Prince Jackson has a front-row seat for this awards season.
Michael’s oldest son is credited as one of the producers of “Michael,” the big-screen story of his dad’s life. He even shared a Best Producer win at the National Film Awards UK with producer Graham King and others, according to Comic Basics. In an Associated Press video released Oct 30, Prince said he hopes his cousin Jaafar, who plays Michael, gets recognition this awards season for the discipline and artistry he brought to the part.
Jaafar is already in the running for one prize this month. The 17th Hollywood Music in Media Awards nominated him in the Song, Onscreen Performance (Film) category for “Bad.” The ceremony is set for Wednesday, Nov 18, at the Avalon in Hollywood.
But Jaafar’s nod is only one of three for “Michael.” The other two point to people most moviegoers never see on screen.
The first goes to the man who directed the film. Antoine Fuqua is nominated in the Music-Themed Film, Biopic or Musical category. The other nominees there are “Behemoth!” (Tony Gilroy), “Brother Verses Brother” (Ari Gold), “Descendants: Wicked Wonderland” (Kimmy Gatewood) and “The Muppet Show” (Alex Timbers).
The second is the one with a twist.
A movie’s music supervisor is the person in charge of the music that ends up in the film. For “Michael,” that job went to John Warhurst, and he’s nominated for Music Supervision (Film). He’s up against the music supervisors of “40 Watts From Nowhere,” “Mr. Irrelevant,” “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” “Tony” and “Wuthering Heights.”
Warhurst comes from Brighouse, a town in West Yorkshire, England. And he has been on a big stage with a music legend’s story before.
Back at the 2019 Academy Awards, he won the Oscar for Best Sound Editing, shared with Nina Hartstone, for “Bohemian Rhapsody.” That’s the Queen movie about Freddie Mercury. He also won a BAFTA, the British film award, for Best Sound on the same film. Years earlier he was part of the BAFTA-winning sound team for “Les Miserables” in 2012.
Here’s the moment “Bohemian Rhapsody” was announced as the Best Sound Editing winner at the 2019 Oscars, when Warhurst and Hartstone got their big night.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” wins Best Sound Editing at the 2019 Oscars
The links between the two films keep stacking up. “Bohemian Rhapsody” came out in 2018 and won four Oscars. It was produced by Graham King and Jim Beach, and Graham King is also a producer of “Michael.”
Then, this year, “Michael” passed “Bohemian Rhapsody” to become the highest-grossing musical biopic ever. So the Freddie Mercury movie that won Warhurst his Oscar now sits behind the Michael movie he’s nominated for.
Prince said he hopes Jaafar gets noticed this season, and the film’s list of nominations already runs longer than one name. The winners will be named on Nov 18. Until then, fans have three names from “Michael” to root for, including a sound man from West Yorkshire who already knows how to bring a rock legend’s music to the big screen.