The producer of Bohemian Rhapsody has reached a deal with Michael Jackson’s estate to make an authorized biopic about the late King of Pop.
Deadline first reported that producer Graham King’s GK Films — which produced the Queen biopic and also has a Bee Gees film in the works — secured the rights to Jackson’s life story as well as the use of his music. A representative for GK Films confirmed the acquisition to Rolling Stone. A rep for the Jackson estate declined to comment.
According to Deadline, Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Logan — who previously worked with King on another biopic, Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator — will pen the Jackson biopic script, with the film, like Bohemian Rhapsody, not shying away from the more controversial moments of Jackson’s life and career.
No movie studio has aligned with the Jackson biopic yet and no casting decisions have been made. The biopic marks the first authorized film about Jackson, whose life has been the focus of numerous critically-panned television movies, most recently Lifetime’s Searching for Neverland in 2017. Jackson’s alleged sexual abuse of two young boys was examined in the recent HBO documentary Leaving Neverland.
News of the authorized Jackson biopic comes one day after Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations actor and original Hamilton cast member Ephraim Sykes will portray the King of Pop in the similarly authorized MJ: The Musical, set to open on Broadway in 2020.