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Two years before a frame of “Michael” was shot, Jaafar Jackson wrote down a list of goals. One was to beat “Bohemian Rhapsody” and cross $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
He did both.
Antoine Fuqua’s film, which
opened April 24, became the first biopic in history to surpass $1 billion worldwide and Lionsgate’s biggest release ever. It also made a star of Jackson, who had never acted professionally before.
“I was pretty emotional,” he tells Variety. “I know how proud Michael would be of that, because he was someone who wanted to break many records.”
On this episode of the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, Jackson opens up about leading the blockbuster “Michael,” navigating the Oscar buzz surrounding his performance and what he hopes comes next after a career-defining year.
Listen below.
Jackson, 30, is sitting down with Variety just two days after wrapping his second film, “Supermax,” opposite Will Smith, following 40 days of shooting in Australia. He’s candid about the life that led him here. Growing up in a house filled with 30 or 40 relatives every holiday, he dreamed of becoming a golfer, not a performer. He didn’t fully grasp the weight of his last name until he was about six, watching his father and uncles take the stage as the Jackson 5 at a reunion concert in New York and hearing the crowd erupt.
He has fond memories of his family, especially his late uncle. One of his earliest recollections of Michael is asking him for Starbursts — specifically the pink and red ones, his favorite flavors.
Bringing Michael to life, however, took two years of preparation before Jackson officially landed the role: building his own archive of songs, demos, journals, rehearsals and performances; working with acting coach Angela Gibbs; and immersing himself in the techniques of Stanislavski, Meisner and Uta Hagen. Nailing his signature voice and tone came first. After the young Jackson sent producer Graham King an unsolicited voice note speaking as Michael, he had a coach the next day. The hardest part came with learning his signature movies, particularly when performing the footwork for “Bad,” which is what closes out the film.
But what does it mean to reenact your own family’s history?
Colman Domingo plays a grandfather who, Jackson says, was gentler with him than with his father, Jermaine. Nia Long, who plays his grandmother Katherine, would touch his hand in certain scenes the way his grandmother did in real life. His father Jermaine insisted on watching the film for the first time at its Berlin premiere, surrounded by an audience. And the next day, he called his son and told him, he couldn’t tell him apart from his late brother.
Jaafar is just trying to take this all in.
Read excerpts from his episode below.
The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
You’re here two days after wrapping a movie with Will Smith. Is that correct?
That’s correct. I was in Australia for about 40 days, an incredible experience, to shoot my second film and to shoot outside the country, since we shot all of “Michael” in Los Angeles. It was a whole new experience, with a new crew, a new cast and a character completely different from Michael. That excited me.
So you didn’t dance or sing in this movie?
No, no, not at all. It’s completely different.
You were born in Los Angeles in 1996. What was your childhood like growing up as a Jackson, and when did you first understand what that name meant to the world?
I grew up with a lot of siblings and cousins who visited on weekends and every holiday. About 30 to 40 family members were at the house, so we had lots of game nights and family cookouts, with music playing. I didn’t really realize who my family was until I was around six, when I saw them perform in New York for their 30th anniversary. Hearing the fans scream, I was scared because I didn’t understand how intense it was to see people react to someone like that.
I first saw that when my dad and uncles came out on stage as the Jackson 5, and that’s the first memory I can recall of, “Oh, they’re important in some way. They have a huge fan base.”
A very important follow-up. What games did you play on family game night, and how competitive does it get in the Jackson household?
It was always Pictionary. Boys versus girls, no doubt. It was pretty competitive, because the boys always like to brag. I think our streak was like 15 years. I think it was unfair. There are a lot more boys in the family.
You started making music around 12, and your debut single, “Got Me Singing,” came out in 2019. Did you always see yourself as a musician first?
No. Growing up, I was only focused on golf. I started playing when I was around 4. My dad gave me golf balls to throw before I could properly swing a club, because I was so young. I fell in love with it. He got me a coach to train with once a week, then I joined a young golf club and started playing tournaments and did some charity tournaments with my father. I committed to it full time, every day, until he brought me to a recording studio and had me sit and watch him create from scratch. That shifted what I wanted to do. That was the turning point.
What’s your earliest memory of your Uncle Michael? Not the icon. Just Uncle Michael.
Asking him for candy. He always had candy machines or stacks of candy in the movie theater, and I had a problem with an addiction to Starbursts at that age. Pink and red. I would eat too many as a kid. I remember always asking him for candy and wanting to play. He always had the latest games and game consoles, and we’d play hide-and-seek.
In that house, it must have been impossible to find him.
He was the best at it. It was just fun, free-roaming and a blast all the time.
“Michael” became the first biopic to cross $1 billion worldwide, and it’s Lionsgate’s biggest film ever. Sorry you set that bar for yourself. Do you remember where you were when you heard and who called to tell you?
I was at home, and I spoke with Antoine [Fuqua] and Graham King individually. We were discussing how crazy a milestone that is. Going into it, you hope and dream it’ll be that successful. I remember that two years before production even started, I wrote down a list of goals I wanted to accomplish and one was to beat “Bohemian Rhapsody” and cross the $1 billion mark. When it did that, I was pretty emotional. I was proud of it, because I know how proud Michael would be. He wanted to break many records, and I couldn’t be more grateful that this did.
I imagine you walking the earth, stalking Rami Malek. “I’m coming for your record, man.”
No, he’s great. I actually got to meet him in Paris during Fashion Week. He couldn’t have been nicer.
Let’s talk about “Michael” Part 2. Lionsgate’s Adam Fogelson has said production could start at the end of this year or early next, with a release targeted for 2027 or ’28. Where do things officially stand? Is anything on your schedule?
I haven’t been told anything concrete, but whatever decision is made, I’m more than ready to get back into it and excited for where that goes. I haven’t been told a date or anything solid yet. As far as my schedule, it’s open.
Leading up to the release, there was a lot of reporting about the original third act, which dealt with some sensitive subject matter. What was it like, as an actor, to lose material you had already shot and performed, knowing that footage would never see the light of day?
It was a massive shoot. I’ve heard many stories from other actors about how much you shoot on a project that doesn’t make it into the final picture. In the editing room, you go through scenes looking for specific performances or takes and things change constantly. So going in, I knew not everything we shot would make it into the final picture. But for me, it was the most rewarding experience because even the things that weren’t used, the experience I got from them, made me a better actor. I feel like that will happen many more times with other projects. You wish a certain performance was in there and it’s not. That’s something you have to deal with when making a film.
You’re in a best actor conversation with some people like Ryan Gosling, Pedro Pascal, Matt Damon and John Malkovich. How are you approaching your first Oscar campaign? Even the movie’s detractors seem to agree: “But Jaafar is great.”
It’s been a crazy and surreal experience, and it’s all gone so fast. I’m taking it a day at a time. Having those conversations and being here speaking with you has been a great honor, and I’m learning so much. Whatever the studio has in mind, I’ll be there to support the film in any way I need to and I’ll be happy to do that. It’s an exciting time, and it inspires me to want to do more work and challenge myself in many different ways. To be in that conversation is definitely an honor.
Did you know awards season was like this? That you’d have to go through all these campaign stops?
Not to that extent. You hear stories, but it’s a great experience to feel it and see it firsthand.
What did you have to learn from scratch, and who taught you the Michael-isms and the Michael moves?
It started with dissecting and creating a library of footage of Michael. A library of all his songs, demos, writings and journaling, performances and rehearsals. I immersed myself in that every day. It became a full-time job, while I also worked on acting with Angela Gibbs, my head coach, who steered me in the right direction, put me in acting classes and brought in other coaches. I read books on classic teachers like Stanislavski, Meisner and Uta Hagen and studied different approaches, because there are many tools you can use, but they don’t work for every actor. I researched different ways to approach a scene, picked my favorites and then developed new ones that might work for Michael, like the dancing. It was a full immersion, a process that took about two years until I actually knew I had the role. Then it was a different energy and confidence, knowing I had it.
Our chief film critic, Owen Gleiberman, wrote in his review that you got Michael’s tentative, high, sugary voice just right. Did you find the voice first or the movement first?
The voice came first. The movement was harder. I believe the voice was the first thing that convinced Graham because I sent him a voice note out of nowhere, over text, of me speaking as Michael. He called me and said, “Getting you a coach tomorrow.” That was the turning point.
Fans keep circulating the side-by-side of your “Bad” tour rehearsal with the 1988 concert. What was the hardest move to replicate?
The hardest thing was feeling that true freedom on stage, so it didn’t feel rehearsed or choreographed. It’s very fluid, and that came from repetition, doing it over and over in rehearsal, so when I shot it that day, I could be completely free. I wasn’t thinking about the next move. I was present in the moment. That was the most fun part. But in rehearsal, the most challenging thing was going up on your toes, because doing it over and over hurts you. I did, many times. That move was a problem for me. I had a whole new respect for ballet dancers. Their toes are probably the strongest part of the body.
Colman Domingo plays your grandfather, Joe Jackson. What was it like to film those scenes, knowing your own father lived through many of those tougher moments?
It was eye-opening to act alongside Colman, then see him as my grandfather and have that full-circle moment. It was so seamless. He’d arrive on set, I’d arrive and we’d get right into it. No rehearsals. I loved that, because we discovered things with every new take and Antoine would guide it or let us play. I grew up with a different side of my grandfather, a softer side. He was strict here and there. If you didn’t put your dishes away, he’d make sure you did or finish all your cereal. But the grandfather my father grew up with was more strict and disciplinary and wanted to keep them together as a group. It was a different time, growing up in the ’60s and parents disciplined their kids differently. Seeing how Colman channeled that, telling so much through his stillness, his eyes and the tone of his voice, was amazing to witness.
Seeing it brought to life on screen would be difficult for anyone. How did it feel to be in a scene recreating something that, in theory, could be traumatic for your dad and your whole family?
Of course it’d be very personal, making a film about your own family and then having them watch it. I remember being really nervous about my family going to see it. I didn’t know if I wanted to sit there with them, because I didn’t want to be in my own head about what they thought of my performance. I just wanted them to enjoy it for themselves. Seeing a film about your own family can make a lot of people uncomfortable because you have your own idea of what that is, and it’s hard to capture it in a two-hour film. But the response I got from my family was incredible, and it made me emotional to get those phone calls from my cousins, even my younger cousins who are 12 and 13 and my uncles and aunts. They were so supportive, and I was happy I could bring that emotion out in them and bring them together to experience it.
What did your father say when he saw the film for the first time?
I saw him get emotional because he first saw it at the Berlin premiere, with the crowd, with the fans. I said, “Dad, you sure you want to wait to see it there?” He said, “I’m sure.” He wanted to see it with the audience. I felt a little nervous for him, but he loved it. He had tears when he got on stage afterward. He called me later that night or the next day to say how incredible it was to see his son playing his brother and not be able to tell the difference in so many moments. I told him how high a compliment that is, if I can convince him, me being his son, that I’m actually his brother in that film. It brought back a lot of memories. He said how much he misses Michael and his smile, and that seeing me on screen brought back the presence I brought to some of those quiet moments, especially the energy in the “Bad” performance. He was incredibly proud. That’s the highest reward, to get that from your parents and your family.
We’re at the tail end of Hispanic Heritage Month. In a clip that went viral earlier this year, you said, “I’m half Colombian and a lot of people don’t even know that.” Your mother, Alejandra, was born in Bogotá and you’ve talked about weaving Latin music into your early songs. What does being half Latino mean to you, and how have Latino audiences responded?
The response from the Latin audience has been amazing. I wish I’d had a chance to go down to South America or Mexico City, where I know the response to “Michael” was through the roof. As someone half Colombian, I sometimes feel embarrassed that I don’t know any Spanish. It’s not too late to learn. My mom still has a full Colombian accent, which I love. Every time I call her, I tease her about it. My Colombian side of the family is fairly small compared to my father’s side, and they’re still in Bogotá. I have some family in Mexico I don’t see often, but we keep in touch. My mom makes Colombian food every now and then. That’s a reminder, with the holidays coming up. I haven’t been to Colombia since I was 14, so I plan on going soon. The last time I was in South America was Brazil in 2019. It’s beautiful, and I love that part of the world.
There are complicated feelings around this movie, about where it ends and where part two should go. As a family member who sees Michael through that lens, what’s your message to people who have their own idea of what Michael was about, including the more complicated discussions and allegations from his life?
Finding out who Michael was is in his music. It’s in his lyrics. It’s in the poems he wrote, the videos, the messages he put out, the talks he gave on panels and at universities. It’s in what he devoted so much time to: charities, visiting other countries and visiting countless children. Part two, I can’t say, because I don’t know. It’s not up to me. My job is to come prepared and deliver the best performance I can. But to know Michael, it starts with the music.
10 QUESTIONS WITH JAAFAR JACKSON
- Childhood nickname? Art.
- Something you loved as a kid that you can’t believe you were into? Tarantulas. I have one as a pet now. And toy soldiers. I used to imagine battles with toy soldiers.
- Karaoke song or shower song? I’ve never done karaoke. I’m too shy. I feel like I’d be judged completely. In the shower, I don’t have a favorite. I hum different melodies or make weird instrument sounds if there’s an echo.
- Alternate title for “Michael?” It’d have to be a song title. I’m going to go with “Man in the Mirror.”
- Secret talent? Juggling.
- Favorite ice cream flavor? Easily McConnell’s Sea Salt Cream & Cookies.
- The one item you couldn’t live without? I can live without my phone. Maybe Apple TV, for my movies. I have a big movie collection.
- What TV show or film in history do you wish you’d been a cast member of? “Troy.” Not Brad Pitt’s role, because he played that so well. Hector.
- Fictional character you most relate to or admire? I’m going with Black Panther.
- Favorite piece of advice you’ve received? Not to be jaded. To enjoy the most simple things in life, and that there’s beauty in front of you at all times. Just being present to look at it, not getting taken away by the illusion of what’s in front of a screen, that dopamine intake. Be present, find beauty everywhere and stay curious, with wonderment. You find happiness and joy there a lot more than in other places.
Do you remember who told you that?
It wasn’t told to me verbally. It was through a note I found that was written by Michael. The way I found it, I felt like I was supposed to hear that.
Enjoy the ride, man.
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.
