Does Jaafar Jackson really sing in the Michael biopic?

Michael Jackson’s nephew delivers a total performance in Antoine Fuqua’s film which is released in theaters today. At the cost of relentless training, over several years…

More than the film itself, it is his performance that will get people talking.

Jaafar Jackson, son of Jermaine Jackson (former member of the Jackson 5) and nephew of Michael Jackson, plays his uncle in the biopic – he who had never acted and had never considered becoming an actor. It was the producer Graham King who thought of him, during an impromptu meeting:

“He asked me if I had ever played. I answered: never. I wanted to play golf…” says Jaafar Jackson at Jimmy Fallon.

After this meeting, King did not immediately offer him the role, but offered him a casting process over several years. He must work, prove that he can do it: “It took years. It wasn’t a typical audition. I had to earn the role over almost two years.”

Finally, the film is edited. Jaafar Jackson is chosen. And the physical transformation begins, with the help of makeup artist Bill Corso (Foxcatcher), which makes the metamorphosis possible, to the point of upsetting the nephew: “It was truly a surreal, almost spiritual moment to see myself like that!”

And when filming begins, the young actor is ready to put on the white glove. There he is directly on stage, dancing on Bad And Billie Jean : “My first day of filming was recreating Bad’s iconic performance. We actually shot all the performances in the first two weeks.”

Obviously, Jaafar has been training. Physically. Vocally. But the producers took no risks. The iconic songs heard in the film are all remastered original Michael Jackson recordings, while Jaafar (and Juliano Valdi, who plays young Michael) provide an impressive lip-sync.

But the nephew still dares to take his uncle back, at times: “It’s a mix of my voice and Michael’s for the vocals”he specifies in an interview with NRJ. “But for the speaking voice, it’s just me.”

Play Michael was the other major challenge for this novice actor. So Jaafar Jackson did everything to capture his uncle’s energy:

“Being able to slip into his skin, feel what he felt, see life with the same fresh perspective as Michael, that was essential for me. I wanted to start from a source of authenticity rather than imitating or copying his gestures”he explains to Interview Magazine. “I wanted to understand the deep meaning of each movement, its essence. What really helped me was having access to Michael’s personal writings: his diary, his poems, his mantras… It was a revelation. I started doing the same, posting affirmations on the walls and mirrors. I also reinvested in Hayvenhurst, the family home where I grew up. I lived there for 15 years. I went back, I recreated a room research. There was a dance hall where Michael trained: I worked there, I slept in different rooms to feel the energy, without that, my performance would not have been the same.

Jaafar’s performance is total. In the gestures. In attitude. In the voice. And in dancing too. The actor does the choreography for the film himself – at the cost of total devotion:

“I always had a sense of rhythm, but I didn’t know how to dance like him. The challenge is to do it believably. Anyone can do a moonwalk, but making it believable is something else. Even a pirouette can be extremely complicated. I, naturally, turn right. But Michael turns left. I only started mastering certain scenes a few months before filming, even though I had been rehearsing them for three years. People think it’s easy, but It was incredibly difficult.”

It is clear that Graham King had flair. He who had already transformed Rami Malek into Freddie Mercury signs here a new stunning metamorphosis.

Jaafar becomes Michael. And that’s currently to be seen in the cinema.