Before Almost Buying Marvel from Stan Lee, Michael Jackson Nearly Played One of the Most Hated Star Wars Characters
Michael Jackson aka The King of Pop is widely known for his contribution to music, fashion, and dance in his career spanning four decades. From Taylor Swift making a cameo appearance in Margot Robbie’s Babylon to Harry Styles portraying the lead character Tom Burgess in Prime Video’s My Policeman, musicians often venture into the world of acting and Jackson wished to do the same.
Michael Jackson seemed to have a soft spot for superheroes as not only did he try to buy Marvel but also expressed his interest in portraying a Star Wars character. However, the deal fell through, and probably for the best considering how the character’s future turned out to be.
Michael Jackson Almost Portrayed An Infamous Star Wars Character
Despite being the highest-grossing film of the year, Star Wars: Episode I – Phantom Menace received mixed reviews and was highly criticized for its characters, especially Jar Jar Binks.
Ironically, Jar Jar Binks was the character that Michael Jackson had pitched himself for to George Lucas. The role eventually went to Ahmed Best, and to put it lightly, it was not the brightest moment in Best’s acting career as Binks remains one of the most hated Star Wars characters to date.
In an interview with Vice, Ahmed Best revealed his saying that Michael Jackson wanted to be Jar Jar Binks was, in fact, not a joke because that is what Lucas had told him. He said that he along with Natalie Portman and Lucas’ kids were invited backstage at one of Jackson’s concerts.
Best recounted the incident, saying:
George introduced me as “Jar Jar” and I was like, That’s kind of weird. Michael was like, “Oh. OK.” I thought, What is going on? After Michael had driven off, we all went back up to a big afterparty. I’m having a drink with George and I said, “Why did you introduce me as Jar Jar?” He said, “Well, Michael wanted to do the part but he wanted to do it in prosthetics and makeup like ‘Thriller.'”
Ahmed Best went on to say that George Lucas wanted to use CGI for the character, unlike Jackson who wanted to put prosthetics to use. This added to the fact that the Beat It singer’s fame could have overshadowed the movie might have led Lucas to be wary of his inclusion in the star cast.
Michael Jackson Had Once Tried To Buy Marvel
The famous comic book company Marvel had filed for bankruptcy in 1996. Thankfully, its partnership with ToyBiz saved it from its ill fate. Long before Disney bought the company for a staggering $4 billion in 2009, Michael Jackson seriously wanted to buy it. His nephew Taj Jackson confirmed as much in an interview with Popcorned Planet in 2020.
Taj Jackson insisted that his uncle’s interest in buying the company might have stemmed from his desire to play the Marvel superhero Peter Parker aka Spider-Man. From what is known about the musician so far, he was most likely a huge fan of comic books so it doesn’t come as too much of a surprise that he tried to buy Marvel.
Source: Vice, Popcorned Planet
