‘Michael’ director says reshooting child abuse allegation scenes was a “punch in the gut”
Antoine Fuqua, the director of the new Michael biopic, has claimed that reshooting the scenes alleging Michael Jackson of child sexual abuse was a “punch in the gut”.
The filmmaker was speaking in a new interview with Deadline following the movie’s release, in which he addressed the fact that scenes accusing Jackson of child sexual abuse in the 1990s had to be cut and reshot for the final edit.
The production had originally filmed a final third of the movie in which historic child sexual abuse allegations against Jackson were depicted, relating to the 1993 case in which LA screenwriter and dentist Evan Chandler accused the singer of assaulting his 13-year-old son.
However, at a late stage, a clause was found in the court settlement with Chandler, which prevented the film from depicting or even mentioning the name of the child in question, hence forcing them to spend $15 million on reshoots, with the bill being footed by Jackson’s estate.
Subsequently describing the issue as “tough”, Fuqua said in the interview: “All movies have different challenges, but this one was really unique. It was an extra punch in the gut for me at that moment, because I was in the exact same situation with Emancipation.”
The director was referencing his 2023 film starring Will Smith, which had its release derailed from 2022 after the actor infamously punched Chris Rock on stage at that year’s Oscars.
Comparing that situation to the Michael controversy, Fuqua added: “I was floored and devastated and knew what that meant overall and that the movie would be written off. This was a similar situation, because I was handing in the director’s cut and I get this call. That was a tough day.”
Despite the issues that the film presented, including being overwhelmingly panned by critics, it has still succeeded in the respect of bringing in the biggest box office opening of all time for a biopic, grossing $217 million worldwide.
With plans for a sequel on the next part of the King of Pop’s life in the works, Fuqua said they had initially shot up to the events of 1995, when “things turned against Michael”, although it is not clear whether this footage can be used in any subsequent film.
Although it has been a commercial hit, the film has still attracted much controversy for omitting the child abuse allegations, with the director of the Leaving Neverland documentary, which addressed the accusations, claiming that Jackson was “worse than Jeffrey Epstein”.
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