EXCLUSIVE: Michael Jackson $150Million Biopic 'Thrown Into Chaos' By Scenes That 'Breached Agreement' With Family of Wacko 'Child Abuse Victim'
A Michael Jackson biopic is said to caught in a labyrinthine legal logjam.
Jan. 27 2025, Published 12:27 p.m. ET
A $150million blockbuster biopic about the life of Michael Jackson is in "chaos" over scenes depicting his child accuser Jordan Chandler.
Producers of Michael will have to reshoot key scenes that breach a 1994 agreement with the family of Chandler, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The flick has been delayed for at least six months because of its depiction of one of the people who accused him of child sexual abuse.
Producer Graham King is facing a backlash over legal hurdles in the new Jackson movie, delaying the $150million biopic by months.
A source told us: "The film has been thrown into chaos over the Jordy Chandler scenes. It beggars belief that things got this far without someone realizing there was a legal barrier preventing any depiction of Jordan or his family in a film being made by the Jackson family.
"It is crazy that no one flagged this up before the scenes were filmed. It is an insane situation to see the least."
In trying to tell the King of Pop’s story, Graham King, the Oscar-winning British producer of Bohemian Rhapsody and The Aviator, is alleged to have violated a legal agreement with Chandler, who in 1993, at the age of 13, was the first to accuse Jackson of sexual abuse.
Jaafar Jackson's starring role as his uncle is caught in turmoil as a reshoot looms over disputed scenes.
As such a big chunk of the movie, which is being made with the co-operation of the Jackson family and stars Jaafar Jackson as his late uncle, is said to be entirely unusable.
The original script for the film depicted Jackson as a victim of the Chandler family, whose claims caused lasting damage to his reputation.
A key scene dramatized a showdown between the Chandlers and Jackson’s team including his father, Joe, played by Colman Domingo, and his attorney John Branca, played by the Top Gun: Maverick star Miles Teller.
Colman Domingo and Miles Teller's key showdown scenes have been scrapped due to a decades-old legal agreement.
However, under the terms of the reported $20million settlement and non-disclosure agreement reached in January 1994, Jackson’s side is said to have agreed not to discuss the details of the deal or depict the Chandlers in any future film.
Michael was scheduled for release in April, filming having been completed in May last year, but its cast and crew are clearing their schedules to resume filming in March.
King is no stranger to re-works.
During the production of the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, the actor originally in line to play Mercury, Sacha Baron Cohen, was said to have dropped out and accused King of trying to sanitize Mercury’s life, which King has denied.
The role then went to Rami Malek.
The ‘Leaving Neverland’ controversy still looms large as the Jackson biopic encounters 'chaos' over Chandler's story.
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Ten years after Chandler's accusation, Jackson’s Neverland ranch in California was raided and he was arrested on suspicion of molesting another boy. He was acquitted of all charges after a trial in 2005.
Jackson has also faced allegations in civil lawsuits. Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who told their story in the documentary Leaving Neverland, are still fighting through the courts, with a trial date set for next year.
Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50 from an overdose of propofol while preparing for a comeback tour, This is It.
His personal physician, Conrad Murray, was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter for providing Jackson with the anesthetic.
