Jaafar, La Toya, Marlon and Jackie Jackson reflect on family at 'Michael' premiere — AP interview

[0:13] You didn't just learn how to moonwalk, right? [0:15] But you had to learn how to moonwalk in different eras. [0:18] The Motown moonwalk is different to the victory era. [0:21] The victory moonwalk is different to the bad era. [0:23] How on earth did you kind of go about that, ensuring that Motown [0:27] felt like a discovery, bad felt like mastery? [0:31] Oh, I really came with dissecting a lot of the videos [0:37] and also getting as much insight into how Michael felt after each [0:42] performance, which was hard to get because none of that is online. [0:46] But I knew he wasn't satisfied with the Motown performance, [0:50] specifically the spin to the toes and also the moonwalk. [0:54] But that gave me the liberty to to to not try and do it perfectly, [1:01] you know, for the Motown 25 and allow myself to progress as the [1:05] eras, you know, went on and changed. [1:07] So with with bad, that was really the where it felt where it felt like [1:14] I'm sorry about that. I got to hug you, man. [1:16] I love him so much, you know, like, oh, that's nice. [1:19] I like that brush. [1:20] Oh, absolutely. [1:21] King of Pop. Yeah. [1:22] Great to see you with a bad moonwalk. [1:28] Yeah, there's a little there's little nuances that change with each moonwalk. [1:32] And I wanted to make sure you can see the difference with each one. [1:35] You learned his autograph like that's the level of homework that you did. [1:38] So the question, what was the most obscure piece of homework that you did [1:42] that you assigned yourself that nobody will see on screen, but you needed to know [1:45] for your own peace of mind? [1:47] Oh, probably just things he would eat, things he would watch, [1:56] things he would sleep to. [1:59] Yeah, many things that weren't captured on camera. [2:02] Just allow me to to really live in that world and make it more seamless. [2:07] So when I arrived on set, that was just with me. [2:09] I didn't have to turn it on type of thing. [2:11] Yeah, Catherine's face was her bedrock and your preparation and your studies. [2:19] What did you learn, I guess, about her balancing that with the juxtaposition [2:25] of her family becoming so famous? [2:31] You know, I think that's what women do. [2:33] That divine feminine, feminine energy can accomplish anything when we're in tune [2:37] with that energy, when we are, when we can creatively visualize what we want [2:43] for our family, for our lovers, for our friends, for the people that matter the most to us. [2:48] We can actually we are capable of doing all things. [2:51] And when I think of Catherine Jackson, I think of a woman who is very deliberate [2:55] about her choices. [2:56] She was a God fearing woman, is a God fearing woman. [2:59] She is dedicated to her family. [3:02] She was a wife. [3:03] She was a mother. [3:04] She was a woman of service. [3:05] She is grace and grace is what creates greatness. [3:10] This is a big moment for the family for a lot of different reasons. [3:13] What do you hope the film showcases about your journey that maybe may have gone [3:19] misunderstood or unseen all these years? [3:21] Well, this fact that we're family like all the other families out there [3:25] and that you have to work hard to be successful. [3:28] We put in the work and that's what you have to do. [3:30] That's what Michael did. [3:31] That's what we all did. [3:32] You got to put in the work. [3:33] If you if you have a golden life, you got to put in the work to be successful. [3:37] But trust me, when we were kids, we didn't realize that. [3:40] You know, so we didn't understand, you know, my father rehearsing us, rehearsing us. [3:45] And but as you get older, you understand he saw something that we didn't see. [3:51] And we did the music because we enjoyed it and didn't realize the reach, [3:55] the global reach all over the world that we were reaching. [3:58] A lot of people think that my father made us. [4:00] No, we love we love to entertain. [4:02] That's what we want to do in life as little kids, entertain. [4:07] That's what we love to do. [4:07] Yeah, I think that it's really important for them to see the beginning [4:12] of how it all started and how it all began. [4:15] Because people truly don't know the true story. [4:17] So this film captures that and you will be able to see it and enjoy it. [4:23] I'm not sure if you've seen it or not, but it's fabulous. [4:25] Oh, and I mean, amazing performances all around. [4:27] But what was it like seeing Coleman's performance of your father on the screen like that? [4:31] He's amazing. [4:34] He's amazing, man. [4:35] Yeah, he is. [4:36] I haven't met him yet. I'm waiting to meet him here. [4:38] Oh, I did. [4:38] Yeah, when I was on the set, he came. [4:40] Well, I was in this trailer talking to him. [4:43] Yes. [4:44] It was touching. [4:45] And yes, of course, I cried. [4:46] However, Coleman did a fabulous job as my father. [4:49] And I'm very proud of that as well. [4:51] I actually had the chance to interview Joe. [4:53] Oh, really? [4:54] Yeah. [4:54] How was that? [4:56] I found him to be the 89 charismatic. [4:59] Yes. [5:00] I found him to be charming. [5:01] Yes. [5:03] I'm curious to you what you learned about the man that you don't think the world knows [5:08] or would be surprised to know. [5:09] Those things that he was charming and charismatic and he was passionate. [5:14] And I think that he had a great work ethic and he instilled that in his kids. [5:20] So I feel like I found out, you know, I wanted to find the man who was the blue collar man [5:24] who gave everything he could to really, you know, help his children be the best that they can be. [5:29] You know, I mean, you know, there's always questions about personality or person childbearing, [5:33] you name it. [5:34] He's a man from the south, blue collar, and he gave what he could, you know. [5:39] Were you guys aware at the time, the racial barriers that you were breaking? [5:43] Were you able to kind of conceive that, what you were doing? [5:46] No, we weren't. [5:47] And one of the first time that we realized is because during the Jackson Five Days, [5:53] that's when they were integrating schools and they were shipping the black kids [5:58] and some of the white kids to the white schools. [6:01] And this fan wrote that, you know, we didn't have anything in common with the white kids. [6:07] And we were so distanced apart. [6:09] Then our teacher asked us to write about our favorite music. [6:12] And they wrote, everybody wrote about the Jackson Five. [6:16] And she said that was the first time that we had something coming [6:19] and it brought us together. [6:20] So we bridged, through our music, we bridged the gap, you know, [6:24] and we didn't realize that. [6:25] But that's how powerful music is. [6:27] You know, positive-driven music. [6:30] You know, being my brothers and they were brothers, [6:33] you look at them differently than the world looked at them. [6:36] I just saw them as my brothers who were just musical people and were talented. [6:42] But later on in life, I think my first experience I had was when I saw them [6:47] in concert for the first time and all these girls were screaming and fainting. [6:52] And I'm going, why are you fainting over them? [6:54] Because they are just brothers to me. [6:57] They're just your brothers? [6:57] Yeah. [6:58] Oh, I love that. [7:00] Of course, the iconic Victory Tour moment is on full display in this movie. [7:04] Take me back to that day. [7:06] What do you remember about it when Michael said, this is our last and final show? [7:11] What was that moment like for the brothers? [7:13] Well, go on, Jackie. [7:14] When they found out we were going to be doing stadiums, like 72,000 people everywhere we went. [7:19] And Georgia Stadium here, we did seven nights in a row. [7:23] Sold out, seven nights. [7:24] And no one's ever booked that record yet. [7:26] So we were excited. [7:27] We were excited. [7:28] You know, things moved forward. [7:30] And we still tour all over the world, still. [7:33] And Miss Latoya, we miss you in the music scene. [7:35] Are we going to get a new Latoya record anytime soon? [7:38] I'm not sure. [7:39] Stay tuned. [7:40] It's pretty insane. [7:43] Have you met her? [7:44] No, not yet. [7:45] So that's obviously going to happen tonight. [7:49] I'm going to... [7:51] My thing is I want to bombard her. [7:52] One time she was on set and she had a big cowboy hat, but I didn't get to say anything. [7:57] Because it was too fast. [7:59] Do you know what I mean? [8:00] So now it's my chance. [8:02] I follow her on Instagram and Coleman told me to just DM her. [8:06] And I went, Coleman, I'm too shy to do that. [8:08] He's like, you've got to just do it. [8:10] What did you learn about Michael and Latoya's dynamic? [8:13] Because it was up and down and all around. [8:16] What's your takeaway? [8:17] It was an honest sibling relationship. [8:20] They loved each other hard and fierce. [8:23] They all did. [8:24] And it's very protective. [8:26] But they seemed to have a lot of fun together. [8:28] And they had very formative years. [8:30] They lived together in New York at a very young age. [8:34] So I think that is crucial. [8:36] And I think they bonded in a friend way too. [8:39] You know what I mean? [8:40] And it wasn't his brothers. [8:43] It was a separate space. [8:45] But it felt very honest sibling. [8:48] They could have a bickering and they could also make each other laugh like nobody else could. [8:53] And she just loved him. [8:55] She just adored him. [8:56] What was it like? [8:58] I mean, obviously, there were a couple of other siblings that weren't in this film. [9:02] So what was it like, I guess, holding down the woman role in the family? [9:07] At times, because the movie itself was so big, I would just, I would kind of like zone in and out. [9:15] Because I also hadn't worked for like two years before because of the strike. [9:19] So I was just sort of taking in being on set again. [9:22] Yeah. [9:23] So I'd kind of forget about that. [9:24] And then I would plug back in and be like, oh yeah, I guess I do have sisters. [9:29] You know what I mean? [9:30] But I would just pretend that they were there in my head. [9:32] Yeah. [9:33] That's pretty much it. [9:34] That's pretty much it. [9:35] Another room doing something. [9:36] And my brothers were so much fun. [9:37] I was having a good time with them. [9:38] Yeah. [9:39] Well, congratulations. [9:40] I really want to make sure that that, look, she's literally right there. [9:43] We need to make this connection happen somehow. [9:47] We need to see it. [9:48] Wait, she obviously knows who you are. [9:50] She does. [9:51] Because Prince told me. [9:52] Yeah. [9:53] Yeah, she does. [9:55] Oh, okay. [9:56] You have to do this. [9:57] I really want you to go and have this. [9:58] I really want you to go and have this moment. [10:00] Go in there. [10:01] Be confident. [10:02] Go do it. [10:03] Wait. [10:17] So what did you say? [10:19] I got you. [10:20] And then I knew she was slightly overwhelmed. [10:21] And I was like, I thought I could slide into your DMs. [10:23] And she was like, don't worry about it. [10:25] And I was like, I'm still going to do it. [10:27] She's so amazing. [10:29] Yeah, I'm so excited. [10:31] Yeah, you got me the courage to do it. [10:33] Take it in. [10:35] How on earth did you keep this a secret? [10:38] Nobody had any idea until the first screener's thing. [10:40] It's a small part. [10:41] And I was drawn to this because this was somebody at Michael Jackson's request who was part [10:51] of trying to make a level playing field and opening up MTV to African American artists [10:57] and people of all ethnicities. [10:59] So it was a real honor to be part of that. [11:02] What a journey, to say the least. [11:04] You know, having done a couple of biopics now, what have you learned about that level [11:09] of fame? [11:11] Oh, I mean, what I thought I learned with Freddie Mercury's level of fame was one thing. [11:15] This takes it to a whole different level. [11:18] Michael was truly the king of pop. [11:20] I mean, he was truly the biggest entertainer on the globe. [11:24] And so really dig in and see the behind the scenes footage of how every single place he went since [11:32] he was eight years old, he was mobbed by people. [11:37] Incredible that anyone went through that in their life. [11:40] So I just feel and I hope that we show it and I hope that we show an insight to him and in the film [11:46] and people get to see some behind the scenes of Michael. [11:49] But I just think even I was surprised at the level of fame when I first got involved. [11:54] How did you land at your interpretations of who is this man? [11:58] How did you crack the code? [12:00] Well, I'm not sure if we cracked the code, but like for me, it was really digging into his personality. [12:06] So I used to play softball with Michael in Balboa Park in 1981 with Michael and his brothers. [12:12] And Michael would be a kid. [12:16] I mean, a practical joker would talk about super soakers like they were Ferraris, right? [12:22] The first time I ever met Michael, he came up to me. [12:24] He said, guess what? You're it and ran off. [12:27] And I looked at his brother, Jermaine. I said, do I chase him? [12:31] So that's who he was. [12:33] So I wanted to show that side of him to the world. [12:36] And Michael was always funny. [12:38] He was always a practical joker. [12:40] And, you know, there was also this glint in his eye that made you feel good about yourself. [12:47] So he gave hope and motivation, even when he didn't mean to. [12:50] I mean, I mentioned the journey early on, obviously the reshoots. [12:54] I'm curious, you know, it was going to be very different. [12:57] What did you gain from that experience? [13:00] Oh, so much, because never in Hollywood do you get a chance to go back and redo that far in the process. [13:06] And we just the world had changed and the world had gotten darker. [13:12] And I remember sitting with Antoine saying, we've got to entertain more. [13:16] And we've got to show them a side of Michael that's more levity and more fun and more warmth and heart. [13:21] So we got a chance to really work digging on that side of the story. [13:27] You are such a big part of the story. [13:30] I am so happy to be here. [13:32] So happy to see Marlon and Jackie. [13:35] And, you know, it's really very, very special. [13:40] And whatever part I played, you know, you can only do so much. [13:46] They did it all, you know, and I think we had a good team. [13:50] You know, when you saw those kids, right? [13:53] You saw the magic. [13:56] You would never have imagined or did you imagine that all these years later would shut down Hollywood Boulevard for a little premiere telling that story? [14:04] Absolutely not. [14:05] And that's what we were just talking about further up the carpet is from a living room at 1300 East Lafayette Street in Detroit that belonged to Bobby Taylor, one of our Motown artists, to this moment almost 60 years later is phenomenal. [14:24] It's absolutely phenomenal and mind boggling, to tell you the truth. [14:28] And I'm so proud to be a part of it. [14:31] And, you know, I know Mr. Gordy and all of the Motown alumni and artists are really so happy that this movie got made. [14:40] What do you remember about Motown 25? [14:42] Everything. [14:43] Please talk to me. [14:44] Everything. [14:45] Well, first of all, when I very first had the idea and mentioned it to Mr. Gordy, he went kind of, nah, nobody wants to see that. [14:55] So the next time I talked to him about it, we had sold it to NBC. [15:00] I had Richard Pryor as the host and we were beginning to book the acts and he became a big believer after that. [15:08] But, you know, it was such an amazing night because everything happened in that one night. [15:15] There was no prerecords and all of that. [15:17] So everybody, I mean, backstage was like a love fest because people hadn't seen each other for such a long time. [15:25] And I think that family feeling of Motown really was in evidence that night. [15:34] And so not only booking the acts but deciding what they were going to do and, you know, all of that good stuff. [15:40] And then picking other artists to join us like Linda Ronstadt, you know, and it was just amazing. [15:46] And it was my first effort as president of Motown Productions, the movie and television arm of the company. [15:54] And so for me, it was like my maiden voyage. [15:58] So I, I hold that very near and dear to my heart. [16:00] And we won the Emmy for best musical show. [16:03] So, you know, all good. [16:04] I see Bill Bray and all the photos and all the videos and, you know, he's just always there in his little hat. [16:14] You don't get to know Bill Bray. [16:15] Not at all. [16:16] So how did you get to know a man who is so in the background? [16:20] You know, there's not much footage of him talking. [16:22] There's not much. [16:23] Where'd you find him? [16:24] You know, there's hardly any footage of him talking. [16:26] When I first signed on, I asked the filmmakers if there was anything that I could sort of use as like a hook into creating this character. [16:32] Because my job is to create a character. [16:34] But in this particular instance, it's to create a character who actually existed. [16:37] So I wanted to do justice to the man, to honor the man himself. [16:40] And they, they gave me like a 28 second clip. [16:43] Some old news footage of Bill Bray giving the boys a pep talk before they go on stage. [16:48] And that's sort of all I had to go off of initially. [16:50] But along the way, you know, with all the authenticity that the filmmakers tried to cultivate, [16:55] I got to meet a lot of people who knew both of these men and knew their rapport. [16:58] So just asked a lot of questions and sort of, you know, perceived notions and built the character as I went. [17:03] Did you have access to the originals? [17:06] How did it work? [17:07] How did you make sure that you were getting it 150%? [17:10] Well, it was really went down to my research. [17:13] So I did a lot of research online. [17:15] So there were, I did have access to that. [17:18] But I also went back to archival magazines of he and the family. [17:22] I definitely was very particular about the embellishments of his wardrobe. [17:26] Like aside from the weight of it, like to me and my rule while I was creating or recreating his costumes, [17:33] no thread can be out of place. [17:35] No rhinestone can be the wrong size. [17:37] No buckle was too square or too round. [17:41] I was very, very, very adamant about executing that. [17:44] But truthfully, I think, you know, when you look at his costumes, particularly the bad costume or his jacket, [17:51] as he's moving, that is a part of his movement, and that was purposeful.