Jaafar Jackson’s mother had been to the set of “Michael” only once, and she went without really knowing what to expect. The first time she saw the finished movie, she sat down with “a few siblings” around her. Her son was on the screen, playing his uncle.
“It was pretty surreal to see their reactions,” Jaafar said.
Her reaction surprised even him. To understand why, you have to go back to how quietly the whole thing started.
Jaafar is the son of Jermaine Jackson, one of Michael’s older brothers. Producer Graham King came to him in 2020 with the chance to play Michael Jackson in a big movie about his life. Jaafar had never acted before.
He told co-star Miles Teller, who sat down with him for Interview magazine, that he kept it to himself.
“Even in the process of preparing for it, I didn’t tell her for a full year.”
Here’s Jaafar on the red carpet, talking about what it meant to step into his uncle’s shoes.
Jaafar talks about playing his uncle on the red carpet
Jaafar says the Jacksons are huge, with “around 35 to 40 cousins,” and “new babies every year.” Not one of them knew.
“No one in my family knew for a full year. I kept it pretty quiet until I felt comfortable enough to share it.”
Then came the screening. Jaafar’s mother felt something harder to put into words.
“But when my mom saw it on-screen, it blew her away. It was hard for her to connect it to me, so it was very emotional for her.”
She looked at the screen and saw Michael, and it was hard for her to find her own boy in there.
And there was a mother’s worry mixed in with the wonder. “It was strange for her and she’s very protective of me, knowing what’s to come with it,” he said.
She was right there beside him when the film premiered in Berlin, along with his grandmother and his brothers, so you can see the family celebrating together on the red carpet.
Jaafar celebrates the Berlin premiere with his mother and grandmother
Family ran through the whole shoot. Part of it was filmed at Hayvenhurst, the real Jackson family home, and seeing the actors playing his grandparents brought back his own childhood. Nia Long plays his grandmother.
“Past memories of seeing my grandpa in that same chair he was sitting in, or the same chain he was wearing, and then seeing Nia as my grandmother, having that love and that passion and those little subtleties that really make her who she is, it was very emotional.”
For more from the family, Jaafar sat down with La Toya, Marlon and Jackie Jackson to talk about the film with the Associated Press.
Jaafar and the Jackson family talk about “Michael”
This week, on Nov 3, Jaafar and co-star Colman Domingo did a Q&A at a “Michael” awards screening in Beverly Hills hosted by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
On Monday, Nov 16, he’ll receive the Actor Award (Film) at the Critics Choice Celebration of Black Cinema and Television in Los Angeles, hosted by Roy Wood Jr. Then on Monday, Nov 30, he, Colman Domingo, Nia Long, director Antoine Fuqua and Graham King get the Gotham Musical Tribute at Cipriani Wall Street in New York.
King, the producer who first came to Jaafar in 2020, joined him on the carpet at a “Michael” premiere, and so did his dad.
Jaafar on the premiere carpet with his father Jermaine and Graham King
For a whole year, Jaafar’s family didn’t know a thing about the role. These days, as those clips show, they’re right there with him on the red carpet.