The first official Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, got its U.S. premiere in Los Angeles on Monday night as it heads toward theaters on April 22. The Antoine Fuqua-directed film will open worldwide on April 24, with full critics reviews due the same day it lands in U.S. cinemas.
Jaafar Jackson plays Michael Jackson in the film, and the early reaction from the premiere has turned heavily on that performance. One response called him tremendous and said he makes you forget he is not the real thing, while another said the movie is generic, boring and one-note despite musical numbers that fans will love.
That split matters because Michael is not being sold as just another music drama. It is the first official biopic of Michael Jackson, and it follows his story from the Jackson 5 days in Motown with his brothers through his breakout as a solo artist. Graham King, who produced Bohemian Rhapsody, is behind the project, and the film has the rights to use Jackson’s music.
The cast reaches across the Jackson family and the industry that built and shaped his career. Colman Domingo plays Joe Jackson, Nia Long plays Katherine Jackson, Miles Teller plays John Branca, Lauren Farrier plays Suzanne de Passe, Kendrick Sampson plays Quincy Jones, Larenz Tate plays Berry Gordy, Liv Symone plays Gladys Knight, Kevin Shinick plays Dick Clark and Jessica Sula plays La Toya Jackson. Juliano Krue Valdi plays the young Michael Jackson, and Jackson’s brothers are played by Jamal R. Henderson, Jayden Harville, Tre Horton, Jaylen Lyndon Hunter, Rhyan Hill, Judah Edwards, Joseph David-Jones and Nathaniel Logan McIntyre. Janet Jackson does not feature in the film.
The film first premiered in Berlin on April 10, then moved to Los Angeles this week as the release date closed in. The early response suggests the movie’s biggest draw may be the performances and the music itself, not the script around them. One early reaction praised the Beat It number and said the film brought the viewer back into loving music biopics; another said it was pretty much the Colman Domingo show. That leaves Michael with a clear test when reviews arrive on April 22: whether Jackson’s performance and the music can carry a biopic that some early viewers already see as more imitation than revelation.