Sean Ono Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, is very busy right now. When he pops up late to our scheduled Friday afternoon Zoom call, the first thing he does is apologise.

“Sorry this was all a bit last minute. I had to squeeze you in because I have an album coming out with my band The Delirium – and I’ve been doing a lot of stuff to finish it off.” Add to that a feature documentary premiering at Tribeca Film Festival, tour dates scheduled throughout May and June, as well as his dad’s special Record Store Day ‘Love Meditation Mixes’ vinyl (which he’s produced) and we’re surprised the prolific, curtain-fringed musician turned up today at all.

He’s eager to chat about yet another of his projects though. It’s the upcoming concert film Power To The People: John & Yoko Live In NYC, in which footage of his parents’ famous 1972 charity gigs at Madison Square Garden has been exquisitely restored to crystal clear quality. Seriously, you can make out every single follicle of those iconic sideburns.

Sadly, the two shows (one evening, one matinee) ended up being John’s only full-length performances before he was murdered by Mark David Chapman in 1980. Sean, whose ongoing job as custodian of his dad’s legacy he takes extremely seriously, says this makes Power To The People even more special.

Hey Sean, tell us about the new concert film

“Well, it’s been a very long time in the making. The concert was originally filmed in 1972 and for decades the footage was being restored to high quality digital. But I didn’t oversee that process because I know nothing about it. I wasn’t really involved until more recently.”

What was your role in it all?

“My main job was the sound quality. I worked on the ‘Imagine’ album [re-release] mixes [in 2018] and there wasn’t really much to do. But here… there was so much work to do.”

Did it sound really terrible?

“I grew up listening to the live album [of the same concert] – ‘John Lennon Live In New York City’. I used to hear that on my mum’s stereo all the time because she was putting it out when I was a kid. [Ono produced the posthumous record in 1986]. And I always thought it sounded a bit, you know, mushy.”

But your dad sounds incredible in the film…

“I think everyone who listens to it gets chills from how good his voice is – and it’s good in a way that is totally un-Beatles. It’s like he’s finding a new way of singing.”

Where did that come from?

“He and my mum had famously done a lot of work with these ‘primal scream’ people. I actually have a book that [The Who‘s] Pete Townsend sent my dad – it’s called The Primal Scream [by Arthur Janov]. Anyway, my dad got into it but the whole thing turned out to be kind of bullshit. I mean, it’s not good to just scream and cry to solve your childhood trauma. It actually reinforces those feelings.”

What did your mum say when she saw the footage of them performing together?

“Well, she’s had to deal with people not understanding her particular musicality for so long. She did a show at Glastonbury [in 2014] that was kind of misunderstood. I was really impressed that when she got that negative feedback, she was just like: ‘Well, they don’t understand me.’ She is invulnerable to people not understanding that part of her because she just thinks that they aren’t hip enough.”

In this film, she gives some of her most traditional vocal performances…

“You could say that… I think my mother got an unfair amount of negativity because of all The Beatles stuff. They thought she broke up The Beatles – and then she starts wailing like a crazy person (in their minds) and it upset them a lot. But what she was doing was very avant-garde and cool and punk and weird. She essentially invented punk. [Sex Pistols manager] Malcolm McLaren said that my mum’s Plastic Ono band, not my dad’s Plastic Ono Band, made the first punk album.”

The song ‘Open Your Box’, which is in the new film, was banned in America…

“Because the euphemism is too sexual. But I honestly don’t think she meant ‘your box’ in that sense. She’s actually a real lady. I think she meant ‘don’t live in a box’.”

There’s a great bit where your dad sings ‘Come Together’ and apologises for the “silly” lyrics – do you think he was reluctant to perform The Beatles tracks then?

“Oh, for sure he was. He was the kind of person who didn’t want to look back. It wasn’t that he didn’t like The Beatles. He loved The Beatles. He was The Beatles. But they were people who really lived in the moment. He had to move on to the next thing quickly or he panicked.”

Are you like that too?

“I think it actually gave me the opposite personality. I don’t want to burn bridges and cut off the past. I’m very much still friends with people from my childhood and my early school years.”

Power To The People comes out on your mum and dad’s 57th wedding anniversary – is that something you still observe?

“I might mention it. I try to be a good son. There’s a lot of stuff to remember, man. The thing that my mum has always cared about most is New Year’s Eve and Christmas.”

Do you always spend those dates together?

“I’m not bragging but I’ve been with my mum for 49 Christmases. I’m 50 years old. And there was one year that I missed it because I went with my friend to Australia instead. I think I was 15 or 16 and I had the best time. But then every year after that, my mum would say at Christmas dinner, ‘Do you remember that time that you went to Australia?’ And I would say, ‘Yeah, I remember.’ And she goes: ‘That was very bad.’ [Laughs]”

Why did she care so much?

“I’m the youngest child, so I have to take care of the elders. That’s sort of how it is in Japanese culture.”

Did you ever introduce her to Fat White Family when you were working together?

“Yeah, they hung out. In fact, my mum sang a vocal on a Moonlandingz track which is one of our adjacent projects.”

What were those sessions like?

“When you’re recording someone like Yoko Ono, you make sure it’s just a very quiet time in the studio when no one’s around. You bring her in and you say ‘will you sing on this track?’ She says, ‘yes’. She does it once and that’s it. So it wasn’t like they were sitting there jamming with the band.”

You got into a fight on Twitter last week defending your parents from trolls – why bother?

“I think what people don’t understand is that when they say that stuff [on the internet], they’re basically insulting my mum. And if you’re going to insult my mother, I’m not going to be nice about it.”

It feels like the kind of thing your dad would be doing if he had social media in 2026…

“I think you’re right actually. He wrote some very, let’s say, energetic letters to critics who reviewed his albums badly – and they were always really funny. He would tear them apart and be like, ‘you pseudo-intellectual arsehole!’ but then at the end: ‘peace and love, John Lennon.’ I thought that was really sweet, and that is my model for how I defend them to people. I’ll do it – but I’m also kind of kidding.”

There is zero irony in letting a maid do her job. Thinking otherwise is a very goofy take. They were not protesting maid service.

— Seán Ono Lennon (@seanonolennon) April 22, 2026

I’ve got to ask you about the Sam Mendes Beatles films – has anyone reached out to you?

“Yeah, I met everyone on the film set. I think Harris [Dickinson, playing John Lennon] is amazing. I think he’s really smart and I did hear him do my dad’s voice a little bit – and it was so good. It was kind of spooky actually. But there’s also something really funny about meeting someone half your age who is supposed to be your dad.”

Did you get to meet Anna Sawai, who’s playing your mum?

“Yeah, I know Anna. We kind of hung out a little bit. She’s a very studious person. She would ask me questions about my family and she was really serious, you know, taking notes and thinking about it. They both understand the craft. I have a lot of faith in them to play those roles.”

Did Anna speak to your mum as well?

“No, not really. She’s retired now. She’s 93. She’s not going to micro-manage this project.”

Are there any more John and Yoko jobs on the horizon?

“I can say that we’re going to do [Lennon’s 1974 album] ‘Walls And Bridges’ probably next year. I don’t like promising things though.”

And what about the extended Beatles family, do you see much of them?

“I had dinner with Paul, Stella and Mary [McCartney] about a month ago. I don’t think it’s a secret but I’m one of the four directors at [The Beatles’ company] Apple, which includes Ringo and Paul, so we often have to interact… We’re like a weird family.”

Let’s finish by talking about your new album with The Claypool Lennon Delirium, ‘The Great Parrot-Ox And The Golden Egg Of Empathy’

“So it’s my band with Les Claypool from Primus, one of my favourite bands from back in the day – and it’s our third album. We decided to do an epic rock opera concept album which is about a robot that goes out of control and turns everything in the world into paper clips.”

That’s interesting! What does it sound like?

“It’s a fun record. The sound is, sort of, secondary. Basically, it’s quirky and weird.”

‘Power To The People: John & Yoko Live In NYC’ is in cinemas for a limited time from today (April 29). The Claypool Lennon Delirium release ‘The Great Parrot-Ox And The Golden Egg Of Empathy’ on May 15

The post How Sean Ono Lennon helped bring his parents’ greatest gig back to life appeared first on NME.

In partnership with Universal Pictures UK

Michael Jackson was a generational talent who changed pop music forever with his sinuous, genre-blending sound and performing style. But he couldn’t have done it alone. Here’s a guide to the formative figures who helped him to become the King Of Pop – and the accomplished actors who play them in Michael.

Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson

Jackson’s ambitious father, Joe, had a large influence on his early life. To improve his family’s financial prospects, he formed The Jackson 5, a tightly-rehearsed pop-R&B band featuring five of his sons including Michael. As their longtime manager, Joe was determined that his whole family should rise together.

This heavyweight figure is brought to life in Michael by a heavyweight actor: two-time Oscar nominee Colman Domingo (Rustin, Sing Sing). Discussing his approach to portraying the Jacksons’ patriarch, who died in 2018, Domingo says: “I wanted to look behind the curtain at what made him who he was. How did he hurt? How did he love? Where was he fragile? What was behind his extreme diligence as a father?” The result is a nuanced performance that captures the complexities of an incredibly driven man.

Nia Long as Katherine Jackson

Katherine married Joe Jackson in 1949 and went on to bear 10 children, one of whom died shortly after being born. She initially raised her family in a modest two-bedroom house in Gary, Indiana: its address, 2300 Jackson Street, was later immortalised in the title of The Jacksons’ final studio album.

Now 95, she remains the matriarch of the vast – and vastly successful – Jackson clan. Prolific actress Nia Long (Boyz N The Hood, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) plays her with layers of toughness and tenderness, especially in scenes where Katherine stands up to protect Michael’s interests.

Miles Teller as John Branca

Entertainment attorney and manager John Franca maintained a close professional bond with Jackson for much of his imperial phase. In 1985, he helped the singer to purchase ATV Music Publishing, which held the rights to the lucrative Lennon-McCartney song catalogue. Whiplash and Top Gun: Maverick actor Miles Teller plays him in Michael.

KeiLyn Durrel Jones as Bill Bray

A former LAPD officer, Bill Bray worked as a security guard for the Jacksons and then Michael exclusively for a total of 25 years. He also served as head of security on all of the singer’s solo tours. “Bill is very careful and immensely professional in his job, but he doesn’t worry about things after the fact,” Michael wrote in his 1988 memoir Moonwalk. “He travels with me everywhere and occasionally he’s my only companion on short trips. I can’t imagine life without Bill.” He’s depicted in the film by KeiLyn Durrel Jones, whose TV credits include Succession and How To Die Alone.

Laura Harrier as Suzanne De Passe

This entertainment industry legend was a major player at Motown who later became a successful TV producer. After bringing The Jackson 5 to the label’s attention, she helped to sculpt the band’s highly commercial image and firecracker live shows. Then in 1973, she picked up an Oscar nomination for co-writing the Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues. She’s depicted in Michael by Hollywood and BlacKkKlansman actress Laura Harrier.

Kendrick Sampson as Quincy Jones

When Michael wanted to turbocharge his solo career in the late ’70s, he teamed with Quincy Jones, a visionary composer and record producer who had worked with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Aretha Franklin. Together, they made the album that turned MJ into a superstar, 1979’s disco-funk masterpiece ‘Off The Wall’, and a string of killer singles that defined pop for the next decade: ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’, ‘Beat It’, ‘Billie Jean’, ‘Bad’. He is portrayed in Michael by Kendrick Sampson, who previously appeared in Issa Rae’s award-winning TV series Insecure and the acclaimed film Miss Juneteenth.

Larenz Tate as Berry Gordy

As the founder of agenda-setting record label Motown, which spearheaded the racial integration of pop music in the ’60s, Berry Gordy had an eye for talent and an ear for a hit. After signing The Jackson 5 in 1968, he co-wrote their first four chart-toppers: ‘I Want You Back’, ‘ABC’, ‘The Love You Save’ and ‘I’ll Be There’. He is portrayed in Michael by TV and film veteran Larenz Tate, whose many credits include Crash, Ray and Girls Trip.

Jessica Sula as La Toya Jackson

Skins alum Jessica Sula gives a lovely performance as Michael’s older sister and confidante. La Toya’s varied entertainment career includes releasing a string of dance-pop albums – Michael co-wrote and produced her 1980 single ‘Night Time Lover’ – and starring in her own reality series, Life With La Toya.

‘Michael’ is released in UK cinemas April 22

The post The supporting cast of ‘Michael’ – and who they’re playing appeared first on NME.

In partnership with Universal Pictures UK

After Jaafar Jackson was cast in Michael, he locked in even harder. He even began sleeping and rehearsing in his uncle’s old bedroom at Hayvenhurst, the Jackson family compound in Encino, California. “I was fortunate to have access to some of Michael‘s personal writings, which allowed me to get even closer to him,” Jaafar recalls. “I created a research room with every inch of the wall filled with quotes of his mantras, his personal handwritings, facts of things that he achieved and a complete timeline of what was going on in the world at different points in his life.” In Jaafar’s eyes, these documents and milestones were “all so much a part of him and what he created”.

In the film, we see Jaafar’s Michael drawing inspiration from Fred Astaire’s pinpoint precision as he hones his own dance moves. As a child and young adult, Michael was also enraptured by performers as varied as Little Richard, Diana Ross, Sammy Davis Jr., Gene Kelly and James Brown. During his address at Brown’s funeral in 2006, Michael hailed the Godfather Of Soul as his “greatest inspiration”, telling fellow mourners: “When I saw him move, I was mesmerised. I knew that’s what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.”

Michael was a student of music history who believed in learning from the best, so Jaafar followed his lead as he prepared for this highly complex role. “Michael was always watching artists who inspired him, analysing their work to understand what made them great – and incorporating those qualities into his own,” Jaafar says. “I used the same process with him that he did with others. In addition to all the training, I was watching tons of interviews and private home videos, soaking up the nuances, the mannerisms and, most of all, the human.”

Jaafar’s exceptional attention to detail also proved crucial when he came to recreate his uncle’s innovative moves, a gravity-defying blend of street dance, jazz, ballet and mime. Many of his classic performances remain etched into the brains of M.J. fans to this day. Throughout, Jaafar worked closely with the seasoned choreography team Rich + Tone Talauega, who first danced with Michael on 1996’s ‘HIStory World Tour’. “Early on, Rich + Tone told me they weren’t sure they could get Jaafar where he needed to be because Michael’s moves were so inimitable,” the film’s producer Graham King says. “But when I told Jaafar that, he said, ‘Please just give me time.’ And that’s what we did.”

Getting the choreography spot on was quite literally a painstaking process. “I started to rehearse for hours upon hours upon hours until one single move was right – dancing until my feet would bleed or have them go numb,” Jaafar says. “There were so many times I would wake up sore [and ask myself], like, should I go rehearse?” When Jaafar doubted his ability to continue, he thought of what his uncle would say in the same situation: “Let’s go again!”

Though he drilled into Michael’s dynamic performing style on a micro level, Jaafar was acutely aware that he couldn’t take a compartmentalised approach to portraying the King Of Pop. Every aspect of his artistry and personality had to exist in tandem, just as it did when Michael was topping the charts in the ’70s and ’80s. “I wanted to set goals for myself – to nail the mannerisms, the vocal or just his essence and how he goes about [things] in a conversational way,” Jaafar said during his recent appearance on The Today Show.  “But I also wanted to make sure I had everything in a balanced way. Like, I didn’t want the dancing to outdo the acting, or the acting to outdo the dancing. I wanted to really embody [him] completely, and do it in a way where it feels natural.”

Throughout his intense preparation period, Jaafar kept in mind that his uncle was a true musical pioneer who blended elements of soul, rock, funk and disco into fluid new pop sounds that people had never heard before. As we see in the film, Michael and his team lobbied hard for his music videos to be played on MTV, which was initially reluctant to give airtime to black artists. With ’80s videos like ‘Billie Jean’ and ‘Beat It’, Michael broke down barriers by becoming the first black artist to claim heavy rotation on the network.

“Michael would always say that he wanted his music to be universal, to be for everyone,” Jaafar says. “That seems to have been his vision from the beginning, to bring people together through music. He didn’t want corporations to define what music you should listen to. He fought hard for that and opened up new paths for all the artists to come.” As Jaafar discovered during his many months of research and rehearsal, it takes a lot of work to be a trailblazer – and a lot of work to portray one.

‘Michael’ is in cinemas now

The post Becoming Michael: how Jaafar Jackson trained to portray his uncle appeared first on NME.

In partnership with Universal Pictures UK

When Jaafar Jackson landed the lead in Michael, the long-awaited biopic of his iconic uncle, he received the ultimate endorsement. His grandmother Katherine, Michael’s mother and the matriarch of pop’s first family, said with simple approval: “Jaafar embodies my son.” Given that Michael began his career in the family band, The Jackson 5, there was a pleasing symmetry in seeing his legacy continued by his own nephew. Jaafar, who grew up at Hayvenhurst, the Jacksons’ California compound, is the son of Michael’s older brother and bandmate Jermaine.

However, this doesn’t mean that Jaafar was a shoo-in to portray the King Of Pop – far from it. Though he was already an accomplished singer – no surprise given his Jackson DNA – he had never acted before and had no formal dance training. In fact, his only previous screen credit was an episode of The Jacksons: Next Generation, a 2015 reality series following the lives of Taj, Taryll and TJ Jackson, his cousins who perform as 3T.  “When I first heard about the movie, my thought definitely wasn’t ‘I’m going to play Michael,'” Jaafar says. “I’d never even dreamed of being an actor. My first thought was: ‘I wonder who will play Michael?'”

Jaafar actually grew up wanting to be a golfer, before music piqued his interest like many a Jackson before him. In 2019, he released his debut single, ‘Got Me Singing’, a percolating alt-R&B bop that he co-wrote. A year later, he dropped another single, ‘Confused’, a late-night lament with echoes of The Weeknd and his uncle Michael’s vibey ’90s output. Having previously covered classics by Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye, Jaafar’s vocal chops were undeniable.

Still, Jaafar was almost painfully honest when he was contacted by Graham King, the Oscar-winning producer of Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, who was now working on a similarly ambitious film about Michael Jackson. “He wanted to have a Zoom, and I could tell just what this was going to lead to in some way,” Jaafar recalled during his recent appearance on The Tonight Show. “And then one thing led to the other. We had lunch, and he’s kind of looking at me [and] he asked, ‘Have you ever acted before?’ I said, ‘Never – I never wanted to be an actor.'”

By this point, King and casting director Kimberly Hardin had already conducted a worldwide search for an actor who could play Michael Jackson, one of music’s most distinctive and familiar performers. Despite his relative lack of experience, Jaafar stood out from the pack. “It wasn’t about what he was saying or even his look. It was just a feeling of rightness that was so strong I couldn’t ignore it,” King says. “I felt something a bit like it when Rami Malek walked into my office and said, ‘I’d love to play Freddie Mercury.’ But this took it to a whole new level. There was something so spiritual about Jaafar that just talking with him about Michael got me emotional. We looked at nearly 200 actors around the globe, and no one could beat Jaafar.”

The film’s director, Antoine Fuqua, whose previous credits include the Denzel Washington classics Training Day and The Equalizer, was also convinced they had found their M.J. “When I first met him, I thought Jaafar had to be acting because he came across exactly like Michael with that gentle soul. Then I realised this is truly who he is,” Fuqua says. An early screen test proved even more persuasive, not least because hair and makeup transformed Jaafar into the spit of his late uncle. “When we asked him questions in character, his answers were so beautifully poetic in that same way of Michael that [we] all had tears in our eyes,” Fuqua recalls.

In a way, it wasn’t too surprising that Jaafar was able to capture a sense of his uncle on screen. Growing up, he spent plenty of family time with his uncle at Hayvenhurst and the singer’s vast Neverland ranch. He was also acutely aware of Michael’s seismic impact on pop culture.  “As a kid, I was obsessed with him,” Jaafar says. “I would sit in front of the TV in the same living room where Michael once sat, watching his tours and videos, just studying him. I couldn’t really understand then what it really was, but I knew I wanted to be immersed in this awe-inspiring energy.”

However, none of this led to Jaafar being cast on the spot. As he recalled on The Tonight Show, his audition turned out to be a “multi-year process” involving acting lessons and rigorous dance training that taught him to moonwalk like his uncle. “It was a process that I really had to earn. And it really proved to the filmmakers and myself and my family that I can get to that point where I can pull it off,” Jaafar said. He had won the role of a lifetime, but at this point, the hard work was really about to begin.

‘Michael’ is in cinemas now

The post Introducing Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson appeared first on NME.

In partnership with Universal Pictures UK

From The Jackson 5‘s early dive bar performances and TV debut, to Michael Jackson‘s groundbreaking music videos and first-ever solo tour, this film puts MJ’s stagecraft front and centre. Here’s a guide to three incendiary performance sequences from the movie.

‘Billie Jean’ at the Motown 25 special, 1983

Produced by Suzanne De Passe, who is portrayed in Michael by Laura Harrier, Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever was a lavish TV special commemorating 25 years of the label that launched The Supremes, The Temptations and The Jackson 5. On the night, Michael joined his brothers for a jubilant hits medley before delivering a solo rendition of ‘Billie Jean’, which was Number One at the time. Wearing an outfit that would become much-imitated – a black sequin jacket accessorised with a black fedora and oversized white glove – he debuted his new signature dance move: the ludicrously fluid, impossible-looking moonwalk.

“Everyone over a certain age remembers the moment Michael did the moonwalk and how it became instantly iconic,” says the film’s director, Antoine Fuqua. “We felt an enormous responsibility to get that historic event exactly right.” So, to make his film’s recreation of the performance as authentic as possible, Fuqua hired the same venue that Motown 25 was filmed in: the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles County. Once inside, his director of photography, Dion Beebe, cleverly crafted a cinematic riff on Michael’s famed routine.

“We did a lot of research on the broadcast and the precise camera angles used. And then with that foundation, we went for a little more, as we felt Michael would have done,” Beebe says. “We emphasised new details – the sharp movement of his gloved hand, the throwing of the fedora, the precision of his feet – just to really draw the audience in.” Naturally, the beating heart of this sequence is Jaafar Jackson’s incredible ability to channel his uncle. As costume designer Marci Rodgers recalls, “Jaafar hit the stage in that sequinned costume, and as soon as the light hit him, I said to myself, ‘Oh, that is Michael.'”

‘Beat It’ music video rehearsal, 1983

Music videos were a vital outlet for Michael’s artistry. As we see in the film, he preferred to promote his music through concise visual storytelling than by giving traditional press interviews. When MTV launched in 1981, it was widely criticised for playlisting very few black artists, but Michael’s innovative, big-budget videos became early staples and helped to pave the way for a more racially integrated approach. The ‘Beat It’ clip, shot on location at Los Angeles’ Skid Row, exemplifies his mastery of the form.

Michael insisted on telling its anti-violence storyline using real-life members of two LA gangs, the Crips and the Bloods. “Michael really did have that intense meeting with gang members you see in the movie,” Fuqua says. “Of course, the production company thought he was crazy to put them in his video, but he did it anyway – and because it was Michael, the gang members all showed up and were respectful. Many people don’t know just how hard Michael worked to give people opportunities, so this moment felt really important.” As Fuqua’s film reminds us, the ‘Beat It’ music video was a formative moment that revealed a lot about Michael Jackson, both as a performer and as a person.

‘Bad’ at Wembley Stadium, 1988

Comprising 123 shows on four continents, the record-breaking ‘Bad World Tour’ was Michael’s first as a solo artist. Up until this point, despite his string of hits from ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’ to ‘Bad’, he had only ever toured with The Jackson 5. “He’d announced his transition into his solo career, and here Michael appears at Wembley in leather and straps with an all-new persona,” Beebe explains.

Midway through the tour, Michael performed to more than half a million fans across five nights at London’s hallowed Wembley Stadium. One of these seminal gigs, which was attended by Prince Charles and Princess Diana, was recorded for a home video release. Remarkably, Fuqua chose to film Michael’s recreation of ‘Bad’ at Wembley Stadium on day one of production. His thinking was that Jaafar could gain a massive amount of confidence by smashing such a tricky sequence at the very start of the shoot.

“We were all going into that day thinking, ‘Can Jaafar really pull this off?’ And man, when the music started and he hit those first few moves… I mean, he killed it,” the director says. “He killed it to the point that when I yelled ‘cut!’, our crowd of extras was still screaming for him.”

Behind the lens, Beebe decided to spotlight the sheer physical exertion that went into Michael’s impeccable stagecraft. “I wanted the camera to really get into Jaafar’s personal space to the point it’s almost a little uncomfortable, where you can see his breath, his sweat, his concentration, and everything within him becomes very present and clear,” he says.

‘Michael’ is in cinemas now

The post The stunning live performances in ‘Michael’ appeared first on NME.

In partnership with Universal Pictures UK

Michael Jackson had made four solo albums before 1979’s ‘Off The Wall’, but this time, it felt different. Now in his early twenties, he was looking to spread his wings away from the Jacksons, as The Jackson 5 had rebranded a few years earlier. On the band’s 1978 album ‘Destiny’, home to the huge hits ‘Blame It On The Boogie’ and ‘Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)’, Michael had co-writing credits on nearly every track. But he wanted to go further and forge a sound of his own.

As we see in Michael, the increasingly ambitious singer (played by Jaafar Jackson) had to seek approval from his father Joe (Colman Domingo) before he made his solo move. “I don’t think you can get a full sense of Michael as a person without going back to how he discovered his creative direction,” says the film’s director, Antoine Fuqua. “You see how he was caught between his love for family and his drive to create his own art, how he was grappling with loneliness while searching for freedom. This film takes you through the process that was necessary for his lift-off.”

To achieve lift-off, Michael needed a seasoned co-pilot, and he knew exactly who to choose: Quincy Jones, the prolific producer-composer he met while working on his 1978 movie The Wiz. Portrayed in Michael by Kendrick Sampson (Insecure, How to Get Away with Murder), Jones was a modern maestro who understood that Jackson wanted to reintroduce himself with a new sound and image. Rocking a slim-fit tuxedo on the ‘Off The Wall’ album cover, Michael looks every inch the stylish young man. He was no longer the uncommonly soulful boy who sang ‘I Want You Back’ and ‘ABC’ a decade earlier.

Michael’s lithe new look matched his dynamic new sound. Across ‘Off The Wall’, he effortlessly blended pop with soul, disco and R&B, pairing each irresistible groove with a bold vocal performance of unfettered joy. ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’, the album’s headrush of a lead single, begins with a tension-building spoken word intro before Michael unleashes a euphoric “whooo!” ‘Workin’ Day And Night’, a crackling disco-funk nugget that smoulders for more than five minutes, allows Michael to show his vocal range and effervescent sense of rhythm. It’s one of the fastest songs in his catalogue, and he barely pauses for breath.

To gain an intimate insight into Michael’s creative process, the film’s production designer Barbara Ling visited the home studio space at Hayvenhurst where he recorded demos during this period. Because it was too cramped to film in his actual home studio, Ling and her team recreated it piece-by-piece on the film’s soundstage in Santa Barbara, California. “The studio has this wonderful aura because Michael had quotes by Thomas Edison and John Lennon that must have inspired him featured on two walls, so we really wanted audiences to feel what it was like for him,” Ling says.

Though ‘Off The Wall’ made Michael into a solo superstar, becoming the best-selling album of 1980 in the US, he was still chafing against his father’s expectations. As we see in the film, Joe Jackson believed that Michael’s primary obligation should always lie with the family band. By 1984, fans were clamouring for an MJ solo tour, but instead he rejoined his brothers for one last hurrah: The Jacksons‘ enormously successful ‘Victory Tour’.

“I wanted the world to see where it all began, from his roots in The Jackson 5 to the launch of his solo career – and to reveal the personal battles for creative and personal freedom that fuelled his fire,” says the film’s producer, Graham King. “Through it all, his passion and relentless drive gave the world some of the greatest music ever made.”

This is hardly an exaggeration. In the early ’80s, working closely with Jones again, Michael expanded his sound on ‘Thriller’. ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ is a sinewy mix of disco and Afropop that remains a dancefloor staple to this day. ‘Billie Jean’, which became one of the biggest-selling singles ever, would reshape disco for the next decade. And the jagged, guitar-driven ‘Beat It’ proved that Michael could master any genre he liked – it even won him a Grammy award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance in 1984. Michael recruited rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen to play its searing solo.

In the recording studio scenes, Jaafar Jackson really captures the mix of inspiration, idiosyncrasy and perfectionism that Michael used to craft globe-conquering hits. “Jaafar may have Michael in his DNA, but he took that to a higher, more moving place than any of us ever dreamed of,” King says. “He is the centre, he’s the plug. You plug him in, the movie comes alive.”

‘Michael’ is in cinemas now

The post ‘Michael’: ‘Off The Wall’ and the solo stardom that followed appeared first on NME.

In partnership with Universal Pictures UK

The Michael Jackson story begins in Gary, Indiana, an industrial city that’s home to the largest steel mill complex in North America. The value of the grind was impressed on Michael from a young age by his father, Joe Jackson, a highly ambitious man whose dreams of becoming a professional boxer were supplanted by the need to provide for his family. He and wife Katherine, whom he married in 1949, welcomed 10 children, one of whom died shortly after birth.

Joe earned his crust as a crane operator, but as we see in Michael’s opening scenes, he quickly gleaned that his children’s flair for performing could be a passport to a better life. Played with precision by Colman Domingo, Joe was an exacting taskmaster who formed a polished pop-R&B band featuring five of his sons: Jackie (Nathaniel Logan McIntyre), Tito (Judah Edwards), Jermaine (Jayden Harville), Marlon (Jaylen Lyndon Hunter) and Michael (Juliano Krue Valdi). As The Jackson 5 grew into a bona fide family business, youngest member Michael emerged as its exuberant lead singer.

As Joe put them through their paces on the local gig circuit, Michael’s instinctive sense of rhythm and glorious voice became the centerpiece of The Jackson 5’s joyful stage act. Rising star Juliano Krue Valdi, who makes his movie debut in Michael, was cast as the young Michael because of his own preternatural stage presence. “Juliano is a pure whirlwind of nonstop energy,” says the film’s director Antoine Fuqua. “But he’s the sweetest little guy, and extraordinarily talented. He’s not only a great singer and dancer, but he has a rare ability to tap into raw emotions as an actor. When Juliano walks in a room, he’s like a little man. Michael was that same way at nine.”

Joe expected a lot from his sons, including Michael. But the band’s gruelling rehearsal schedule sometimes concerned the family’s ever-patient matriarch, Katherine, who’s played with great tenderness by Nia Long. Michael’s producer Graham King says that Domingo, a two-time Oscar nominee for Rustin and Sing Sing, relished the opportunity to explore Joe’s “layers” as a parent doubling as a talent manager. The patriarch’s approach paid off in 1968 when The Jackson 5 were signed to Motown, the industry-disrupting label that had minted ‘the sound of young America’ with soulful pop groups like The Supremes and The Temptations. In the film, we see PR exec Suzanne De Passe (Laura Harrier) prepare The Jackson 5 for similar mainstream stardom.

Burnished by the Motown machine, the band’s success was stratospheric. In fact, The Jackson 5 reeled off four consecutive US Number One singles in 1969 and 1970 with the bubblegum soul bangers ‘I Want You Back’, ‘ABC’, ‘The Love You Save’ and ‘I’ll Be There’. In the film’s early performance scenes, Valdi really captures Michael’s scintillating stage presence: all youthful exuberance and nimble rhythm.

“Michael could be very shy about the spotlight, but once he was dancing, he was just like, ‘whew!'” the actor says. The film’s choreographers, Rich and Tone Talauega, were especially impressed with the way that Valdi plugged himself into a different era of performance. “This is a kid of the 2020s, but he was able to instantly soak up vintage dances like the Camel Walk, the James Brown, the Mashed Potato, the Jerk and many more,” Tone says.

Just as Joe had hoped, The Jackson 5’s chart-topping popularity transformed the lives of the entire family. In 1971, they left their humble two-bedroom house in Gary and moved to Hayvenhurst, their much larger home in Encino, California. Both Jermaine and Jackie released solo albums in the early 1970s, but Michael’s solo efforts eclipsed his older brothers. In 1972, he scored a US Number One hit with the winsome ballad ‘Ben’, the title track of his Top Five album of the same name. And on concurrent Jackson 5 smashes like 1971’s wracked ballad ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’, he displayed an uncanny ability to inhabit emotionally complex songs that most teenagers would struggle to carry.

As The Jackson 5 embraced disco and a slight name change – they became The Jacksons when they signed to Epic in 1976 – Michael’s solo star only grew brighter. Along the way, he was also blossoming as a songwriter with an intuitive ability to sculpt and remodel contemporary pop trends. Alongside brother Randy, he co-wrote ‘Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)’, a juddering disco-funk nugget that became a huge hit for The Jacksons in 1979. But at this point, after a decade of success with the family business, he was ready to take his solo career to another level entirely. His iconic ‘Off The Wall’ era was beckoning.

‘Michael’ is in cinemas now

The post ‘Michael’: how The Jackson 5 and the early years are portrayed appeared first on NME.

The post ‘Michael’: how his music meets the movie appeared first on NME.

In partnership with Warner Bros. UK

Welcome to The Virgil. Built in 1923, from the outside, it’s an imposing New York high-rise – one of the most exclusive buildings in Manhattan. But on the inside? Now that’s another story. This is what ex-convict Asia Reaves discovers when she applies for a job there as a housekeeper in brand new horror-comedy-actioner They Will Kill You.

Unaware that this all-but-abandoned building has played host to a number of disappearances over the years, Asia is soon fighting for her life, when she discovers that the building is a temple to Satan. Every month, members of a cult make a human sacrifice – and she’s next. As a gang of Satan worshippers come swinging for her, Asia has to fight her way out of The Virgil, an apartment complex designed to be a death trap. With an endless warren of crawlspaces, cupboards and corridors spookier than The Shining, it’s like the ultimate sacrificial playground. Can she last one night? Or will she be the next successful offering?

An intoxicating mix of black humour and high-octane action, with epic kills and brazen action, They Will Kill You is about to unleash hell. Here’s the inside track on this year’s most blistering, big-screen extravaganza.

Zazie Beetz is a new kind of action heroine

This is the year of Zazie Beetz, as audiences get the chance to see her tear up the screen in They Will Kill You. The Emmy-nominated star of Atlanta, Joker and Deadpool 2 goes toe-to-toe with dozens of opponents, in a survive-at-all-costs inferno that will leave you gasping for air. With her character hardened after a spell in prison, where she learned how to fight her way out of trouble in the yard, Beetz gets to showcase her incredible martial arts skills. And when she can’t kick or punch, she more than proves herself adept with sawn-off shotguns, fiery axes, and any other blunt instrument that comes to hand. Is it bloody? You bet.

“I definitely became very intimate with the blood that was provided and sprayed and poured onto me,” Beetz recently said in a Reddit AMA, suggesting she spent 80 per cent of the movie covered in the red stuff. In a story that upfronts female empowerment and tenacity, she is the perfect embodiment of the lone wolf warrior.

The cast is to die for

Lining up alongside Zazie Beetz in They Will Kill You is a very cool supporting cast. The fearless females include Industry’s Myha’la, Austin Powers’ Heather Graham and Boyhood Academy Award-winner Patricia Arquette, as the head of the co-op who first shows Asia around. Among their male counterparts are British stars Tom Felton, formerly Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, as flashy cult member Kevin, and Paterson Joseph – aka Alan Johnson from Peep Show – who first warns Asia that she has stepped into her own personal nightmare. With The Virgil also staffed by an army of maids – whose sole task, it seems, is to hand out mallets and golf clubs to bring down Asia – it’s not what you might call a fair fight. But will any of them be a match for her? Or are they just lambs for the slaughter? Let them try.

Expect a top-class horror pedigree

Behind They Will Kill You are exactly the people you might want to deliver some adrenaline-driven popcorn thrills. Among the producers are Andy and Barbara Muschietti, the sibling team behind the stunning two-part adaptation of Stephen King classic It and the recent prequel series It: Welcome To Derry. As Andy recently explained, unpacking their influences on this project, the satirical 1967 camp horror The Fearless Vampire Killers “was one that really imprinted us”. Joining them is writer-director Kirill Sokolov, who is already famed for his rip-roaring adventures like revenge tale Why Don’t You Just Die! (2018) and No Looking Back (2021). Sokolov, who co-wrote the script with Alex Litvak, brings his ass-kicking action chops and tremendous craftsmanship to the blood-covered table to power this wickedly fun escape-room adventure. You won’t know what hit you.

The house always wins

Filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, one of the true stars of They Will Kill You is The Virgil, the apartment complex created by production designer Jeremy Reed. Previously a designer on the classic psychological thriller Hard Candy, Reed created an intricate setting filled with stylish surprises. From its ominous occult-like symbol at the apex of the building to the ‘V’-branded buzzer on the front door and its wood-panelled interiors decorated with priceless art, this luxury maze-like residence is a character in its own right. As Sokolov recently stated on Reddit, “You’ll see the mythology within the building, and why everything has the colours, patterns it has.” Ready for action, it’s the ideal battleground to play out this year’s most bonkers death-defying smackdown.

‘They Will Kill You’ opens in UK cinemas on March 27

The post Why ‘They Will Kill You’ is the year’s craziest, most fun horror film
 appeared first on NME.

The 2026 Oscars took place in LA last night (March 15). As ever, they were a tonally uneven endurance test worth sticking out. Here are the major talking points, including a poor showing all around for Timothée Chalamet.

• Read more: Oscars 2026: One Battle After Another, Sinners and Hamnet walk away with major wins

One Battle After Another trumped Sinners

Paul Thomas Anderson’s rollicking black comedy about a sad sack former radical on the comeback trail won six awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Anderson’s hat-trick was a major vindication for a visionary filmmaker who’d previously lost all 11 Oscars he’d been nominated for. It was about time, quite frankly.

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, a genre-blending horror romp that cleaned up at the box office, took home four prizes from its 16 nominations. A little disappointing? Perhaps, but Coogler’s Best Original Screenplay victory was no mean feat for a genre film; Autumn Durald Arkapaw made history by becoming the first woman to win Best Cinematography; and Michael B. Jordan deservedly won Best Actor for his dual performance as the Smokestack twins.

His gracious acceptance speech name-checked the five previous Black actors to win this award – Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker and Will Smith – as well as Halle Berry, the sole Black woman to win Best Actress. It was a classy finish to Jordan’s pretty much flawless awards season.

Marty Supreme was completely shut out

Chalamet had lost momentum in recent weeks, but he still looked like the best shot for Josh Safdie’s gonzo ping-pong flick to win something. However, as many pundits predicted, Jordan pipped him to Best Actor. Timmy can take comfort in the knowledge that Leonardo DiCaprio had to wait even longer to win an Oscar – he was 41, 11 years older than Chalamet is now. So, place your bets now on the scourge of the opera world finally winning Best Actor in 2033.

Sean Penn is now a triple Oscar winner

Penn’s villainous turn in One Battle After Another – a big swing that really pays off – won him Best Supporting Actor over well-fancied veterans Delroy Lindo (Sinners) and Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value), who both would have been worthy first-time winners.

Penn, who previously won Best Actor for Mystic River in 2004 and Milk in 2009, duly becomes only the seventh person to secure a career hat-trick. Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Frances McDormand, Walter Brennan and Ingrid Bergman also have three Oscars apiece, while Katharine Hepburn remains in a class of her own with four.

Oh, and Penn didn’t even turn up to collect his statuette – maybe a case of ‘been there, done that’?

KPop Demon Hunters had a killer night

They’re going up, up, up, it’s their moment! EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami – the singing voices behind the film’s girl-group Huntr/x – delivered a suitably jubilant rendition of their global megahit ‘Golden’. Plus, the Netflix phenom won both awards it was nominated for: Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for ‘Golden’. The only bum note was the aggressive way the songwriters were played off before finishing their acceptance speech. Might those scheming Saja Boys have had something to do with this?

Which means the Diane Warren drought continues

The queen of power ballads is now 0 for 17 in the Original Song category – no one in Oscar history has been nominated for more awards without a win. She did receive an honorary Oscar in 2022, but stressed in her recent documentary, Diane Warren: Relentless, that she still really wants to win a competitive award. Could 2027 be her year? Well, at least there won’t be a new Bond theme to steal her thunder.

Barbra Streisand sang during the In Memoriam segment

Only a few bars of ‘The Way We Were’, admittedly, but it was still a touching tribute to Robert Redford, her co-star in the classic 1973 tear-jerker of the same name. Apparently, he always called her ‘Babs’, and she let him get away with it – no, you have something in your eye.

Conan O’Brien delivered at least one savage zinger

The host’s opening monologue was adequate rather than dazzling – he was always going to make comedic hay from Chalamet’s recent facepalm comments about opera and ballet. However, his best joke felt a little closer to the bone. “It’s the first time since 2012 that there are no British actors nominated for Best Actor or Best Actress,” O’Brien told us, his face an impeccable deadpan. “A British spokesperson said: ‘Yeah, well, at least we arrest our paedophiles.'”

And there was an actual tie!

Only the seventh in Oscar history, and the first since 2013. The award for Live Action Short went to both The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva. Presenter Kumail Nanjiani read the room when he quipped that “it’s ironic that the short film Oscar is going to take twice as long [to hand out]”. Well, quite.

The post Timothée Chalamet’s rough night and all the Oscars 2026 shocks, snubs and surprises appeared first on NME.