Why Michael Jackson’s Dance Moves Were the Hardest Part for Jaafar to Master – dw

 

Jaafar Jackson had two years to learn to act, but there was one thing no acting class could ever teach him. Moving exactly like Michael Jackson. Of every challenge he faced making this film, he said this was the hardest. Not the lines, not the emotion, the dancing. And one specific performance nearly broke him before filming even started.

What was the hardest routine? Which one? Because there are incredible Look, we know that everybody’s going to go and put everything side by side. It is incredible how you recreated these scenes. Which one was the hardest? Thank you. Which one was the hardest? Um I would say probably Billie Jean, Motown 25.

That performance was Billie Jean. Specifically, Michael’s legendary 1983 routine from the TV special Motown 25. Jaafar named it directly in interviews as the one sequence that gave him the most trouble throughout the entire production. To even attempt it, the filmmakers had to bring in the only man who truly understood how Michael moved.

Those were magic moments with all my brothers including Jermaine. But uh you know, those were good songs. I I like those songs a lot, but especially I like the new songs. CHOREOGRAPHERS RICH AND Tone Talauega didn’t just consult on this film. They were the same men who built Michael’s actual choreography for his History World Tour.

Nobody alive understood his movement vocabulary better than they did. Even with that expertise in the room, what came next was anything but easy. Never right. Man, that brother walked in, man. It was You know, you know the start of Smooth Criminal video when the door opens and it’s light and wind. The aura. Yeah, the all the whole thing.

[laughter] That’s what it felt like when the door opened. Like it just felt like Michael had this light and it was wind. It was like LIKE, OH DAMN, WHO WAS [laughter] THAT? AND YOU KNOW WHAT? RICH TALALEGA SAID IT PLAINLY IN an interview. They had to take Michael’s entire dance syllabus and physically infuse it into Ja’far piece by piece.

It wasn’t about copying steps. It was about rebuilding muscle memory that had taken Michael his whole life to develop and the clock on that process was brutally short. A year and a couple months in, that’s when I started working with Rich and Tone, the choreographers that that were on the History Tour with Michael.

So, it was like a continuation of of many moments. This role was incredibly physically demanding. Initially started with with Rich and Tone seeing if I had it in me to pull off the performances. Boy, I was so I guess doubtful in a sense that I knew I couldn’t get it down in that timeframe to Havenhurst and setting up mirrors in the same dancing room Michael had trained in.

I think that really was a spiritual journey for me. Ja’far had just 20 days to prove he could pull off the choreography convincingly enough to keep the role. 20 days to learn what had taken Michael decades to perfect through performing, instinct, and lived experience. Rich Talalega said something in that same interview that revealed exactly how they pulled it off anyway.

And I really learned a lot about myself that even though I I wasn’t pulling off a lot of the moves or knowing the meaning behind it, I still tried it again and again over and over until I got it right. Or even if I didn’t get it right, I was still trying it. And I think once I had that that time afterwards, after those 20 days, taking that time to Havenhurst and setting up mirrors in the same dancing room Michael had trained in, I think that really was a spiritual journey for me.

Talalega said it himself. Ja’far is a Jackson and that talent lives deep in his DNA. It just took time to pull it out of him. He called the work Jaafar put in during that stretch nothing short of exceptional, but talent in his blood didn’t make the physical toll any easier. For 2 years dancing and rehearsing in Michael’s old room.

Okay, now what was the moment where you looked in the mirror and it hit you that you had transformed into your uncle Michael? It’s when I I was able to land three spins and stop on my toes. That’s like, okay, I’m getting somewhere. And the spins are to the left, right? Yeah, to the left, which was hard for me because it Jaafar has spoken about the difference between hitting choreography and actually performing it.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, he said the real challenge wasn’t just nailing every beat. It was bringing the same energy and showmanship Michael brought to every single movement. That distinction is exactly what separated a technical copy from a true performance. There was a a feeling of so much excitement and also emotional um just to see myself in the mirror and me wearing the bad outfit, which was the day one.

I I couldn’t wait to get on that stage and and blast the music and put on a great show. So, that was my mindset, but I couldn’t help but really taking the moment of what I was looking at in my reflection. So, it was really surreal and emotional. He wasn’t trying to imitate his uncle. He was trying to embody him.

To recreate not just the movement, but the feeling underneath it. That distinction became the entire philosophy behind his 3 years of training. And that training included something most actors never get access to. When you’re in your dressing room, you’re you’re you’re dressed, hair makeup looks fantastic as Michael, do you look in the mirror and go, “What’s going on?” Do you go, “This is surreal.

This is my uncle. This is crazy.” Oh, 100% absolutely. It was It was really a surreal a spiritual moment at the same time. You know, spending all those hours in the makeup chair and and thanks to the incredible Bill Corso who’s the head of of makeup on the film. Just that process of seeing me slowly transform into Michael was it was emotional.

In an interview with Interview Magazine alongside co-star Miles Teller, Jaafar revealed that access to Michael’s personal writings, his journaling, his poems, his mantras, became a breaking point in how he understood the man behind the movement. That insight changed how he approached every single performance scene from that point forward.

Before his nephew who’s playing him, I I kind of was seeing a lot of it through his eyes. What that must feel like for him to be playing his, you know, his uncle. And Jaafar worked his butt off, man. He was training for several years before cameras even started rolling. So, it was just really incredible to to kind of see him do his thing.

Director Antoine Fuqua witnessed the results firsthand. In an interview discussing the production, he described watching Jaafar dance on set and throwing him an unscripted question mid-performance in character, expecting nothing. What happened in that moment told him everything about how far the training had actually taken Jaafar.

Well, how did you um how did you cast Jaafar Jackson as Michael here? Well, Jaafar had an interesting journey. Jaafar was rehearsing to be Michael for 2 years before Mhm. about a year before I came on. Graham King, the producer, had found Jaafar. And when he flew to Italy to see me as on Equalizer 3, he said, “I want you to do this film on Michael Jackson.

” I said, “Well, who’s going to play Michael?” But what you said in the great DP showed me a video of him and Michael on the set together. But it was modern. I said, “Well, who When did you shoot a video with Michael Jackson?” Mhm. He said, “No, this is Jaafar.” And it blew my mind. You couldn’t tell the difference. Could not tell the difference.

Fuqua said the room stopped. He called it almost spiritual. Jaafar answered as if he genuinely were Michael, not performing, just responding on instinct, the exact result of years spent rebuilding muscle memory from the ground up. That single moment was proof that 20 brutal days of choreography training had paid off completely.

Not a traditional process of auditioning. I I first got a call from Graham King, the producer. And he first asked me like, have you ever acted before? Do you like acting? And I told him I love films, but I never thought or dreamed of wanting to be an actor. And I I he was explaining the story of what he was going to tell about my Three years, 20 critical days, two choreographers who knew Michael’s every move, and one performance, Billy Jean, that pushed Ja’far harder than anything else in the entire film. If this story

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