*In the midst of an international outcry over Hollywood’s lack of diversity comes word that white British actor Joseph Fiennes has been cast as Michael Jackson in an upcoming U.K. film.
Set to premiere later this year, “Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon” is described as comedic retelling of a story that may or may not be true – in which the King of Pop, Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor set out on a road trip from New York City to Los Angeles on Sept. 11, 2001. Based on a disputed Vanity Fair article, the trio were unable to secure a flight out of New York on the day of the terrorist attacks, so they decided to hop in a car and drive the 3000 miles back home – but only getting as far as Ohio.
Stockard Channing and Brian Cox will play Taylor and Brando, respectively. But it is Fiennes as the African American superstar that is raising both eyebrows and ire.
“I got the script the other day,” Fiennes explained to WENN. “It’s a challenge. It’s a comedy. It doesn’t poke mean fun but it’s a story, possibly urban legend, whereby Michael, Marlon Brando, and Liz Taylor were all together the day before 9/11 doing a concert. Airspace was shut down and they couldn’t get out and Michael had the bright idea to go to hire a car and drive.
“So the three of them got in a car and drove 500 miles to Los Angeles. It took them a while because they had to stop at a lot of Burger Kings for Marlon, but they got out!”
Fiennes, however, said nothing about the colorblind casting. Yes, Jackson suffered from vitiligo (which causes the skin to lose its pigment) and had undergone plastic surgery to narrow his nose by 2001, but the man was still African American.
Sky Arts, which commissioned the drama, confirmed the casting and said Wednesday that the show is in post-production and is due to air in 2016. The channel said it was “part of a series of comedies about unlikely stories from arts and cultural history.”
The casting news comes on the heels of an all-white slate of Oscar nominees in the acting categories.
“We believe in giving producers the creative freedom to cast roles as they wish, within the diversity framework which we have set,” Sky said in a statement released by a spokeswoman.
Writer Stereo Williams of the Daily Beast weighs in on the casting:
Joseph Fiennes as Michael Jackson is a symptom of a deeper sickness that moviemakers are only now beginning to treat. This movie won’t be the final say on this subject, but as it happens, it adds fuel to a very necessary conversation. Here’s hoping major film studios in both America and Britain pay closer attention to that conversation and do more than pay lip service to those initiating it.
And here’s hoping we don’t get a Ralph Fiennes cameo as Jermaine.
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