Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 4 minutes ago
If you’ve ever wished you could see the late Michael Jackson in concert, one of the upcoming 2026 movies, "Michael," will get you close to the experience thanks to Jaafar Jackson’s incredible performance as the King of Pop and the production’s commitment to recreating his presence. When CinemaBlend talked to the filmmakers of the "Michael" movie, they told us about what it was like to film stadium concert scenes in front of hundreds of extras.

Jaafar Jackson is the nephew of Michael Jackson, and has already been receiving high praise from the movie’s first audiences for a “flawless” performance. Here’s what director Antoine Fuqua said about what it was like to film the Michael Jackson concert scenes with 400+ extras and a full band on stage with him.
Transcript
00:00When that music comes on, and he starts performing,
00:04it really was like you were there.
00:06And the fans were, the extras were in it.
00:09It wasn't like, OK, action, and you're going to pretend.
00:12That music would come on.
00:13They would start dancing around and start screaming.
00:15And there was moments I looked, I was like,
00:18do they think this is Michael?
00:20Like, it was so bizarre.
00:21Because when we weren't even rolling,
00:23they would be screaming, we want more,
00:25and entertaining themselves.
00:27It was really special.
00:28They were very emotional.
00:30Very emotional.
00:31Very emotional.
00:32We were all emotional watching Jafar off on that stage.
00:35Yeah.
00:35Because he just transformed himself into Michael.
00:38Yeah.
00:38And you could feel it.
00:39You could feel it.
00:40And they could feel it as well.
00:42Yeah.
00:42And I don't think they knew what to expect, of course.
00:44Right.
00:44You know, it's like playing Michael Jackson,
00:47and then when the music starts and Jafar comes out,
00:49it was surprising to them as well how detailed he was as Michael,
00:55and singing and performing as Michael, it was kind of mind-blowing.
01:00I think the first day he did bad, right?
01:03The first day was bad.
01:04The first day of filming was bad.
01:06All I could hear from the crew and the extras was, and us.
01:09Yeah.
01:09Holy shit.
01:10Yeah, yeah.
01:11It was like, whoa.
01:13Explosive.
01:14Because we had seen him rehearse, but we had not actually seen
01:17the costume, makeup, and everything.
01:20It was just mind-blowing.
01:22It was amazing, especially with the fans, with the extras.
01:24Right.
01:24You know, it was crazy, yeah.
01:26I don't think we went out to Michael fans.
01:28We just went out to extras.
01:30We just went out to extras.
01:31Right.
01:31Yeah.
01:32It was just organic, though, like Anton said.
01:34Just let the camera roll.
01:36Yeah, they would just start going.
01:37Right.
01:37I mean, it got so bad, we had to have extra cameras put in the audience.
01:42We had, like, six, and I looked at Graham, like, Graham was like,
01:44we need two more.
01:45We need more cameras, right.
01:46Put two more cameras, because we would, he would see someone
01:49way in the back screaming and crying.
01:51And then I would see someone over there, and I was like,
01:54how do we capture it?
01:54It was so real and organic.
01:57So literally, we would have our crew, like, you go over and get that.
02:00Go grab this.
02:02And here's what's interesting.
02:03In a movie, you do it over and over.
02:06It was the same energy each time.
02:08Right.
02:09You know what I mean?
02:10You think you're going to burn them out.
02:12The music would start playing, and they would just disappear into it.
02:15It was amazing.
02:15I think they really gave Jafar confidence on that stage, just organically,
02:20because they were rooting for him.
02:21They were cheering for him.
02:22They were crying for him.
02:24So much love, yeah.
02:25Yeah, it was a lot of love.
02:26You could feel going from the audience to the stage and vice versa.
02:30So it felt like a mini Michael.
02:32Like a mini concert.
02:33Concert, right.
Comments

Recommended