“It was like a concert,” exclaimed Carina Floeth, 38, one of the 4,000 fans who witnessed the world premiere of the film about Michael Jackson on Friday night, all full of enthusiasm despite the allegations of child sexual abuse that haunt the artist’s history.
Together with her friend, who in extremis got two tickets on the same day of the screening thanks to a German radio raffle, this employee of a health insurance company applauded, screamed and danced in her seat during the two hours of the feature film.
“The story of his emancipation from his father was very sad,” he commented.
“It was a small part of Michael Jackson’s life, because the film ends in 1988 with the ‘Bad’ tour in London and it flies by,” said Mégane, a 31-year-old French educator.
Jackson’s first legal problems, accused of child sexual abuse, began in 1993. According to the specialized site Variety, the film was originally supposed to explore the impact of these accusations on the life of the King of Pop, played on screen by his nephew Jafaar Jackson.
But the magazine, citing an unidentified person close to the production, says that a third of the film dedicated precisely to those legal problems was eliminated because lawyers for Jackson’s estate discovered a clause in the agreement with the first teenager who filed a complaint against the singer in 1993, Jordan Chandler, that prohibits any representation or mention of the latter in a film.
– “It’s not true” –
And for fans, that’s not what counts. “He was declared innocent,” Mégane said.
Disguised as Michael Jackson with a jacket with large gold embroidery, Andy Escobar, a 31-year-old aeronautical mechanic who arrived from Houston for the premiere, shares the same opinion: “we know it’s not true,” he said of the allegations of pedophilia.
In addition to the film’s premiere on Friday night, fans will be able to celebrate their idol all weekend in Berlin, almost two weeks before the film opens in theaters.
Two talks with the film’s team, an exhibition dedicated to the star and the party “Get on the dancefloor: the Michael Jackson party” are scheduled for Saturday.
The artist died on June 25, 2009 at the age of 50, after receiving an overdose of propofol.
According to Variety magazine, the Lionsgate studio expects revenue of $700 million from the film, which would put it well above other films in the genre, with the exception of “Bohemian Rhapsody” ($910 million).
And fans hope the story continues. “At the end of the film it is implied that there will be a second part,” Mégane noted.
