With the second "Michael" film approaching the start of production, Jaafar Jackson, nephew of Michael Jackson, says the film will indeed address the criticism and child abuse allegations that Michael Jackson faced in the 1990s.
Jackson told GQ Middle East that although he doesn't have much to say in how the screenplay will be written, he hopes the sequel will offer greater perspective on Michael's vision. "It's another person's story," Jaafar Jackson said. "It's another person's idea of what it is, and it's mainly driven by an agenda. And that is really the problem we've had as a family: not having Michael's voice being heard. I think that is very, very important, especially in recent years".
The first film in the series was a box office success over the summer, surpassing one billion dollars in worldwide ticket sales. However, the film only covers the first half of the icon's career and ends with the release of "Bad" in 1987, before the singer received his first accusation in 1993.
Jaafar Jackson said that the two-part feature provides the opportunity for a deeper understanding of Michael and his circumstances. "This first film focuses on Michael from his roots," he said. "So you get that idea of who he was before he had all the success and became the icon that people know, you understand who he was as a human being first, because at the end of the day, that's who he was in the 1990s until he passed away".
Jackson added that Michael "never changed that purity, that sense of always wanting to find the good in other people" and that "no matter everything that happened, how he was treated, what things were said about him, he never stopped treating people with kindness". Jaafar Jackson expressed hope that this characteristic will be reflected in the second film.
