Jaafar Jackson Didn\u2019t Tell His Family About His Role In Michael<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one in my family knew for a full year,\u201d he explained. \u201cI kept it pretty quiet until I felt comfortable enough to share it. But when my mom saw it on-screen, it blew her away. It was hard for her to connect it to me, so it was very emotional for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jaafar expressed his eagerness for his father, Jermaine Jackson of The Jacksons, to witness his performance in the highly-anticipated movie.<\/p>\n
Jaafar later reflected on the experience of seeing his portrayal of the King of Pop on the big screen for the first time during the same interview.<\/p>\n
![\"THE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/68eb318c7544828af367b9bab7e5053b.jpeg\"\/)
THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON — Episode 2277 — Pictured: Singer, dancer, & actor Jaafar Jackson during an interview on Thursday, April 2, 2026 — (Photo by: Todd Owyoung\/NBC via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Photo by NBC on Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt went by so fast,\u201d he explained. \u201cI was like, ‘Wait, that\u2019s it?\u2019 But the second time I saw it was a completely different experience.<\/p>\n \u201cI was able to understand what the story is and really allow myself to enjoy what\u2019s on the screen, rather than thinking of all the things we shot that aren\u2019t in there. Because that was my problem the first time. I was like, \u201cWhere\u2019s all that footage?\u201d<\/p>\n Jaafar Jackson Shares the Process Behind Recreating \u2018Thriller\u2019<\/p>\n During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jaafar<\/a> shared intimate details about the process of filming the recreation of the legendary 1982 horror-themed music video, “Thriller.”<\/p>\n \u201cWe actaully had a full moon on one of those nights which was crazy,\u201d Jaafar recalled. \u201cWe had a full moon and it was cold. I know he [Michael Jackson] shot during the summer but just being at that location, seeing the zombies around me; I mean that was one of my favorite videos besides ‘Smooth Criminal.’ To be at the real location was incredible. It really was.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Jaafar, the production spent two straight nights filming the recreation at the original Los Angeles site, located at the intersection of South Calzona Street and Union Pacific Avenue.<\/p>\n Regarding his performance of \u201cBillie Jean\u201d for the television special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, Jaafar mentioned that he received \u201cincredible guidance\u201d while recreating the iconic moment.<\/p>\n Michael will be released in theaters on April 24.<\/p>\n \u201cThe film tells the story of Michael Jackson\u2019s life beyond the music, tracing his journey from the discovery of his extraordinary talent as the lead of the Jackson Five, to the visionary artist whose creative ambition fueled a relentless pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world,\u201d the film synopsis says.<\/p>\n \u201cHighlighting both his life off-stage and some of the most iconic performances from his early solo career, the film gives audiences a front-row seat to Michael Jackson as never before.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally published by Men’s Journal<\/a> on Apr 10, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment<\/a> section. Add Men’s Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As promotion for the upcoming biopic Michael ramps up, Jaafar Jackson, the 29-year-old actor taking on the role…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,75811,139733,39478,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-392504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-jaafar-jackson","12":"tag-jermaine-jackson","13":"tag-michael-jackson","14":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}