An actor has been selected to portray the King of Pop Michael Jackson in a new film based on an urban legend about him taking a road trip with Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor. There's just one problem, the actor is British--and white.
Joseph Fiennes of Shakespeare in Love and American Horror Story fame was tapped to portray Jackson in an upcoming British road trip comedy for Sky Arts. The film follows Jackson on a trip he was rumored to have taken with Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando. The three embarked on the trip after Jackson invited Taylor and Brando to his 30th anniversary concert in Madison Square Garden just one day before the 9/11 attacks. After air travel was canceled, the three traveled from New York to Ohio in an attempt to return home to California. Vanity Fair first reported the urban legend in 2011.
According to The Guardian, Stockard Channing will play Elizabeth Taylor and Brian Cox will play Marlon Brando. The film will be written by Neil Forsyth. Fiennes said of the film, “It’s a fun, lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek road trip of what celebrity of that kind is like. But also it’s rather beautiful and poignant about their relationships.” He also called it "a challenge."