The film producer Graham King was on vacation in the south of France when his phone rang with alarming news: Much of the footage for the Michael Jackson biopic he had recently finished shooting had to be scrapped and reshot.

电影制片人格雷厄姆·金当时正在法国南部度假，一通电话带来了令人震惊的消息：他最近刚完成拍摄的迈克尔·杰克逊传记片中的大部分镜头必须废弃并重新拍摄。



The final third of the movie dealt with a 1993 lawsuit filed on behalf of a 13-year-old boy who alleged that the pop star had molested him, which Jackson denied. But Jackson's estate belatedly realized a settlement he had signed with the boy's family forbade it from using his story for commercial purposes.

影片最后三分之一讲述的是1993年的一起诉讼，一名13岁男孩的家人代其提起诉讼，指控这位流行巨星对他进行了性骚扰，而杰克逊对此予以否认。 但杰克逊的遗产管理方后来才意识到，杰克逊与男孩家人签署的和解协议禁止他们将男孩的故事用于商业用途。

"It was pretty crazy and surreal," King said. "I've never experienced that where you finish a film and then find out you didn't have the legal rights to tell that story."

“这太疯狂、太超现实了，”金说。 “我从未经历过这种事，电影都拍完了，却发现没有合法权利讲述那个故事。”

He and the creative team behind "Michael" had to craft a new ending to a movie already delicately designed to tell an uplifting story about a controversial protagonist. The estate paid tens of millions of dollars for the additional photography, which delayed the film's release by a year.

他和《迈克尔》背后的创意团队不得不为这部本就精心设计、旨在讲述一位颇具争议的主角励志故事的影片，重新构思一个新结局。 遗产管理方为追加拍摄支付了数千万美元，这导致影片上映推迟了一年。

The costly behind-the-scenes chaos illustrates the risks in dramatizing the life of a controversial real person. But "Michael," which now ends before any abuse allegations occurred, is also an example of the money that can be made by showing the struggles and successes of one of the most popular entertainers in modern history on the big screen.

这场代价高昂的幕后混乱局面，凸显了将一位颇具争议的真实人物生平搬上银幕所存在的风险。 不过，据知情人士透露，如今《迈克尔》的结局设定在任何性虐待指控发生之前，它也证明了，将这位现代历史上最受欢迎的艺人之一的奋斗与成功故事搬上大银幕，能带来可观的收益。

Despite largely negative early reviews, it is expected to open this weekend to more than $60 million in the U.S. and Canada and ultimately gross more than $500 million globally, with most of the revenue coming from overseas, according to people familiar with the matter. Prerelease surveys show interest is high with all demographic groups, but particularly strong among Black audiences, according to people familiar with the matter.

尽管早期评价大多为负面，但据知情人士透露，该片预计本周末在美国和加拿大上映首周票房将超过6000万美元，最终全球票房将超过5亿美元，其中大部分收入来自海外。 据知情人士透露，上映前的调查显示，所有年龄段人群对该片兴趣都很高，尤其是黑人观众群体。

The movie's appeal rests in large part on its re-creation of iconic performances by the Jackson 5 and Michael himself, including "ABC," "Thriller" and "Bad." Lionsgate Studios and Universal Pictures, which financed "Michael," are betting audiences are willing to forget about Jackson's alleged misconduct to enjoy an uplifting, nostalgia-soaked story.

这部电影的吸引力很大程度上在于它重现了杰克逊五人组以及迈克尔本人标志性的表演，包括《ABC》《颤栗》和《真棒》等。为《迈克尔》提供资金的狮门影业和环球影业认为，观众愿意忘却杰克逊的所谓不当行为，来享受一个振奋人心、充满怀旧情怀的故事。

They point to the success of Broadway's "MJ the Musical," which doesn't address the abuse accusations, and 2018's "Bohemian Rhapsody," a performance-packed movie about the band Queen that grossed more than $900 million.

他们以百老汇音乐剧《MJ：音乐剧》的成功为例，该剧并未涉及性虐待指控，还有2018年以皇后乐队精彩表演为卖点的影片《波西米亚狂想曲》，该片全球票房超过9亿美元。

Jackson's music "resonates for people of all ages to this day," said Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate's motion-picture group. "We did not have to educate young people on who this person is and why his music was so profoundly impactful."

狮门影业电影集团主席亚当·福格尔森说：“时至今日，杰克逊的音乐依然能引起各年龄段人群的共鸣。 我们无需向年轻人介绍他是谁，以及为什么他的音乐影响如此深远。”

If "Michael" is as successful as its backers hope, they plan to put a follow-up covering the rest of Jackson's life into production quickly. About one-third would likely consist of footage already shot, including performances from the 1990s Dangerous tour and the 2000s Invincible tour, Fogelson and King said.

如果《迈克尔》能如支持者所愿取得成功，他们计划迅速制作一部讲述杰克逊余生的续集。 福格尔森和金表示，续集约三分之一可能会采用已经拍摄的镜头，包括20世纪90年代“危险之旅”巡演和21世纪初“无敌”巡演的表演。

King, after he produced "Bohemian Rhapsody," was barraged with proposals for films about other musical artists. He wanted to make a movie about Jackson and found his estate was amenable. Initially saddled with $500 million of debt following the star's 2009 death from an anesthesia overdose, the estate turned around its financial position with publishing-rights sales, streaming revenue and the Broadway show. "Michael" could boost its value further by increasing interest in Jackson's music.

在制作《波西米亚狂想曲》之后，金收到了大量关于其他音乐人传记片的拍摄提案。 他想拍摄一部关于杰克逊的电影，并发现其遗产管理方对此表示赞同。 这位巨星2009年因麻醉剂过量去世后，遗产管理方最初背负了5亿美元债务，但通过出版权销售、流媒体收入和百老汇音乐剧扭转了财务状况。 《迈克尔》可能会通过提高人们对杰克逊音乐的兴趣，进一步提升其价值。

Around the time King started working on the movie in 2019, HBO released a documentary called "Leaving Neverland" about men who alleged they were abused as children by Jackson. While the estate called it "tabloid character assassination," it damaged the reputation of the late singer, who was acquitted on all counts in a 2005 criminal trial involving the alleged molestation of another 13-year-old boy.

2019年金开始筹备这部电影时，HBO播出了一部名为《离开梦幻岛》的纪录片，讲述了一些男子声称自己童年时遭到杰克逊性虐待的故事。 尽管遗产管理方称该片是“小报式的人物诋毁”，但它还是损害了这位已故歌手的声誉。2005年，杰克逊在一场涉及另一名13岁男孩的刑事审判中被指控性骚扰，但最终所有罪名均不成立。

King said that he found the documentary "very one-sided" and that "my goal was to let the audience decide how they feel about him."

金表示，他觉得这部纪录片“非常片面”，“我的目标是让观众自己决定对他的看法”。

But getting a studio to finance and release a Michael Jackson biopic was tricky in the wake of "Leaving Neverland." Several studios passed before Lionsgate, a midsize Hollywood company, agreed in 2022 to release it domestically. Comcast's Universal Pictures paid for most of the rest in exchange for international rights everywhere except Japan, where Jackson is particularly popular and a local distributor paid a hefty sum.

但在《离开梦幻岛》播出后，要找到一家电影公司为迈克尔·杰克逊传记片提供资金并发行并非易事。多家电影公司都拒绝了，直到2022年，好莱坞中型公司狮门影业同意在美国国内发行该片。 康卡斯特旗下的环球影业支付了其余大部分费用，以换取除日本外所有地区的国际发行权，杰克逊在日本尤其受欢迎，当地一家发行商为此支付了高额费用。

The biggest initial challenge was finding a lead actor who looked and sounded like the legendary pop star, danced like him and wasn't so well-known he would overshadow the man he plays. King discovered his unlikely star when he saw videos of Michael Jackson's nephew Jaafar singing with his father, Jermaine.

最初最大的挑战是找到一位主演，他既要长相和声音像这位传奇流行巨星，舞蹈风格也要与他相似，同时名气又不能太大，以免盖过他所饰演人物的风头。 金在看到迈克尔·杰克逊的侄子贾法尔与他父亲杰梅因一起唱歌的视频后，发现了这位意想不到的明星人选。

After two years of training with acting coaches and choreographers, Jaafar spent three weeks in his late uncle's house practicing alone, then invited a small group to watch him perform "Billie Jean." King recalled: "He had transformed himself, and he had gotten all the moves down."

贾法尔在表演教练和编舞师的指导下训练了两年，随后在他已故叔叔的家中独自练习了三周，然后邀请一小群人观看他表演《比利·金》。金回忆道：“他已脱胎换骨，所有动作都学得很到位。”

The movie originally cost nearly $150 million owing to expensive music rights, three weeks of shooting concert scenes, and visual effects to change actors' appearances as time passed and portray Michael's menagerie of animal friends, including Bubbles the chimpanzee.

由于音乐版权费用高昂、为期三周的演唱会场景拍摄以及视觉特效（用于展现时间流逝时演员外貌的变化，以及描绘迈克尔形形色色的动物朋友，包括黑猩猩泡泡），这部电影最初的成本接近1.5亿美元。

The film was in postproduction in late 2024 when the estate discovered its error. A spokesman for the estate declined to comment on the circumstances of the costly mistake.

2024年末影片处于后期制作阶段时，遗产管理方发现了自己的错误。 遗产管理方发言人拒绝就这一代价高昂的错误的具体情况发表评论。

King, director Antoine Fuqua and writer John Logan last year created a new third act about Michael Jackson's escaping the professional and psychological influence of his father.

去年，金、导演安东万·福夸和编剧约翰·洛根创作了一个关于迈克尔·杰克逊摆脱父亲职业和心理影响的新第三幕。

Shooting the new material forced Lionsgate and Universal to delay the release of "Michael" by a year. It also allowed them to shorten a movie that originally took more than three hours to cover the early days of the Jackson 5 through Jackson's late career, yet still felt rushed, according to Fogelson.

新素材的拍摄迫使狮门影业和环球影业将《迈克尔》的上映推迟了一年。 福格尔森表示，这也让他们得以缩短影片时长，原片从杰克逊五人组早期到杰克逊职业生涯后期时长超过三小时，但仍感觉节奏仓促。

"We were having to race through certain parts just to keep it at that length," he said.

“为了保持那个时长，我们不得不匆匆掠过某些部分，”他说。

"Michael" now runs about two hours. The filmmakers have a rough outline for part two, and preparations are in place to shoot later this year, which would allow it to come out in late 2027 or 2028. All that is left before pulling the trigger is ensuring the first movie is a hit.

如今《迈克尔》时长约两小时。 电影制作人已有第二部的粗略大纲，准备工作也已就绪，计划今年晚些时候开拍，这样影片可以在2027年末或2028年上映。 在启动拍摄前，只需确保第一部电影取得成功即可。

"I would expect that we will make a decision within a couple of weeks of the film opening," said Fogelson.

“我预计在影片上映后的几周内，我们就会做出决定，”福格尔森说。

素材来源：iYuba

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