Michael Jackson is portrayed as a loving father who just wants an ordinary life in a brand new film documenting his last days, ‘Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland’.
The film, an original movie from Lifetime Channel, is based on the best-selling book, ‘Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days’, and told through the eyes of Jackson’s closest bodyguards, Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard.
Taking on the role of Michael Jackson is his longtime impersonator Navi, who will follow the tragic fate of the singer’s last two years, culminating in his death in 2009.
“He don’t want to be the King of Pop. He just wants to be Mike, a normal American dad,” we hear in the voiceover to the film, which will follow the stresses faced by the superstar - financial problems, insomnia and a punishing schedule of rehearsals as he prepared for the ‘This is It’ tour he hoped would restore his reputation.
Michael died in July 2009, with his attending doctor Conrad Murray later convicted of manslaughter for administering propofol to the troubled star, who had trouble sleeping in the last weeks of his life.
This film will hope for more luck than a previous project depicting the singer. Sky Arts pulled from its schedule a proposed film starring Joseph Fiennes, following collective disapproval of the idea, including a slamming from Michael’s own daughter Paris.
Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland will premiere on Lifetime (Sky 156 / Virgin 208 / Talk Talk 329 / BT 329) Sunday 25 June at 9pm.