Those who worked on the Michael Jackson film truly knew Michael, starting with his nephew who plays him

In telling the story of Michael, the biopic that traces the early years of the King of Pop's public success and personal torment, director Antoine Fuqua claims that every day on set, the crew of four hundred and fifty people worked "for the love of Michael." Part of the production effort behind this film – which Fuqua pitched to Bohemian Rhapsody producer Graham King – lies precisely in attempting to capture the aura of charisma that Michael Jackson exuded even in the most casual encounters.

Starting with Fuqua and King themselves, who truly knew Michael Jackson. Having worked alongside him for a long time, they became the first, strict judges of the film's portrayal: "knowing Michael since the early eighties, and truly knowing him, it seemed like a huge challenge," King explained, recalling the first steps towards the film's production.

Michael Jackson launched the careers of the choreographers who worked on his biopic

A film that, almost naturally, ended up bringing together people in front of and behind the camera who worked closely with Michael, forging relationships of friendship and mutual respect. This is the case of the film's choreographers Rich Talauega and Tone Talauega, who were discovered and artistically launched by Michael Jackson himself, as Rich recalls: "We were very young when we worked with Michael: my brother was fifteen, I was seventeen. Tone had to get special permission to work as an adult. Collaborating with Michael meant accumulating years and years of experience in a very short time. We grew up with Michael: his energy, his dance, his music, his style, his fashion. It's surreal to be here together and be able to share our interpretation of what Michael represents."

They were the ones who taught the two non-professional performers Jaafar Jackson and Juliano Krue Valdi how to move convincingly on stage, recreating some of the most iconic dance moves in the music world, as Tone recalled: "We brought that energy into the long hours of training with Juliano and Jaafar. The main lesson we imparted to them is that the work doesn't end in the studio. Yes, you work eight hours a day, six days a week, but the real work is outside: obsessively studying the man, how he walked, how he moved, how he talked, how he dressed. And understanding the influences: James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Sammy Davis Jr., Fred Astaire, Charlie Chaplin. It's a process that would take an entire generation to assimilate. But as a team, we came together and conveyed that energy to the cast, especially Juliano and Jaafar. And it worked."

Thriller also made cinematic makeup history and changed Bill Corso's life

Makeup artist Bill Corso's life was also touched by Michael Jackson, even though he didn't directly know him. For him, the excitement of recreating the historic Thriller video, with Jackson's and the extras' zombie and werewolf makeup, was further heightened by what that music video represented for him professionally: "I was fifteen when Thriller came out. At the time, I already dreamed of becoming a film makeup artist. When the making-of came out on MTV, which always preceded the broadcast of the music short, I was mesmerized by the scenes with makeup artist Rick Baker transforming Michael. Seeing that making-of on TV was a life-changing moment. My entire generation was affected by it. My first paid job was doing a friend's makeup for a school production of Thriller: he and the other actors gave me twenty dollars. Coming back today to recreate Thriller for this film was the culmination of a lifetime. A true full circle moment." In addition to the stage makeup for performances and music videos, Corso's department was crucial for the portrayal of another pivotal moment in the film: the accident on the set of the Pepsi commercial, which forever changed MJ's life. To recreate the drama, the production tracked down those who were on set that day and saw Michael's hair catch fire: "We involved people who were present that day to ensure accuracy. We had actual photographs of the injuries and tried to recreate them faithfully. It was a crucial moment in Michael's life that changed everything. We worked extensively with prosthetic designer Christian Tinsley to recreate the damage, even burning sections of hair to make them realistic, based on a photo we had of what Michael's burned head looked like just hours after the accident."

Jaafar Jackson secretly worked on his uncle's role for a year

For no one else, however, was this film as much a family affair as for its protagonist, Jaafar Jackson, a blood relative of the King of Pop. The resemblance and surname are no coincidence: he is the son of Jermaine Jackson, Michael's older brother and a member of the Jackson Five. The decision to entrust him with such a delicate role was far from obvious: Jaafar obviously bears a strong resemblance to his uncle Michael, and having grown up in his presence, he is already very familiar with his character, the pop star's private demeanor. However, he had never acted, danced, or sung professionally before stepping onto the set of Michael. An enormous responsibility, which began long before he stepped into his uncle's shoes. When King proposed that he play the role, the film was closer to an idea than a ready-to-go project. Yet young Jackson began studying acting from scratch, starting with theatrical dramas and television parts to practice with his teacher, then moving on to studying his uncle's performance and the scenes in the script. After the initial screen tests, Fuqua and King decided to bet on him. By that point, Jaafar had already invested two years of his life in this adventure, training daily to acquire the necessary skills to not disappoint... and secretly from his own father and the entire Jackson clan: "Yes, I kept it a secret from my family for almost a year. The main reason is that I wanted to figure out for myself, at first, how capable I really was of doing it. I wanted to be sure I truly had it in me before speaking too soon."

The acid test, however, came on the first day, on set after months in the rehearsal room learning to replicate his uncle's stage movements down to the millimeter, in order to faithfully recreate the Victory Tour performances. As Corso emphasized: "Michael took an entire lifetime to become what he was. These guys, guided by them, did similar work in just a few months. It's extraordinary." The first take was anything but a walk in the park: the baptism of fire was the live performance of Bad, with its intricate choreography. Fuqua recalls that day: "Thanks to Jaafar, we shot Bad on the very first day. It's one of the hardest tests you can face on day one, especially if you've never been on a set before acting. You never know what's going to happen. You have a thousand extras, five hundred crew members, costumes everywhere. It's day one: it's a tough test. We had an entire band, a crew of performers, and about twelve cameras. And you never know what's going to come, you never know who's really going to show up at that moment. But as soon as it started, and we saw what was happening... I couldn't believe it. It was too good to be true. Graham and I looked at each other, we hugged. It was very emotional. It was intense. He had done all the work beforehand: he studied, he prepared, he spent time at Hayvenhurst. Once I walked into a room and he was there studying. He had really done his homework. It was years of preparation. But even with all that work, you never know if a person, on that day, with all that pressure on them, will freeze. When you have all those people around, it's easy for that to happen."

There is someone who, due to age limits, could not have known Michael: Juliano Krue Valdi, who is just nine years old and plays young MJ in the film during his years as the Jackson Five's vocalist. Small yet, he assures, already touched by Michael's influence, with an adult's demeanor: "Yes, he has always been a huge inspiration in my life. I prepared by watching many of his interviews and trying to practice his mannerisms, the way he moved, spoke, and used his body. And I'm really happy to have had all my family supporting me during this film. And I'm very happy that Antoine, Jaafar, and Graham trusted me with such an enormous responsibility." The hardest part for him, who like Jaafar is in front of the camera for the first time? "The dancing, and especially the James Brown splits. When I tried and tried again with Michael Jackson's choreographers, Rich and Tone, at first I wasn't very flexible, so every morning I had to stretch my hamstrings. It still hurts."