Jaafar Jackson Breaks Down Billion-Dollar 'Michael' and a Sequel Still Unwritten

Antoine Fuqua's "Michael" became the first biopic in history to cross $1 billion at the worldwide box office, and it made Jaafar Jackson — a 30-year-old who had never acted professionally — the breakout performer of the year. The film, which opened April 24, is also Lionsgate's biggest release ever.

Jackson set the goal himself. Two years before a frame was shot, he wrote down a list of targets. One was to beat "Bohemian Rhapsody" and pass $1 billion. He did both.

"I was pretty emotional," Jackson told Variety's Awards Circuit podcast. "I know how proud Michael would be of that, because he was someone who wanted to break many records."

What did it take to become Michael?

Two years of preparation preceded the role. Jackson built a personal archive of his uncle's songs, demos, journals, rehearsals and performances. He worked with acting coach Angela Gibbs and studied Stanislavski, Meisner and Uta Hagen. The voice came first. After Jackson sent producer Graham King an unsolicited voice note of himself speaking as Michael, King called him and said: "Getting you a coach tomorrow." That, Jackson said, was the turning point.

The movement was harder. Fans circulate a side-by-side of his "Bad" rehearsal against the 1988 concert, which closes the film. "The hardest thing was feeling that true freedom on stage, so it didn't feel rehearsed or choreographed," he said. Going up on his toes, repeatedly, was the most painful part. It gave him, he said, "a whole new respect for ballet dancers."

What does the family make of it?

Recreating his own family's history carried weight. Colman Domingo plays patriarch Joe Jackson — a man stricter with Jermaine's generation than with Jaafar. Nia Long, as grandmother Katherine, would touch his hand in scenes the way his grandmother did in life.

Jermaine Jackson insisted on seeing the film for the first time at the Berlin premiere, surrounded by an audience. "Dad, you sure you want to wait to see it there?" his son asked. "I'm sure," Jermaine replied. He had tears on stage afterward, and called the next day to say he could not tell his son apart from his late brother in so many moments. "That's the highest reward, to get that from your parents and your family," Jaafar said.

What happened to the lost third act?

Extensive reporting before release covered an original third act dealing with sensitive subject matter — footage shot and then never used. Jackson was matter-of-fact: "I knew not everything we shot would make it into the final picture." Even the unused material, he said, "made me a better actor." Asked what part two should address, including the allegations from Michael's life, he pointed to the music. "Finding out who Michael was is in his music. It's in his lyrics," he said. "Part two, I can't say, because I don't know. It's not up to me. My job is to come prepared and deliver the best performance I can."

What comes next?

Lionsgate's Adam Fogelson has said production on a sequel could start at the end of this year or early next, targeting a 2027 or 2028 release. Jackson has heard nothing concrete: "I haven't been told a date or anything solid yet. As far as my schedule, it's open."

Meanwhile, his name now sits in best-actor conversation alongside Ryan Gosling, Pedro Pascal, Matt Damon and John Malkovich. "It's been a crazy and surreal experience, and it's all gone so fast," he said. "To be in that conversation is definitely an honor."

Two days before the interview, he wrapped his second film, "Supermax," opposite Will Smith, after 40 days of shooting in Australia — no singing, no dancing, "completely different." The former aspiring golfer, born in Los Angeles in 1996, has a sequel on standby, an Oscar campaign in motion and, by his own account, a wide-open calendar.