“Michael” star Jaafar Jackson told “The Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon Thursday night that he experienced a “spiritual moment” at the end of his first makeup session for the new film, having seen himself transform into his late uncle, Michael Jackson.
“Do you look in the mirror and go, ‘What’s going on?’” Fallon asked Jackson, referencing his first time seeing himself in full costume for the film. “Or do you go, ‘This is surreal. This is my uncle, this is crazy’?” In response, Jackson credited makeup designer Bill Corso (“Foxcatcher”) for helping make the transformation so seamless.
“It was really a surreal, a spiritual moment,” Jackson told Fallon. “Just that process of seeing me slowly transform into Michael, it was emotional.” The actor went on to reveal that his first day of filming involved him replicating Jackson’s iconic “Bad” performance.
“Oh my God. They threw you right in,” Fallon responded, shocked, to which Jackson added: “Oh, they threw me right in the deep end. Yeah, we did all the performances the first two weeks of shooting.” You can watch the full NBC late night segment yourself in the video below.
Jaafar, whose father is former Jackson 5 member Jermaine Jackson, further revealed that he never had any aspirations of being an actor before “Michael” landed in his lap. He told the same thing to “Michael” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” producer Graham King in their first meeting together.
“He asked me, ‘Have you ever acted before?’ I said, ‘Never. I’ve never wanted to be an actor,’” he recalled. “You know, I grew up wanting to play golf.” After their meeting, King hired an acting coach for Jaafar, who makes his screen acting debut in “Michael.” That began a years-spanning process in which the star had to prove he was worthy of the lead role in the Antoine Fuqua-directed biopic — before even finding out if he’d landed it or not.
“It was a multi-year process. It wasn’t just a traditional audition. I definitely had to earn the role [over] a two-year process, really,” he explained. “Before I even officially got the part, and then I had some more time to really hone in all the details, knowing I had the part.”
Fallon subsequently rolled the first clip of “Michael,” which has since gone viral online as of Friday morning.
