The director of Leaving Neverland, the documentary that chronicled two accusers’ sexual abuse claims against Michael Jackson, is criticizing a planned biopic about the late singer.
In a guest column for The Guardian published Sunday, Dan Reed criticized the decision to a biopic about the music icon, questioning why “no one is talking about ‘canceling’ this movie, which will glorify a man who raped children.”
“It seems that the press, his fans and the vast older demographic who grew up loving Jackson are willing to set aside his unhealthy relationship with children and just go along with the music,” Reed wrote.
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He went on to directly address the filmmaking team, which includes director Antoine Fuqua, writer John Logan, as well as producers Graham King, John Branca and John McClain, the latter of whom are co-executors of the Michael Jackson estate. Reed challenged whether the film would be able to represent alleged moments of abuse.
“How will you represent the moment when Jackson, a grown man in his 30s, takes a child by the hand and leads him into that bedroom?” the Emmy-winning Leaving Neverland helmer asked. “How will you depict what happens next?”
He adds that the film “sidestepping the question of Jackson’s predilection for sleeping with young boys” is broadcasting a specific message to survivors of child sexual abuse. “That message is: if a [pedophile] is rich and popular enough, society will forgive him,” he said.
In 1993, the first allegations of sexual abuse were made against Jackson, with the father of a 13-year-old boy who Jackson had repeatedly invited to the Neverland Ranch and to travel with him demanding $20 million to not go public with the claims. After the LAPD Sexually Exploited Child Unit’s launched an investigation, Jackson would be sued for $30 million by the boy’s family and in 1994, settled for $22 million outside of court.
That same year, grand juries in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles declined to indite the singer in two separate cases, but a decade later — following the release of the documentary Living with Michael Jackson in 2003, the Santa Barbara Sheriff and District Attorney reopened their investigation into Jackson. That resulted in a search of Neverland Ranch and the singer being charged with, among other things, lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14. His trial began in February 2005 and in June of that same year, Jackson was found not guilty on all charges. Jackson denied all allegations against him through his death in 2009.
The biopic about the Grammy-winning, record-setting artist was announced last week and will address all aspects of Jackson’s life, according to Lionsgate, though it remains unclear how the film will tackle the various controversies around the late musician.
“For me, there is no artist with the power, the charisma, and the sheer musical genius of Michael Jackson,” Fuqua said in a statement. “I was influenced to make music videos by watching his work — the first Black artist to play in heavy rotation on MTV. His music and those images are part of my worldview, and the chance to tell his story on the screen alongside his music was irresistible.”
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to the Jackson estate and Fuqua for comment.
Reed said he made Leaving Neverland featuring Wade Robson and James Safechuck — two of Jackson’s accusers who have also both sued the Jackson estate — not just as an “opportunity to expose Jackson by having his victims speak on camera for the first time. Here was an opportunity to bring to the widest possible audience an insight into how children fall victim to any sexual abuser, the psychology of the predator and, above all, the grooming process.”
Another Jackson project, jukebox musical MJ, is currently running on Broadway and celebrated its one-year anniversary last week. The show debuted in February 2022 following pandemic delays and a canceled Chicago pre-Broadway run in 2019, the same year the Leaving Neverland doc was released.
The show was the most nominated musical of the 2021-2022 Broadway season and has broken multiple box office records at the Neil Simon Theatre. Star Myles Frost — who won a Tony for his performance as Jackson and is nominated alongside the original cast in the best musical theater album category at the 2023 Grammys — closed out the return of Clive Davis’ Pre-Grammy Gala on Saturday night.
