Spoiler alert! We're discussing major details about the new Michael Jackson movie "Michael."
Like many biopics these days, "Michael" is essentially a glorified Wikipedia page.
The excessively sanitized new film (in theaters now) depicts the King of Pop as an infallible, squeaky clean young man devoted to his family ‒ charting his child stardom and meteoric rise as a solo artist in the 1970s and '80s, but stopping just short of including his allegations of child sexual abuse.
Although the movie dutifully checks off the major milestones of Jackson's early career, it also dramatizes other events. For instance, there is no evidence that entertainment lawyer John Branca fired Jackson’s father, Joe, over fax. And while there is a noted instance of Jackson signing autographs at a Texas toy store in 2004, there isn’t any record of that happening in the '80s, as depicted in the film.
Here is the true story behind other key moments in "Michael," which stars Colman Domingo, Miles Teller, Nia Long and Jackson's nephew, Jaafar.
