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http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-etw-jackson17-2009oct17,0,508329.story
In the footage, Michael Jackson comes across as many things: an arresting performer who still possesses a vast arsenal of streetwise dance moves at age 50. A snappy dresser fond of Froot Loop-hued clothing. A take-charge field general who authoritatively issues orders to his collaborators from the stage. A creative force who was personally invested in the smallest details of his concerts.
But not a dying man.
On Oct. 28, for a limited two-week engagement, Sony Films will release "Michael Jackson's This Is It" -- a feature-length documentary comprised of video footage from rehearsals for what would have been Jackson's return to performing. After a 12-year touring absence, Jackson was set to embark on "This Is It," a series of 50 sold-out concerts at London's O2 Arena. Exclusive footage that Sony Films screened for The Times provides a revealing glimpse of Jackson's take-charge side that few outside the singer's inner circle have seen until now.
"He was the conductor. He was the man," said the movie's director Kenny Ortega, who worked closely with Jackson as director of "This Is It." "He didn't just work through a show, he worked each audience differently. And the band, the dancers, the tech people, the lighting people had to be paying attention to that. He made sure everyone was in touch with that."
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For more on Chris Lee's exclusive first look at footage from "Michael Jackson's This Is It," check back Sunday at latimes.com/thisisit
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Although the singer died on June 25 of acute intoxication by the powerful anesthetic propofol, the footage gives no indication that Jackson was in anything less than good health. And according to his director, choreographer and backup dancers, he was focused, emotionally prepared and fit.
"He was a true dancer," said Daniel Celebre, a "This Is It" backup dancer. "Always moving. He could not stay still."
Fellow dancer Timor Steffens added: "You'd get nervous standing next to Michael. That energy coming from him was so powerful."
In one clip, edited together from four separate performances of his 1983 hit single "Human Nature," Jackson appears sinewy -- thin, to be sure, but not painfully so -- as he effortlessly executes a number of pop-locking-inspired dance moves. Unaccompanied by "This Is It's" retinue of 11 dancers, his singing and dancing (as opposed to the elaborate staging, illusions and aerial dancing being developed for "This Is It") are in the spotlight. And those loyal to the King of Pop will not likely be disappointed: Jackson's ethereal falsetto sounds strong and clear, his movements vigorous and precise.
A second sequence is plotted around a high-tech tableau that was to have been the concerts' visual cornerstone: a 90-foot electronic scrim that Ortega refers to as "the world's largest high-definition 3-D video screen." A metal scaffolding designed to resemble the steel girders of a skyscraper in the process of being built looms in front of the digital projection of a New York cityscape; dancers, dressed as construction workers, lounge on its beams snapping their fingers. The sequence, conjured up by Jackson, is an homage to Lewis Hine, a turn-of-the-century photographer whom the pop icon admired.
Jackson arrives onstage to sing his 1987 single "The Way You Make Me Feel" wearing one of his trademark fedoras and a seersucker blazer. But he interrupts the segment's Broadway musical-like staging to give instructions to the dancers.
"I gotta cue that so you gotta watch me for that growl," Jackson says, with uncharacteristic forcefulness.
The choreography later in the scene is straight out of the song's original music video, which features the singer walking along a city street at night singing to and trying to cajole a young woman to take his romantic overtures seriously.
At the end of the sequence, Jackson can hardly contain his enthusiasm.
"I feel totally, totally nourished!" he exclaims.
chris.lee@latimes.com
In the footage, Michael Jackson comes across as many things: an arresting performer who still possesses a vast arsenal of streetwise dance moves at age 50. A snappy dresser fond of Froot Loop-hued clothing. A take-charge field general who authoritatively issues orders to his collaborators from the stage. A creative force who was personally invested in the smallest details of his concerts.
But not a dying man.
On Oct. 28, for a limited two-week engagement, Sony Films will release "Michael Jackson's This Is It" -- a feature-length documentary comprised of video footage from rehearsals for what would have been Jackson's return to performing. After a 12-year touring absence, Jackson was set to embark on "This Is It," a series of 50 sold-out concerts at London's O2 Arena. Exclusive footage that Sony Films screened for The Times provides a revealing glimpse of Jackson's take-charge side that few outside the singer's inner circle have seen until now.
"He was the conductor. He was the man," said the movie's director Kenny Ortega, who worked closely with Jackson as director of "This Is It." "He didn't just work through a show, he worked each audience differently. And the band, the dancers, the tech people, the lighting people had to be paying attention to that. He made sure everyone was in touch with that."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more on Chris Lee's exclusive first look at footage from "Michael Jackson's This Is It," check back Sunday at latimes.com/thisisit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Although the singer died on June 25 of acute intoxication by the powerful anesthetic propofol, the footage gives no indication that Jackson was in anything less than good health. And according to his director, choreographer and backup dancers, he was focused, emotionally prepared and fit.
"He was a true dancer," said Daniel Celebre, a "This Is It" backup dancer. "Always moving. He could not stay still."
Fellow dancer Timor Steffens added: "You'd get nervous standing next to Michael. That energy coming from him was so powerful."
In one clip, edited together from four separate performances of his 1983 hit single "Human Nature," Jackson appears sinewy -- thin, to be sure, but not painfully so -- as he effortlessly executes a number of pop-locking-inspired dance moves. Unaccompanied by "This Is It's" retinue of 11 dancers, his singing and dancing (as opposed to the elaborate staging, illusions and aerial dancing being developed for "This Is It") are in the spotlight. And those loyal to the King of Pop will not likely be disappointed: Jackson's ethereal falsetto sounds strong and clear, his movements vigorous and precise.
A second sequence is plotted around a high-tech tableau that was to have been the concerts' visual cornerstone: a 90-foot electronic scrim that Ortega refers to as "the world's largest high-definition 3-D video screen." A metal scaffolding designed to resemble the steel girders of a skyscraper in the process of being built looms in front of the digital projection of a New York cityscape; dancers, dressed as construction workers, lounge on its beams snapping their fingers. The sequence, conjured up by Jackson, is an homage to Lewis Hine, a turn-of-the-century photographer whom the pop icon admired.
Jackson arrives onstage to sing his 1987 single "The Way You Make Me Feel" wearing one of his trademark fedoras and a seersucker blazer. But he interrupts the segment's Broadway musical-like staging to give instructions to the dancers.
"I gotta cue that so you gotta watch me for that growl," Jackson says, with uncharacteristic forcefulness.
The choreography later in the scene is straight out of the song's original music video, which features the singer walking along a city street at night singing to and trying to cajole a young woman to take his romantic overtures seriously.
At the end of the sequence, Jackson can hardly contain his enthusiasm.
"I feel totally, totally nourished!" he exclaims.
chris.lee@latimes.com
