Everyone watching the Michael biopic expected Jaafar Jackson to nail the moves. What they didn’t expect was how deep he had to go to get there.
Side by side comparisons of Jaafar and Michael have been stopping people mid-scroll. The footwork, the lean, the way his hands move — it’s not imitation. It’s something closer to possession.
FANS WHO GREW UP WATCHING MICHAEL CAN’T FIND THE DIFFERENCE.
Jaafar Reveals The Hardest Performance To Recreate
But Jaafar has been clear in interviews about what actually challenged him the most in the biopic. The dancing was hard. Years of training went into getting the body right.
WHAT TOOK LONGER WAS UNDERSTANDING THE PERSON BEHIND THE PERFORMANCES.
He spent months going through private home videos and interviews, not just to copy Michael’s movements, but to absorb the way he thought, the way he felt music, the way he existed in a room.
“I was watching tons of interviews and private home videos, soaking up the nuances, the mannerisms and, most of all, the human,” Jaafar said.
That’s the part no choreographer can teach.
A Full Side-By-Side Performance Breakdown
He used the same method Michael used to study artists he admired — watching, analysing, finding what made them great and then internalising it.
The difference was Jaafar wasn’t studying a stranger. He was studying his uncle.
Director Antoine Fuqua said extras in stadium scenes didn’t need to act. They were genuinely screaming. That’s not choreography. That’s Michael Jackson walking back into the room.
And Jaafar made him alive again