Michael Jackson Biopic delayed because of its portrayal of Jordan Chandler's allegation - Puck News
https://puck.news/a-dark-secret-has-imperiled-the-new-michael-jackson-movie/
Behind a paywall but here are the relevant bits:
Lionsgate announced in November that the film was being delayed from April until at least October. What the studio didn’t say was why—
The script begins and ends during the 1993 investigation into statements about Jackson’s anatomy made by Jordan Chandler, the then-13-year-old boy whose molestation claim led to worldwide headlines and an eventual $20 million settlement. The script depicts Jackson as the naïve victim of the money-grubbing Chandlers, whose unfounded claims force Jackson to endure ridicule and persecution until he ultimately settles, his resolve and reputation forever in tatters.
The film’s third act, in particular, hinges specifically on the impact of the Chandler circus. In the script I read—which I’m told was close to final, but obviously these things are often revised—a tense sequence involves Branca (Teller), Johnnie Cochran (Derek Luke), and other Jackson lawyers discussing whether to pay off Chandler and his family. At one point, the lawyers play the infamous recording, submitted in court, of Jordan’s father threatening to leverage his son’s accusations to “destroy” his ex-wife and Jackson’s career. The ensuing scenes dramatize the extensive police investigation, including a “traumatizing” strip search of Michael that scars him for life.
The problem? Years before signing off on the Michael movie with the Chandlers featured in the script, Jackson’s team agreed they would never include the family in any such movie. Yes, according to two sources, there’s a signed agreement with the Chandlers prohibiting any dramatization of them or their stories. Ouch. That deal, which was overlooked by the estate during the vetting of the script, has now rendered the planned storyline and several key scenes that were shot unusable. Like I said, a nightmare. (Several attempts to reach Branca and the Jackson estate’s lead litigator, Jonathan Steinsapir, were unsuccessful.)
The catalyst for all this was a September story in the Financial Times that revealed Branca had made secret hush money payments to five accusers who had come forward after HBO aired the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland, which focused on accusers Wade Robson and James Safechuck. According to the FT, these new accusers threatened to go public with claims that Jackson had acted inappropriately, and the estate agreed to collectively pay them $16.5 million to stay quiet. Then last year, as the payments neared their end, one of the five accusers allegedly violated the agreement, seeking an additional $213 million, so the estate brought an arbitration claim against him.
When the FT found out about the payments, so did the Michael filmmakers and their studio partners, who didn’t love being blindsided. What else has the estate not revealed? Everyone involved knows this movie will have a giant target on it when it’s released. Michael Jackson has always been a magnet for crazy people and litigious crazy people. Everything about Michael needs to be airtight, and the filmmakers feared that any “noise” around Jackson from new accusers could damage the film’s reception. But that was just the beginning. According to two sources, around the time he revealed the hush money payments, Branca let the filmmakers know that there was a legal issue with the third act of the movie. That’s when everyone learned about the decades-old deal with the Chandlers. If Michael now can’t “dramatize” the Chandler claims, which are the backbone of the film, what, exactly, will the third act entail?
That’s what King, Fuqua, and Logan have been trying to figure out for weeks now. After a rewrite, the filmmakers are set to give Lionsgate a revised script and shooting strategy for approval as early as this week. Universal, which is distributing overseas, must also sign off on the changes—or bail on the project entirely, if the studio chooses. (Both Lionsgate and Universal declined to comment.) Even before this problem emerged, the estate had agreed to fund any reshoots; it will now cover the costs of the additional photography necessary to complete a new, legally kosher version of the film.
King, who declined to talk to me, is said to be confident that his team can fix the movie. He’s booked soundstages for March and informed key cast and crew of the need to reconvene. A source at Lionsgate is similarly hopeful that King can resolve the issues in time to hit that October release date.