Another biopic dropping in. On Tuesday, Lifetime released the first trailer for the upcoming biopic Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland.
The Lifetime Original movie comes after a series of a biopic of celebrities including Whitney Houston and more recently Birtney Spears. It’s set to premiere later this month.
Searching for Neverland
Jackson is the latest celebrity to become the inspiration for a Lifetime movie. Following the network’s biopics for Brittany Murphy, Anna Nicole Smith, Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston and Britney Spears.
Lifetime released the trailer of Michael Jackson‘s biopic, Searching for Neverland, starring the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest” King of Pop impersonator Navi.
“He doesn’t want to be the King of Pop. He just wants to be Mike,” one of the bodyguards says in voiceover. “A normal American dad.”
The trailer hints at the darker side of Jackson’s final years as investigators question the bodyguards about Dr. Conrad Murray, the doctor who administered the deadly dose in the hours before the pop icon’s death.
The project was first announced in January, during a TCA presentation. Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland premieres on Memorial Day, May 29th on Lifetime.
The network has already commissioned biopics on artist including TLC and Aaliyah.
A brand new side
The movie will show Jackson’s story in his later years through the eyes of his bodyguards, it will also explore Michael’s relationship with his children, Prince, Blanket, and Paris.
The film stars Michael’s impersonator Navi, Sam Adegoke and Chad L Coleman as his bodyguards. Dianne Houston, from Runaway Island, is directing while the script was written by Elizabeth Hunter.
The script is based on the 2014 best selling book Remember The Time: Protecting Michael Jackson In His Final Days, written by Jackson’s bodyguards Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard.
The book detailed their experiences working for Jackson from the aftermath of his 2005 sexual molestation trial to his death in 2009.
Earlier this year a controversial comedy short was premiered on Sky and then canceled.
Sky’s Urban Myth series released an episode titled Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon. In which Joseph, Fiennes was cast as Michael Jackson, Stockard Channing as Elizabeth Taylor and Brian Cox as Marlon Brando.
After the trailer was released, Paris Jackson, Michael’s daughter, said on Twitter that Greene’s portrayal of her father “honestly made me want to vomit.”
Sky later said in a statement: “We set out to take a light-hearted look at reportedly true events and never intended to cause any offense.”
Let’s hope Lifetime’s biopic doesn’t cause the same response on Paris this time.
Source: Stereogum