Lifetime is preparing a Michael Jackson biopic
Only hours after an upcoming TV depiction of Michael Jackson was cancelled due to criticism of the casting, Lifetime has announced that they will be doing their own tribute to the late King of Pop.
On Friday at the Television Critics Association winter press tour, Lifetime announced that it had ordered a biopic about Michael Jackson. The project’s working title is Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland and will apparently focus on the final years of Jackson’s life, told from the point of view of his bodyguards, and it will be based on the book Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days.Â
— TV series with Joseph Fiennes as Michael Jackson gets cancelled —Â
The move was announced just hours after the U.K. pay TV channel Sky announced that it would not air its Urban Myths episode that portrays Michael Jackson’s fabled trip with Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando. The episode had seen severe backlash for the casting of Joseph Fiennes, a white man, to play a man who was unapologetic his whole life about being black. In particular, Jackson’s daughter Paris said she was “incredibly offended” by the portrayal after the trailer for the episode was released on Tuesday.
