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Michael Jackson to be played by a white actor.

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Unless they use CGI or find a dude with a chopped off nose, there's no way to pull off MJ's look from after the early 90's. Don't matter if they're black or white. He wasn't even looking human in 2001 when this movie takes place.

VYm2mdt.jpg


http://hubpages.com/entertainment/The-Changing-Face-of-Michael-Jackson

Michael was a living manga character at that point in his life. This is a made for TV movie, so I don't really feel one way or the other about this.
 

Meowster

Member
The plot for this movie seems crazy as hell but I'm all for Stockard Channing to have a nice role again. I don't know what to do about Michael Jackson because either way is, quite frankly, rather disrespectful without any malicious intent.
 

Kuros

Member
He didn't bleach his skin for 'looking more European ' reasons. He had vitiligo, an autoimmune disease that attacks pigment cells. Bleaching the skin is one of the treatments people use in order to not look 'weird', as the white spots are pure white against your skin tone. This was confirmed by his autopsy. My son has the condition.

A model with the condition:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/people/winnie-harlow-model-with-vitiligo/

What will never be known though is whether him starting skin bleaching caused the vitiligo. (Which is entirely possible) either way his stark white appearance would not have been fully caused by it as it is a desease that only produce patches. Thus he bleached/used makeup to match lighter colour.
 

ASIS

Member
The plot for this movie seems crazy as hell but I'm all for Stockard Channing to have a nice role again. I don't know what to do about Michael Jackson because either way is, quite frankly, rather disrespectful without any malicious intent.
For they chose a black actor it would be bizzare, but I wouldn't say disrespectful.

Regardless, I do think choosing a white person to play MJ is a sound choice, he didn't look black or white or any other ethnicity at the time, that's true, but at the very least there could be some resemblence in skin tone.
What will never be known though is whether him starting skin bleaching caused the vitiligo. (Which is entirely possible) either way his stark white appearance would not have been fully caused by it as it is a desease that only produce patches. Thus he bleached/used makeup to match lighter colour.
Vitiligo was the main cause of bleaching in this case, the reason why the skin appeared to be 'evened out' is because he resorted to use make up and bleaching products to help. At least that's what I understand, MJ always identified himself as a black person anyway, even when he was whiter than white people.
 

finowns

Member
But on the other hand, an African-American actor would have to resort to whiteface to portray Jackson. I don't think there's a real solution here, but I'm interested to see what your opinion is on this matter.

I would have allowed it because that would've been amazing.
 
I thought we were at a point where we have come to understand the body, gender or race that individuals want to identify with?

Why are people so affronted by MJ identifying as white? Would you have a male casted as Catelyn Jenner?

Edit: actually after more reading it seems MJ identified as African American. Now I'm more confused
 
....and?

for all intents and purposes, his appearance was white at this point in his life due to his skin diseases and cosmetic bleaching.
 

weshes195

Member
I thought we were at a point where we have come to understand the body, gender or race that individuals want to identify with?

Why are people so affronted by MJ identifying as white? Would you have a male casted as Catelyn Jenner?

Edit: actually after more reading it seems MJ identified as African American. Now I'm more confused

MJ was a black person, he was always dark skinned. Until he got a skin disorder + treatments to skin= what you know of him today.

But yeah, he was always black.
 

Gastone

Member
Ok, so Sky Arts ordered a TV movie centered around a bizarre rumor that Liz Taylor, Marlon Brando, and Michael Jackson took a roadtrip out of NY after 9/11 happened. This looks like it could be interesting, right?

Whoever thought this was a good idea must have been on some serious drugs at the time.
 

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
Sure he did! He also never molested children and had them sleep in their own beds when they came to visit him.

I'm on mobile so I can go searching around but I've seen tons of pictures where he messed up and his vitiligo was still visible.

I also remember seeing a paparazzi shot of blanket in the beach where it was clear that he also had vitiligo.
 

sphinx

the piano man
Sure he did! He also never molested children and had them sleep in their own beds when they came to visit him.

do your research before you spout bullshit.

it was confirmed by medics during the autopsy (and revealed to the world, not just left as rumor) when he died that his long black hair was a wig and that he, indeed, had a skin disorder.
 

Joni

Member
Sure he did! He also never molested children and had them sleep in their own beds when they came to visit him.
At least, the famous kids that spent time with him have never mentioned any abuse by him. Especially Feldman would not have stayed quiet. The hormone theory would be a sad, but plausible explanation.
 

Joni

Member
What hormone theory?
That his dad had him chemically castrated or at least gave him hormone treat to stop puberty to ensure the continued success of the family. It would be the reason why his voice never dropped, he had no body hair, he lived in a big amusement park and he slept in the same bed as those kids. It would be normal behaviour if he was only 12-13.
 

V1LÆM

Gold Member
Here is a picture of Michael Jackson signing autographs in November 2001 in New York.

virgin-megastore-signing-nyc(137)-m-16.jpg


So what's the big deal about a white person playing him? His skin is white. If it was set in 1982 then yeah that'd be a bit weird. He pretty much the only famous person I can think of that can be played by either a black or white actor. And as the man said himself "it doesn't matter if you're black or white!"

Seriously don't get it.
 

20cent

Banned
Both options are fairly awful. It's either a black guy in white face, or a white guy playing a man who was black but didn't look like it.

So, what do you want? Are you just a troll or just came up with an "innocent" existential question? Anything can offend anyone, we get it.

CG would be non-sense, it will look like shit and too expensive.

A black guy painted in white would be a useless hassle. For both the comedian and the required make-up time every single day of shooting.

MJ had white skin during the events told by the movie. A white guy playing him is fine. End of story.
 
They kind of have to due to the fact he was white in his later years. If the film is set before his colour change then I think they should have went with a black actor.
 

Relativ9

Member
Well those are all good actors, so I really don't see the issue. I mean you choose actors you think look the most like the person you're trying to emulate...and can act. The better option would be to choose an anorexic skeleton but I'm thinking those might be in short supply.
 
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