Fuqua on Casting the Michael Biopic

Director Antoine Fuqua stopped in to talk about Michael, his Michael Jackson biopic, and the casting process that built the whole film, starting with a dinner conversation in Italy that convinced him Jaafar Jackson wasn't acting.

Fuqua spent two years and one month making this movie. The scope runs from Michael's early days with the Jackson 5 through the Bad tour, when he broke out as a true solo artist. The pull for Fuqua was personal. Michael transcended any artist he's experienced. And Michael's career shaped Fuqua's own, watching Michael refuse to let the industry put him in a box as the first Black artist on MTV gave Fuqua permission to think beyond R&B and rap videos in his own early work.

They never met. Fuqua was supposed to meet Michael on the Remember the Time shoot, but he was doing a commercial at the time. John Singleton ended up directing it. Fuqua said it right: that one wasn't meant for me, it was meant for John, God rest his soul.

The Jaafar Jackson story was the heart of the conversation. Producer Graham King had been developing Jaafar for two years before Fuqua came on. When King flew to Italy to pitch Fuqua on the project during Equalizer 3, DP Bob Richardson showed Fuqua a video of a man with Michael on a set. Fuqua assumed it was a modern-day Michael clip. Richardson told him it was Jaafar. Fuqua could not tell the difference.

The first meeting sealed it. Over breakfast, Fuqua thought Jaafar was pretending, his cadence, his gentleness, his manner were that Michael-like. In a makeup test later, Fuqua threw an unscripted question at him. Jaafar, who had never acted before in his life, answered the question in character as Michael. The entire room was in tears. First day of shooting was the Bad tour, 500 extras, Jaafar performing "Bad" in his first acting job ever.

Colman Domingo's casting as Joe Jackson was accidental. Fuqua was shooting something else on the same lot, turned a corner, saw a figure from behind in hair and makeup, and assumed it was a wig test. When the actor turned around, it was Colman. He started talking to Fuqua in character as Joe, casual conversation about the day's work. Fuqua immediately went to Graham King and said they needed to shoot Colman that day. The footage in the film of Colman watching Michael perform on the final Jackson 5 tour is from that unplanned first day.

The moonwalk scene leaned on a story Don Mischer, the producer of that Motown anniversary show, told Fuqua directly. Michael kept the moonwalk a secret. Berry Gordy didn't know he was going to do it. The jacket belonged to his mother. They shot the scene at the Pasadena Playhouse, the real venue. Fuqua shot most of the film in real locations, including the actual shoot location for the Thriller video, which they filmed under a full moon while his crew rehearsed in wolf masks. Fuqua called it the dance heard around the world.

For Fuqua, Thriller was the pinnacle, the first mini-movie music video. The point he kept returning to: Michael was always pushing the envelope. That's the film he set out to make.