“That will always break my heart”: the one movie Antoine Fuqua will always regret not directing
Currently, all over the world, millions of people are underlining the phrase ‘turning a blind eye’ and heading into cinemas the world over to watch Michael, the biopic directed by Training Day’s Antoine Fuqua that is doing for ‘should have been cancelled’ dead pop stars what Project Hail Mary did for alien spiders made from rocks.
Rarely has separating art from the artist been quite as tested as in the case (literally) of Michael Jackson, but it appears from Michael’s opening weeks, during which it has registered the highest-grossing opening for any biopic in history, surpassing Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, that enormous amounts of people are willing to overlook deeply disturbing and damaging behaviour as long as they can tap their feet to some songs.
Fuqua has evidently got no problem with the movie’s subject matter, and has also evidently done a decent job with it, given he was a choice that raised eyebrows due to his history of focusing mainly on action films, including the Denzel Washington-starring Equalizer trilogy. But Fuqua does have a history in music, having started off directing videos for artists including Toni Braxton, Stevie Wonder and Prince, so the world of Jackson was not an entirely new one for him.
Michael, however, was anything but a usual shoot: despite Jackson’s estate working closely with the film’s producers, they stepped in to insist the final part of the movie was reshot to remove the allegations against Jackson, which led to an additional 22 days of filming and an extra $15million on Fuqua’s paycheck, which is nice work if you can get it.
It doesn’t sound like it’s a movie he is going to regret helming, that’s for sure, unlike one film from the 2000s that he felt ‘got away’ from him, starring his actor of choice, Denzel: the Ridley Scott-directed American Gangster.
Fuqua still harbours regret over missing out on the 2007 film, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “It breaks my heart just to say it out loud. I didn’t know enough then. I don’t think I navigated it the way I should have, or had a full perspective and understanding of the business, like the fiscal responsibilities and the pressure that everyone’s under.”
He added, “You do have to pause and take in the big picture. That one got away from me, and that will always break my heart. That was a chance for me to work with Denzel again in the genre that I grew up loving.”
Fuqua was originally set to direct the film but left over “creative differences” with Universal, leading to the film being cancelled at a cost of millions, before it was revived under Scott the following year. It tells the story of a New York criminal who originally smuggled heroin on planes coming back from the Vietnam War, tracking his rise to the top of a mob organisation. Fuqua may well have been right to rue missing out on it, the film eventually racked up a host of award nominations, including two Oscars and three Golden Globe nods and brought in $270m at the box office.
He has plenty to keep him occupied, however, as aside from the success of his Jackson biopic, he is also working on the new Mike Tyson series, which should be out before the end of the year, plus another movie with Washington, likely to be the fourth instalment in the Equalizer franchise.
