'I Learned Michael Jackson F**ked Little Boys.'

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What’s in the news…

Seth Abramovitch interviewed the director of Leaving Neverland, Dan Reed, about the Michael Jackson biopic opening this weekend (Michael), for The Hollywood Reporter.

Some highlights:

- HBO removed Leaving Neverland from streaming over a legal technicality:

[Reed:] “The Michael Jackson estate had a contract which Jackson had signed with HBO for a concert recording in Budapest in 1992. The contract contained a non-disparagement clause. The estate argued that the non-disparagement clause, which says, “You can’t say anything nasty about Michael,” applied forever to everything that HBO would ever do — which is patently ridiculous. Somehow the estate managed to persuade HBO to come to an amicable settlement. And that involved, after six years on the platform, taking Leaving Neverland down.

HBO has a license only until 2029. So after that, I can resell it and make it available again. The sequel went out on YouTube in the U.S., which is pretty unsatisfying.

Wow, disappeared. It’d be real a shame of people who were interested watched Leaving Neverland on Apple TV instead.

- This exchange:

THR: Walk me through the evolution of your thoughts on Michael Jackson through the making of these films. What have you learned?

REED: I learned Michael Jackson fucked little boys. That’s what I learned. I don’t make documentaries about celebrities or pop music or any kind of music. I make documentaries about terror attacks and war and stuff. And so as a filmmaker, this was off my usual beat, but I saw it as a chance to make something about child sexual abuse, which I had actually touched on in a previous film.

- On the supposed motives of Jackson’s accusers:

[THR] Those “gold digger” accusations still seem to surface a lot, including from Antoine Fuqua, who told The New Yorker “sometimes people do some nasty things for some money.”

[REED] For Antoine Fuqua to accuse people of gold digging is kind of ironic. It seems to me all the people involved in this movie are just making bank. [How can you tell an authentic story about Michael Jackson without ever mentioning the fact that he was seriously accused of being a child molester? I just don’t really see it. If anyone’s making money, it’s Michael Jackson’s estate and the people who worked on this biographical picture.

Man… Get that bag making your jukebox cash grab or whatever, but the moment you start throwing stones at abuse victims you have officially entered “piece of shit” territory, in my mind. Making a movie about a famous child abuser that doesn’t acknowledge the child abuse? Sounds like they made an unintentional Zone of Interest.

(Full Interview Here.)

The Paramount/WB Merger and What It Could Mean

From The AV Club:

Like many of the other promoters at CinemaCon last week, The Ankler columnist Richard Rushfield was handing out free swag. It was nothing fancy, just a pin that read “Block The Merger,” referring to the monumental unification of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery that is coming up for a vote this Thursday. But Paramount didn’t appreciate the gesture, and instead of ignoring it, pulled its advertising from The Ankler and told talent not to speak to their reporters. All that for a pin.

If this is the entertainment industry’s canary in the coal mine moment, that bird might already be on the floor of its cage. Paramount acting so quickly to punish a journalist that disagreed with the powers that be is a warning of the kind of management style that would control more than a third of the industry if the merger goes through. Just days away from Hollywood potentially changing as we know it, it’s important to take stock of what’s at stake with the merger: how it will affect the immediate film and television landscape, entertainment journalism, and what awaits audiences on the other side.

As I’ve pointed out many times, one of the central difficulties for publishing any kind of honest criticism or entertainment journalism is that the most relevant advertising partners are the studios themselves. Once upon a time, they could accept the idea that indepententish coverage was beneficial to the industry more broadly, even if it shit on your specific movie or show or marketing plan once in a while. That was an acceptable cost in exchange for, you know, people hearing about and talking about your movies and shows.

These days they will retaliate over an anti-merger pin. (I have a bit of experience with this, having once had a come-to-Jesus meeting with management over a mildly negative, tongue-in-cheek review of Inside Out).

The fewer companies there are, and the more they consolidate under explicitly political leadership like Paramount and the Ellisons, the more we’re all just dancing for our supper at the courts of the most scumbag billionaires on Earth (redundant, I know).

Anyway, that’s why you have to pay for it now. Sorry about that. Now for some lighter stuff!

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Ian McKellen is a Certified Hoot in ‘The Christophers’

Steven Soderbergh had a movie open this past weekend. Were you aware? He’s been averaging one or two per year since before the towers fell like a film nerd’s Woody Allen. Along the way, his output has encompassed basically all genres along with experimentation in both form and distribution. Lately it seems like he’s staying relevant by not stretching too hard — first in last year’s excellently stylish Black Bag and now in the modest but unfailingly entertaining The Christophers. It’s a film that feels like it could’ve been a play, but not the boring kind.

The short version? “Soderbergh does Finding Forrester.”

It sounds glib to say, but The Christophers really is nearly exactly that, which turns out not to be a bad thing at all. Ian McKellen, supposedly 86 years old though he doesn’t look it (I honestly feel bad even bringing it up), plays Julian Sklar, a once ground-breaking artist who has become something of a punchline in his old age, complete with a curmudgeonly, Simon Cowell-type gig on an art competition show and a thriving bespoke video business on Cameo. Think: Ian McKellen affixing his trademark ascot and flat cap to wish Terrence a happy 13th birthday directly into a ring light. Excellent, no notes.