One of the earliest biographical films about a musician was Lady Sings the Blues, a 1972 semi-factual film about Billie Holliday that starred Diana Ross and was nominated for five Academy Awards (1). Though it didn't win in any category, a soundtrack double-album of Diana Ross doing Billie Holliday topped the charts, and its prosperity was widely noted. More recently, the monumental successes of Walk The Line and Ray further ensured that no good musician will ever go un-biographied in Hollywood.
What I'm wondering is how long it will take them to come out with a biopic about Michael Jackson. Notorious came over a decade after the death of Biggie Smalls, but it was a latent addition to the flurry of musician bios, and it is more likely that Michael Jackson's recent death sparked a rush of opportunist scripts and project pitches.
I predict a Michael movie is already under negotiation by multiple movie studios and that a film will come out as early as next summer. But who will direct? More importantly, who clould play MJ?
There will have to be at least three, maybe even four actors, to portray Michael in all stages of his life. Since his life has always been public, the MJ audience will not easily be fooled; casting will be very important to make sure the film is believable. Who will play the light-skinned, disturbed Michael? Jonny Depp?
No...Probably someone more unexpected, like Elijah Wood as Iggy Pop or Michael Douglas as Liberace (2). Unpredictable casting choices drive publicity (in addition to untimely deaths,) as with Heath Ledger in Dark Knight.
Depp is too obvious. He already looked uncannily like Michael in Tim Burton's remake of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, used Keith Richards as inspiration for Captain Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean, and is involved already in talks to play Freddy Mercury in a movie about Queen to be produced by Robert De Niro's Tribeca Productions (3).
So who could it be?
The Associated Press reports that VH1 is planning to run a movie that chronicles MJ's life and a casting search is in progress (4). VH1 has already done the Jackson 5, however, and made-for-TV biopics hardly get the critical or commercial attention that their subjects usually warrant. The only reason we haven't heard of any other Michael projects in the works is because every studio is likely fighting for the rights to his story, and the chance to make the big bucks.
The problem is that MJ, a tragic figure, has been relentlessly parodied, and making a film that takes his story as seriously as it should will prove to be a very difficult task.
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