Michael Jackson Biopic Will be Directed by Training Day Director Antoine Fuqua

Lionsgate has announced that Training Day director Antoine Fuqua will helm the upcoming Michael Jackson Biopic, Michael, and that it will be produced by Academy Award-winning producer Graham King of Bohemian Rhapsody fame.

Michael is set to begin principal photography later this year and John Branca and John McClain, the co-executors of Michael Jackson’s estate, will be producing the film alongside King.

Three-time Oscar nominee John Logan will be writing the screenplay, and his line of work has included The Aviator (alongside King) and Gladiator.

“Michael will give audiences the never-before-told and in-depth portrayal of the complicated man who became the King of Pop,” the official description of Michael reads. “The film will explore all aspects of Michael’s life, including his most iconic performances that led him to become the greatest entertainer of all time.”

Michael Jackson died in 2009, but his music has obviously lived on and will continue to do so for generations. He is currently the “biggest-selling artist of all time, the most awarded entertainer of all time, and the artist behind the biggest-selling album of all time.”

As for Fuqua, he most recently directed Will Smith in Emancipation and has sat in the director’s chair for Infinite, The Magnificent Seven, Olympus Has Fallen, Shooter, and more. He also directed the first two Equalizer films with Denzel Washington, and is currently working on the third film in the saga, which is set to be released in theaters on September 1, 2023.

If the wait for the Michael Jackson biopic proves too much to handle, be sure to check out our review of This Is It. The film was released in 2009 and was a documentary/concert that was set to give fans an inside look at Jackson preparing for his concert series of the same name. He passed away before it was finished, but the film still made it out later that year.

You can also read what we thought of Michael Jackson: The Experience back in 2010, the game that was set to let players dance along to Michael’s greatest hits.

Michael Jackson Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.