Paris Jackson gave notes on the script for the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic, Michael. But those notes were not acted on. Appreciating we always seem to attract a mix of constructive and, er, ‘less constructive’ pushback on social media when we write about the film, there’s little getting away from the fact that the upcoming ... Michael Jackson biopic | “Panders to a very specific section of my dad’s fandom,” says Paris Jackson
Paris Jackson gave notes on the script for the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic, Michael. But those notes were not acted on.
Appreciating we always seem to attract a mix of constructive and, er, ‘less constructive’ pushback on social media when we write about the film, there’s little getting away from the fact that the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, is set to incite a hell of a lot of controversy.
The movie was originally due out this year, until Lionsgate pushed it to April 2026, with suggestions remaining that it’ll be split into two movies. It’s been made with the specific cooperation of Michael Jackson’s family, and the title role will be played by Jaafar Jackson, son of Michael’s brother, Jermaine.
Inevitably, given what you could politely call the controversies that surrounded Jackson in the back end of his life, there are concerns that we’re about to get a very sanitised film. That said, none of us have seen it yet.
One person who read an early draft of the script is Jackson’s daughter, Paris Jackson. She’s stayed quiet on the movie, until one of its stars, Colman Domingo, suggested at the Venice Film Festival this week that she’d been supportive of the film.
On her Instagram account, she posted a story where she said to Domingo, “don’t be telling people I was ‘helpful’ on the set of a movie I had 0% involvement in lol that is so weird.”
She confirmed that she’d read an early draft of the screenplay for the film, “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.”
Describing Hollywood biopics as “fantasy land” and noting that she felt that weren’t addressing her notes at all, she said that “they’re going to make whatever they’re going to make.”
“A big reason why I haven’t said anything up until this point is because I know a lot of you guys are gonna be happy with it. A big section — the film panders to a very specific section of my dad’s fandom that still lives in the fantasy, and they’re gonna be happy with it.”
“There’s a lot of inaccuracy, and there’s a lot of just full-blown lies. At the end of the day, that doesn’t really fly with me. I don’t really like dishonesty. I spoke up, I wasn’t heard, I fucked off. That’s it. Y’all are going to like the fucking movie, so just go watch it, go enjoy it, do whatever, and leave me out of it.”
Other opinions, as social media is no doubt about to point out to me, are available.
Michael has attracted prominent talent, too. Antoine Fuqua is directing the film, John Logan has written it, and the cast also features Nia Long and Miles Teller. The budget is said to have exceeded $150m, but obviously Lionsgate – which holds the US rights – hasn’t confirmed that.
Expect to hear a lot, lot more about the movie in due course. Paris Jackson’s Instagram feed can be found here.
