Miles Teller and Nia Long are the latest names added to Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming Michael Jackson biopic, which has already entered production.
Two more names have been added to the swelling ranks of Antoine Fuqua’s biopic of Michael Jackson. The film – which is a Lionsgate and Universal co-production – has already begun shooting but a couple more names are set to enter the fray to join Jaafar Jackson, who’s playing Jackson in the upcoming biopic.
First, it’s been revealed that Nia Long will be playing Katherine Jackson, the matriarch of the Jackson clan. Long was most recently seen in last year’s screenlife thriller, Missing, but she has enjoyed a storied career that began in the late 1980s and has encompassed such classics as Friday and Boyz N The Hood.
Fuqua has expressed excitement for Long’s casting, and underlined the importance of her role, describing Katherine Jackson as “a woman who was the glue, the rock, and the heart of the Jackson family during its best and its most turbulent times.”
The other bit of casting news regarding the film is also pretty notable too: according to The Hollywood Reporter, Miles Teller is in talks to play an unnamed attorney, although this one is said to be a deal still in the making. The Whiplash star has finished production on The Gorge alongside Anya Taylor-Joy and looks set to appear in Fuqua’s Jackson biopic too.
Michael (the film’s title) already boasts some promising names, including Oscar-nominated Colman Domingo as the singer’s father, alongside Jackson’s real-life nephew, Jaafar Jackson in the title role.
The film is aiming for a release in April of next year and promises to explore all aspects of Jackson’s life. Given that the film is approved by Jackson’s estate, we wonder just how deeply it will explore the darker allegations that dogged Jackson’s late career, but at the very least, the project is sporting a great director and a promising cast.
Michael is due for release in US cinemas on the 18th April 2025.
