Exclusive: Michael Jackson TV Movie 'Searching for Neverland' from Emmy Winning Motown Veteran

I have Lifetime here, no idea if it was broadcast around the globe or just the USA. I didn't want to check because I didn't want my parents to see me looking the movie, my mother always gives me crap about anything MJ related and I honestly didn't have the energy to argue/fight with her.

I checked one of the stream links someone here and the video and the sound were not synchronized. I didn't see any preview so I hated Navi's kind of high whiny voice where he called Raymone demanding her to pay his staff and how he was saying it wasn't his fault. Michael didn't speak with a high pitched voice since his early or mid 40s, why didn't they notice it?

And he looked less grotesque than what he normally looks but still looked creepy in the movie.
 
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I had to watch it with half an eye because I'm working on a work project and it's still not done, so I can't really watch the encore yet. I watched enough of it to think it was pretty good-the guys playing the bodyguards (especially Bill) were great, and Navi did a good job. He didn't look creepy-he looked rather handsome in some scenes-his makeup was much more subdued than it is in his stage shows. They recreated a lot of scenes that we've seen recently-the Thriller 25 photo shoot, the kids getting Kenya, him at the mall being mobbed by fans. Actors playing Joseph, Katherine and Grace were good too. Raymone was horrible. They must have hated her.

It wasn't as good as 'An American Dream' but we're talking about a 2 hour movie as opposed to a more than six hour mini series event. It was pretty much as I imagined his last few years-just wanting to be a father with the family he always wanted and peace in his life. And they didn't make him faultless-there was a scene where Michael went shopping for the kids at FAO Schwartz, buying everything in sight and asked Bill if he was going to buy his daughter a present. Bill said no, because they hadn't been paid and Michael didn't just hand Bill one of the dolls he had picked out-he just kinda hung his head and ignored it. Not sure why-
On the whole pretty good-NOT the tabloid trash piece that it could have been. Oh, they couldn't use Michael's music, but Chaplin's Estate must have given permission for 'Smile'-that was played twice. The last time made me tear up.
 
Oh, when was this Ultimate Icon doc made??? Comes on after the movie. I'm making myself not watch it, so I can actually go to bed tonight after this project, but it looks FANTASTIC!!!!
 
You have the burden of proof, not me. You are the one claiming something. Sorry that I won't simply take your word for it when you have a tendency of making up these kind of things. Same with your claim of Jermaine's album Don't Take It Personal being platinum when it peaked at #115. Do you know how a platinum album looks like? Look up Prince's Sign O The Time. That was a platinum album with a peak at #6 on Billboard. It was a far bigger album than anything Marlon or Jermaine ever released. So I am sorry if I won't believe this claim about double platinum or platinum when there is no support for that claim whatsoever and there is no realistic reason to believe your claim.

As for the rest, I will stop going on about this in circles, but in short: it is great that Randy had some contribution to some early MJ songs, so what? Does that make him entitled to MJ's whole career, money, Estate's money, tours with MJ when MJ didn't want to tour? Nope. It makes him entitled to royalties from Shake Your Body and Co. Which I am sure he is getting. That doesn't mean however that MJ or his Estate is obliged to pay his or Jermaine's child support. It doesn't mean the brothers are entitled to try to force MJ into tours when he made it clear more than enough that he was not willing to tour with them. It doesn't mean it makes him entitled to crash through MJ's gates with a car and demand money from him. And those are the kind of things MJ was fed up with.

Same narrative, thats the real circle

Nobody said anything about being entitled to somebody's whole career

Dont worry, I will find the readable proof of the misrepresentation of records sales during that time and I will cite the source because I've followed the dynamic of the what used to be the recording industry for decades.

It wont be a burden but a pleasure
 
Thanks @barbee0715, it sounds good, decent. Unfortunately I didn't get to watch it. So I really hope someone posts the movie on YouTube.
 
Kinda off topic but...
I’ve been looking for more information on Marlon, Randy, and Jermaine’s 1987-92 albums going platinum and this is all I could find so far


-Don’t Go hit #2 on the Billboard in 1987 and was the #1 R&B single and #1 most added song Radio and Records magazine that lasted from 1973 to 2009). The song was a bonafide R&B hit

-Baby Tonight, Marlon’s sole released album (He recorded an album on Motown that has never been released), peaked at #22 on the Billboard R&B chart. It peaked at #175 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the main chart for 7 weeks

-On the 1988 year-end chart, the album was the 92nd top r&b album


-On the RIAA database, Baby Tonight is not certified. Jermaine has 2 gold albums


The only place I could find about Marlon, Jackie, and Randy’s albums going gold or platinum are in this book, “Michael Jackson and The Music That Was” by “The Voice of One”
Bringing Brighter Days, was this written by you? It reads like your posts here


https://books.google.com/books?id=K...UAhVrrVQKHbScBi4Q6AEIUjAK#v=onepage&q&f=false



Miran, which Michael founded with Randy, was founded in 1978 and only held “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” and “Working Day and Night”. It was later dissolved in 1982 when Michael bought Randy’s half and founded Mijac shortly after Off The Wall, and Randy founded Ranjack
https://www.californiaexplore.com/company/00938448/miran-publishing-inc

does anyone have any more info? I'll try to look up Radio and Records and Cashbox on Google's archives and elsewhere.
 
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I'm waiting patiently to watch it online. Someone post it up already! Haha.
 
The film was actually very well put together. I was able to watch it live here in the States and i paid close attention to the reactions of it as it was happening online. I found that most of the negativity came from those who were either misinformed or within their own alt-reality of who they THINK MJ was. A lot of people for example did not like the fact that Navi has a British accent, which though i dont mind it personally i can understand because it did throw me off at times. I simply had to remind myself that nothing will ever be as bad as Flex and that seemed to do the trick. Some also didnt like that there was no music whatsoever which goes back to the misinformed aspect. People wanted "An American Dream", not realizing that most will never be that, and that simply was never supposed to be the case. As far as the "alt-reality" thing: I'm more so talking about the Civil War that has and always will take place in this and likely all communities. There is what we think we know and what we refuse to believe (look no further than the scene suggesting Mike had a gf that no one knew about and acted like a heterosexual man).

Personally, the film didnt tell or suggest anything I didnt personally know or hear about. The only thing that kind of threw me off was the scene with Randy as i simply can not recall ever hearing about it. I also believe that something like that isnt really my business to know anyway so theres that. It did exactly what it was supposed to do which is to show a man simply trying to raise 3 children while being the most recognizable person on the planet. It is a story that they wanted to tell and one that I feel needed to be told. The script was very organized and forward moving; meaning it didnt really seem to drag out and there wasn't a single instance where i felt bored by it.

Was there "shade"? Perhaps. Again, there are things we simply did not know and we must remember this is only one side of a story...well two if you count two guards. All we can do is take their word for it and they didnt present anything so outlandish that they should be attacked for it. It is all what we have heard about for years (not being close with his family outside of Katherine). There is naturally the side of the family to take into consideration but again nothing was shown that we dont already know so its kind of one of those things where its implied to be factual. There are parts that made me laugh, cry, and want to punch a whole through the screen and those are emotions that any good film should do.

I liked some of the casting decisions and there were others I simply had to shrug off. I felt that Joe was casted perfectly while I initially tilted my head at the casting of Katherine. I thought the girl that played Paris looked a lot like her yet Prince was off to me. The casting again wasnt a big deal to me as I was able to understand that it would never be perfect. The minor gripes that I had with it are just that.

Overall Id say its a solid showing and one fans should look into with an open mind. Know what to expect, grab a box of tissues, and simply enjoy it for what it is. I promise it wont bother you as much as "Man in the Mirror" probably did. Trust me, there are far worse out there and im sure this is only the beginning. Id love for another "American Dream" film and perhaps one day we'll get that...but judging off of how things have gone and been presented over the years that probably isnt realistic, so just enjoy a for once positive representation of the MAN and not the King.
 
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^^Don't appreciate the comment on how he "earned that nickname." That was thrown at him as part of a well-calculated take down.

Yeah, earned with what? The Sun branded him ***** ***** in 1985!
What did he do in 1985?

He was a devout Jehova Witness, lived with his parents, didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't eat meat
didn't do drugs, didn't have sex, didn't curse, was doing We are the world. He was more innocent than
most 10 year olds.
He had a few nosejobs. How crazy. LaToya and Janet had them too. No one called them ***** *****s.
He did not sleep in a chamber. Called him ***** for something that did not happen. Isn't that ***** itself?
Had a chimp. Elvis had a chimp too. No one called him *****.
He did not want to buy Merrick's bones. Again, he is ***** for something he didn't do. Logical.


The media will never admit that they started to wage an all out war against this man
because he was the first black person in history who achieved this. Look at all those white people.
They never went nuts for a black buy before.


Should be noted that the media never calls MJ's brothers and sisters *****,
Not Joe Jackson, Jesse Jackson, Glenda Jackson, Phil Jackson, Peter Jackson so it's
not that they commonly call Jacksons *****s. It's an insult, and conveniently it's also
the name of a monkey.
 
Surprised to see so many good reviews here. I only managed to catch about 3 minutes of it and it screamed low budget to me. Lifetime biopics have always been painfully cringeworthy and forced, and this didn't seem like an exception.

I'm currently on the lookout for a stream so I can watch the whole thing.
 
That nickname or moniker was coined not by the american press, nor was it coined by the british press, it was coined by the Australian Press during the opening leg of the Bad Tour after performing the initial set of shows in Japan.......

No, the Bad tour started in 1987. The Sun already called him that in 1985. Australian press picked it up.
That Sun tabloid hack was even bragging about it after he died. MJ himself talked about it in the Barbara
Walters interview. It all started in the UK.
 
Yeah...

I found the film fairly good, while there will always be things I would do differently it was overall a good movie. It will hit some nerves of some fans but at the same time I really do believe they tried to make it pretty accurate. Was not a bash piece nor was it a glorify piece - simply fair from what I pick up. Some MJ fans will love it, some MJ fans will like it, some with think it's ok, or eh'.. To me an important part is MJ haters wont like it ;) -- Especially with the attention it is getting.
 
I saw mentioned on an earlier page of a special on TV that I did not recognize.. So are there 2 or 3 specials? I watched 1 last night after the movie.. the one recording today is "Beyond the headlines" but I saw a title in a previous page of another? Or is it just called something else in a different area..
 
^^Don't appreciate the comment on how he "earned that nickname." That was thrown at him as part of a well-calculated take down.


Estate / Branca & Co had the guts to say basically the same thing that "he earned it" in recent trial against IRS, so what do we expect from the media?
 
though I don't like the term "earned" it.. I think we are picking at it a bit too much. (my opinion) just because someone 'earned' the name - it does not mean it is warranted.. someone overweight for example being picked on because of it - people could technically say "I earned the name ms. piggy at grade school because I was really fat"... It basically means traits of some sort is where the name came from..

There is not many 'nick names' that are not "earned".. people have called me 'Sand n****r" because I am arab..

I think we associate 'earn' with a since of accomplishment which is where the uncomfort of the use of the artcle we read comes from but in everyday language it is not only used that way..

'earn' is not always a fair or good thing..
 
Michael earned the King of Pop title through his numerous accomplishments, hard work and dedication. With that abhorrent moniker, The Sun branded him like he were a creature/animal, it wasn't earned. That racist, son of a bitch Murdock has always seen Michael like a monster, he did it to humiliate him and dehumanizing him.
 
I just watched the movie. I DVR it last night. It certainly wasn't a bad movie. It was simpathetic to MJ that's for sure. Not sure how much was true but it's worth a watch I guess. There were a few cringeworthy scenes but I expected that. Navi was ok, Bill the bodyguard was pretty good. You would have to watch it as everyone has there own opinion. I originally was put off with the idea and was not going to ever watch but to be honest it won't hurt MJ it might even help.
 
Would you be able to put it up on YouTube or something for non-US viewers?
 
Interview of @MichaelaAngelaD with @Essence -http://www.essence.com/entertainment/director-dianne-houston-michael-jackson-searching-neverland?xid=essence_socialflow_twitter … re: #SearchingforNeverland #MichaelJackson Lifetime Movie
http://www.essence.com/entertainmen...hing-neverland?xid=essence_socialflow_twitter

DBF3ChiUwAANR-O.jpg
 
I watch the movie last night i watch it twice i really enjoy it. I also agree it was well put together and i did have my tissues with me some of the parts was sad and funny. Like it was mention there was nothing new that we as Michael Jackson fans did not know but for a new fan it is a movie that is a must too see.
 
Michael earned the King of Pop title through his numerous accomplishments, hard work and dedication. With that abhorrent moniker, The Sun branded him like he were a creature/animal, it wasn't earned. That racist, son of a bitch Murdock has always seen Michael like a monster, he did it to humiliate him and dehumanizing him.
That is why I say the name J**** is racist. People seem to think they can label blacks anything yet they will never label other races even if the behave in a certain manner.
 
You guys are killing me.lol. All these wonderful reviews of the movie. Yet, the movie still isn't posted on YouTube.
I was surprised that I liked the Movie. I cried in the middle to the end. I must say Navi capture MJ's spirit and ways and humbleness.
 
‘Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland’ Draws 2 Million Viewers In Live+SD


Monday’s premiere of Lifetime original movie Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland drew 2 million total viewers in Live+SD; including 728,000 adults 18-49 and 484,000 women 18-49. It ranks as cable’s No. 2 original movie premiere for 2017 to date in key demos, only behind Lifetime’s Beaches. Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Icon special, which aired immediately following the movie, retained 85% of its lead-in, drawing 1.7 million total viewers.

http://deadline.com/2017/05/michael...neverland-draws-2-million-viewers-1202104503/

For comparison:
Lifetime’s remake of the movie “Beaches” was the top original program on cable Saturday among adults 18-49. The film, starring Nia Long and Idina Menzel, earned a 0.6 rating in the demographic and 2.21 million viewers.
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/daily-ratings/saturday-cable-ratings-jan-21-2017/
 
Hey guys it come on again tonight In Search Of Neverland Enhanced it on now Lifetime.

Coming on next Biography Presents: Michael Jackson interview from casts members from the movie. It will replay on Lifetime up until 4:00 am.
 
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Hey guys it come on again tonight In Search Of Neverland Enhanced it on now Lifetime.

Coming on next Biography Presents: Michael Jackson interview from casts members from the movie. It will replay on Lifetime up until 4:00 am.

Can't someone record it and upload it to vimeo or some file sharing site?
 
respect77;4195614 said:
The ratings look surprisingly good considering it was hardly even advertised. I saw very few previews or reviews. In comparation the news about the Britney biopic were everywhere.

Britney Ever After was a flop even with the promotion.


According to TV by the Numbers, Lifetime’s “Britney Ever After” garnered just 1.01 million viewers. That was similar to the network’s “Unauthorized Full House Story,” which brought in 1.6 million viewers.


http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/02/24/britney-ever-after-total-flop-for-lifetime.html


Lifetime's reputation regarding biopics was so bad it's surprising 2 million actually watched.
 
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