad”), the movie, from what we can tell so far, appears to recreate all the pivotal moments of Jackson’s career.
Seen also in the trailer are Kendrick Sampson playing the late great Quincy Jones, Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson, Nia Long as Katherine Jackson and Miles Teller as Jackson’s attorney, John Branca.
Many fans online were rather impressed with the first look at the Antoine Fuqua-directed film, especially its attention to detail.
video comparison of the new MJ biopic, their dedication and accuracy to nailing down the costumes, dance moves, and cinematography is deeply admirable and is truly a love letter to michael jackson himself 🥺🥺#MichaelJackson pic.twitter.com/GIcUb7Sfs9
— ⋆ (@ofanotherl9ver) November 6, 2025
Others, after years of anticipation, were simply excited about the film’s impending arrival:
I’ll be at that MJ movie first night like it’s infinity War
— Big Hollywood (@ChefWaites) November 6, 2025
the way my people are about to come to the movie theater dressed in every kind of michael jackson that has ever jacksoned for this movie. pic.twitter.com/AMbgVdrLCp
— in charge of the girls (@AmeriKraut) November 7, 2025
The frenzied reactions are understandable, given that multiple delays have pushed the release of “Michael” back over the past year. And this is, after all, the first big-budget biopic depiction of Jackson, arriving more than a decade after his 2009 death. So the big question now is, after so many years and so much anticipation, what story has the film ultimately chosen to tell about the late icon?
One that aims to inform us of who Jackson really was, or one that’s more interested in protecting a beloved public persona?
While this first preview of “Michael” does a good job of showcasing Jackson’s best highlights and everything else his cult following will find most interesting — like one scene that appears to portray one of Jackson and Jones’ “Off the Wall” recording sessions — one can’t help but wonder if the film will take the opportunity to paint a complete and honest portrait of the singer’s life like never before. Or, if it will, like many celebrity biopics tend to do, gloss over details that don’t fit a controlled narrative of the influential figure.
You could assume the latter might be the case with “Michael,” considering that it has the backing of the Jackson estate. According to a January report from Puck, one controversy has already complicated the final version of the movie.
As reported, an earlier script of Fuqua’s film engaged with sexual abuse allegations against Jackson that first arose in the ’90s “head-on,” a stark difference from previous estate-approved projects. That detail reportedly violated a legal agreement between representatives for Jackson and one of his accusers, Jordan Chandler, who received a $20 million settlement from his 1993 lawsuit against the singer.
The signed agreement prohibited any dramatization of Chandler, his family or their story, including in film, which reportedly led to reshoots of a completed “Michael” earlier this year, as it initially portrayed Jackson as an alleged victim of extortion in Chandler’s case.
Assuming mentions of that case have been removed entirely from the film, we can probably expect more omissions that don’t get into the weeds of Jackson’s legal troubles (which included a 2005 child molestation trial, where he was acquitted on all charges). Or, at the very least, the film may take the stance of maintaining his innocence, as his estate has always done.
“Leaving Neverland” director Dan Reed, whose 2019 documentary focused on sexual abuse claims from two men who accused Jackson, previously slammed “Michael” as a “complete whitewash,” telling The Times the early draft script was an “out-and-out attempt to completely rewrite the allegations and dismiss them out of hand.”
Paris Jackson, the singer’s daughter, has also been vocal about condemning the biopic, most notably in September when she posted several Instagram Stories about why she distanced herself from the film.
In one post, per People, Paris said she “read one of the first drafts of the scripts and gave my notes about what was dishonest/didn’t sit right with me, and when they didn’t address it, I moved on with my life. not my monkeys, not my circus. god bless and god speed.”
She noted that she kept her criticism to herself up until then because “the film panders to a very specific section of my dad’s fandom that still lives in a fantasy, and they’re gonna be happy with it.”
“The thing about these biopics is it’s Hollywood,” Paris Jackson explained. “It’s fantasy land — it’s not real. But it’s sold to you as real, and a lot of sugar-coated… the narrative is being controlled. There’s a lot of inaccuracy and there’s a lot of full-blown lies.”
That seems to be the norm for many celebrity biopics these days. Then again, I can’t say I’m surprised, considering this is a multi-million-dollar movie with family involvement backed by a major studio. And especially since this film is in honor of Jackson’s memory, I expect the narrative to be more celebratory of Jackson’s greatness than candid about his private issues (including his health).
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We’ll have to wait until April 24 to find out just how accurate (or inaccurate) “Michael” is in retelling Jackson’s story. I will say that what we’ve come to expect from these kinds of films is extravagant musical productions paired with nostalgic pop culture moments, which even I find entertaining at times. But those biopics don’t always delve into their subjects on a deeper level, which I suspect could be the case here.
But I would love to be wrong.
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