Jaafar Jackson is taking a positive lesson from the scenes that never made it into Michael, saying the experience of losing footage from the Michael Jackson biopic helped him grow as an actor.
The actor, who made his screen debut portraying his late uncle, reflected on the film’s extensive edits in a recent interview with Variety, according to a report published by AllHipHop on Tuesday.
Rather than viewing the unused footage as wasted work, Jackson said the experience taught him something about the realities of making movies.
“I feel like that will happen many more times with other projects,” Jackson said. “You wish a certain performance was in there and it’s not. That’s something you have to deal with when making a film.”
He also credited the experience with making him a better actor.
The cuts to Michael went beyond routine editing. The film’s original third act reportedly addressed child sexual abuse allegations against Michael Jackson, who denied wrongdoing. According to Variety, legal restrictions connected to a settlement with an accuser required filmmakers to rewrite and reshoot the ending.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua, Michael premiered in April and traces the singer’s journey from his early years with the Jackson 5 to his emergence as a solo superstar. The film ends during the “Bad” World Tour.
The biopic grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, becoming the first biographical film to reach that box-office milestone, according to the supplied report.
Its commercial performance has helped build anticipation for a second installment, although the sequel’s production schedule remains unsettled.
Lionsgate executive Adam Fogelson previously identified late 2026 or early 2027 as a possible window for filming. Jackson, however, said he had not received a confirmed start date and remained ready to return to the role.
There are also signs of progress behind the scenes. The California Film Commission lists a conditional tax-credit allocation of approximately $30.8 million for Michael 2, the project’s working title. The projections include 55 filming days in California, 65 cast hires and 300 crew hires.
The allocation signals that the project has been considered for production incentives, but it does not confirm when filming will begin or establish a release date.
Meanwhile, Jackson is expanding his acting career beyond his family’s musical legacy. He told Variety that he spent approximately 40 days in Australia working on Supermax, a thriller featuring Will Smith.
Unlike Michael, the project did not require Jackson to sing or dance, giving him an opportunity to work in a different kind of role.
For Jackson, the experience with Michael appears to have provided a lesson he can carry into future projects: an actor may invest heavily in a performance without knowing whether audiences will ever see it.
As the sequel moves through development, Jackson’s next challenge will be building on his portrayal of one of music’s most recognizable figures while continuing to establish himself as an actor in his own right.
