Still trying to wrap your head around the news that Shakespeare In Love actor Joseph Fiennes will be playing Michael Freakin’ Jackson in an upcoming 9/11 road trip comedy? Don’t worry. The world’s most unlikely Jacko understands your befuddlement.
This “unique” piece of casting still smacks like something pulled out of a codeine bender, but the 45-year-old FlashForward alum really is the man that’ll play the King of Pop in the upcoming TV movie offering. He spoke to Entertainment Tonight about the gig and conceded that this whole thing is definitely a little weird.
“I’m a white, middle-class guy from London,” Fiennes exclusively told ET of playing the late music icon. “I’m as shocked as you may be.”
We’d rate ourselves as pretty gawshdarn shocked, so that’s the level of shock Fiennes is apparently at for this project. Mind you, this won’t be a gritty biopic that will see Fiennes attempting to channel MJ. The movie (set to air on the U.K. cable channel Sky Arts) will revolve around the alleged western road trip Jackson, Marlon Brando, and Elizabeth Taylor took after 9/11.
“It’s kind of off the wall, but the writing is a delight, and the kind of interaction between the three of them is funny, and also full of pathos,” the 45-year-old actor said of the movie. “It’s people who are so iconic, but also can be detached. You know, you can get detached from society. So it’s examining that kind of wonderful and mad detachment.”
The casting of Fiennes as Jackson sparked a bit of controversy in addition to the confusion. Questions were raised if it was appropriate to have Fiennes (an actor so white that we led with a Shakespeare In Love credit) play a black character that had immeasurable cultural impact. The network airing the film has defended the casting choice in a statement.
“‘Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon’ is a Sky Arts comedy which takes a lighthearted look at a reportedly true event; Joseph Fiennes is cast as Michael Jackson. It is part of a series of comedies about unlikely stories from arts and cultural history. Sky Arts gives producers the creative freedom to cast roles as they wish, within the diversity framework which we have set.”
Elizabeth, Michael and Marlon is scheduled to air later this year on Sky Arts. In addition to Fiennes playing Jackson, the movie will also feature Stockard Channing as Elizabeth Taylor and Brian Cox as Marlon Brando.
(Via Entertainment Tonight)
