Spike Lee has firmly stood behind Antoine Fuqua’s new biopic “Michael,” dismissing critics who claim the film ignores child sexual abuse allegations that later defined much of Michael Jackson’s public life.
As the movie enters a strong second weekend at the box office, the three-time Oscar winner argued that the controversy simply doesn’t fit the story being told.
“First of all, if you’re a movie critic and you’re complaining about the stuff, all this other stuff — but the movie ends at ’88,” Lee told CNN.
He pointed out that because the film traces Jackson’s life from his childhood in the Jackson 5 to his peak “King of Pop” era in 1988, the timeline doesn’t reach the 1993 or 2003 allegations.
“So you’re critiquing the film on something that you want in, but it doesn’t work in the timeline of the film,” Lee added. “But people showed up. Worldwide, people showed their love.”
Lee, who worked with Jackson and Prince, described the late icons as his “brothers” and “beautiful, beautiful people.”
This effort to humanize the star is a major theme for director Fuqua, who told Deadline that the film was designed to show “who he was on stage” and explore the personality that shaped him.
Fuqua defended the narrow focus, explaining that jumping straight into the allegations would leave audiences without proper context.
“The movie is called ‘Michael,’ so you have to focus on Michael,” Fuqua noted. “Movies can foster empathy to show that no one is perfect.”
Behind the scenes, the road to the screen wasn’t a straight line. An original cut of the film was reportedly more than 3½ hours long and included an accuser in the finale, Deadline reported. However, legal obstacles arose because a previous settlement with the Jackson estate guaranteed the individual would never be portrayed on screen.
To address this, the production underwent 22 days of reshoots last May to film a new ending, leading Lionsgate to consider splitting the project into two parts.
While the current film stops before the legal battles began, Fuqua said they “planted the seeds” for potentially exploring those later years in a sequel.
Jackson was acquitted on all counts in 2005 after being charged in 2003 with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of intoxicating a minor.
Despite this acquittal and Jackson’s death in 2009, new accusers have continued to come forward.
