The Jackson movie you never saw
Inside the strange but true film career of 'Agent M.J.'
By Alex Ben Block
He may be known for his music, but few knew Michael Jackson also enjoyed another artistic outlet: the movies.
The King of Pop's long association with a small-time filmmaker led to a featured role in a campy 2007 film unknown to many of his fans, and may well have led to another project he was developing (see video at left).
"He was very excited about making movies and wanted his hands on everything, from working on screenplays to producing, to writing the music," said B-movie producer, writer and director Bryan Michael Stoller of Jackson, who starred in the 1978 pic "The Wiz." "However, he never showed any interest in acting,"
Three months before his death, Stoller says Jackson committed to co-directing and financing a movie -- a poignant drama about foster children -- and planned to get started as soon as he completed his London concerts.
It's a small indie project that might not have exactly been getting a big studio rollout or a prime spot at Sundance. But like other posthumous revelations, the news sheds light on the wide-ranging, if often quirky, excursions the singer made when he wasn't cultivating his career as a pop star.
Stoller said he had a 23-year friendship with the pop star and was his partner in the film company Magic Shadows. He was to have co-directed the movie, called "They Cage the Animals at Night," which Stoller said they had been developing for seven years.
The project was based on a 1985 book about the real-life experiences of author Jennings Michael Burch, who bounced around foster homes as a child. Jackson showed the book to Stoller in 2002 at his Neverland estate and asked if he wanted to produce and co-direct a movie version.
"Michael told me often he felt like he grew up as an orphan, like a foster kid, because he never was in one home," Stoller said. "To him every hotel was like a different foster home. He said he used to sit in the window and see kids playing outside and cry because he couldn't be part of that."
But insiders in the Jackson camp said there was no formal deal in place for any Jackson involvement in "Cage"; discussions between the artist and Stoller occurred when Jackson was without management, which may have frowned on any distractions as he prepared for the London shows.
Stoller optioned the book for $1 -- initially without telling Burch about Jackson's involvement. When he did tell him, Stoller said the author was excited to work with the singer.
Jackson, meanwhile, was concerned that Burch, then 67 and suffering from cancer, might not survive to see the movie made. So Stoller suggested bringing Burch to Neverland in 2003, where Jackson turned the tables and interviewed him for what was to be a TV special and for the eventual DVD.
Stoller recorded their meeting, which added to a collection of videos he made with Jackson over the years, and to hours of audio recordings from their meetings.
Stoller told THR he has now come forward because he believes this material humanizes his friend at a time when much myth-making about Jackson is taking place. The producer also is marketing his video, audio and photos either for outright sale or as a project he would produce and direct.
He said he already has had interest from NBC, CBS and E!
Jackson's last film foray was a 2005 comedic farce, "Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls," produced, written and directed by Stoller. Jackson is briefly in the movie as Agent M.J., who comes to the rescue of various characters on a beam of light. The movie was a direct-to-DVD release sold briefly at Blockbuster stores.
When Jackson was indicted on child molestation charges shortly after its release, Blockbuster pulled the film from its shelves. "Miss Castaway" has been sold overseas by Showcase Entertainment, and Stoller said he has offers for a new domestic video release for Jackson's last movie appearance.
"They Cage the Animals" also was impacted by the molestation charges, Stoller said. In 2003 the producer arranged a three-hour meeting in a Universal City hotel between Jackson and Mel Gibson, who besides being an actor is a producer and partner in Icon Prods. "They got along great," Stoller said. "It was kind of funny. Mel was a little nervous. He was hugging a pillow the whole time, kind of playing with it. Michael was kind of shy."
Icon signed a deal to develop the project with a budget of $12 million-$20 million, according to Stoller, who was paid by Icon to write the screenplay. A couple months later, when Jackson was indicted in Santa Barbara, Icon put the project in turnaround, and Gibson stopped returning Stoller's phone calls. There were news reports in 2005 that Icon had dropped the project. A spokesman for Icon said the company briefly was involved in developing it in 1995 but had lost interest by 1997. Stoller has a copy of his contract with Icon dated 2002.
Stoller said Icon still owns the screenplay, but an Icon rep rebutted that, saying the company has had no involvement or ownership for 10 years. Gibson declined comment for this report.
Jackson did meet with Burch, and during their highly charged conversation he asked the author if he had ever considered suicide. Burch said he had, and Jackson said he too had considered it during his darkest days. (See video at THR.com.)
Jackson lost contact with Stoller for about two years during the period when the singer was on trial. But after his acquittal, Jackson reached out to him. They had watched dozens of movies in the Neverland theater; Stoller said Jackson's favorite was "To Kill a Mockingbird," and that they also discussed doing a remake of the comedy musical "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."
"When Jackson called in 2007, he still had movies on his mind," Stoller said. "He had begun to purchase movie production equipment. He was always asking how things work, but I never saw him really work things. But he wanted all the toys. He bought a dolly and wanted me to show the kids how to use it because they were using it as a play toy, riding around on it."
Jackson wasn't interested in making a blockbuster. "He wanted to do movies the Academy would like," Stoller recalled.
Three months before his death, Stoller said he and Jackson had "a pretty serious meeting" about reviving "They Cage the Animals" as an indie feature.
"Michael was going to put up $8 million and not have to deal with any studios or producers and then take it to the studios afterward," Stoller said. "He was very passionate about being a director. He was determined to make this movie."
The Jackson movie you never saw
Johnny Depp's next is up in the air
Johnny Depp's next is up in the air
Actor has several potential projects but no go pictures
By Steven Zeitchik and Borys Kit
Johnny Depp is coming off an acclaimed role in "Public Enemies" and has one on the most anticipated movies of this weekend's Comic-Con with "Alice in Wonderland."
But the Mad Hatter is facing an unusual situation: Like the character he plays in "Alice," he soon could be killing time.
Depp is attached to a number of high-profile development properties but is facing a landscape devoid of go pictures. Instead, there are a dizzying number of possibilities and schedule permutations, none of which seems likely to result in a produced movie for him anytime soon.
Producers have been interested in Depp, whose deal is at Warner Bros., for the title role in the studio's "The Incredible Mr. Limpet," Kevin Lima's remake that would continue a whimsical if slightly less drama-intensive streak for the actor. He has not signed on, however, and in any event the pic would not go into production until next year.
Meanwhile, the fourth installment of the actor's tentpole "Pirates of the Caribbean" remains a priority for Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer. At some point it was going to be Depp's next pic, but with Gore Verbinski no longer directing the franchise, the ship has slowed.
Disney is seeking a new director, a process that could take time. Although the studio is believed to want an established franchise and action helmer, it has put the word out to agents it would be open to younger directors and new ideas, potentially prolonging the process. That could mean as much as a four- or five-year hiatus since the 2007 release of the previous picture, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."
(Disney also would like to scale back the size and budget of the next movie compared with previous installments; for that reason, it likely won't bring back relatively pricey Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley.)
Because of the "Pirates" lag, a Depp project that was supposed to go into production after the Sparrow-fest, "The Lone Ranger," could end up getting pushed back further, though there's also a possibility it could shoot ahead of the nautical tale.
For the moment, though, "Ranger" also remains locked in the stable. "Pirates" writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio have written a script for the Disney-Bruckheimer update, but the studio could wind up commissioning a polish or another draft. There's also no director, and Depp is attached to play Tonto, leaving a lead that needs to be cast.
Finally, Warners' feature update of the ghoulish TV series "Dark Shadows" -- a Depp-Tim Burton combo that might have shot later this year or early next year -- also might be back-burnered. Burton still has work to do on "Alice," which opens in March, and tends to spend a lot of time on prep work.
What the possibilities boil down to, besides head spinning, is there are projects with momentum that Depp has not signed for, and projects he has signed for that don't have a lot of momentum.
In other words, it's a very 2009 phenomenon brought on by a star's choosiness on one hand and studios' increasing caution on the other. (In what might be an emerging mini-trend, Will Smith and Leonardo DiCaprio happen to find themselves in similar situations.)
The result is that Depp could face a year or longer without appearing on the big screen.
That might not sound like a major departure, but for moviegoers, it will seem like a shift. Depp has been in one of the most fertile periods of his career: The actor also stars in the Hunter S. Thompson adaptation "The Rum Diary" and had a supporting role in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," which hasn't been released in the U.S. In the past nine years, Depp has not had more than two movies come out in any 18-month period; if "Imaginarium" gets a release by the end of 2010, he'll have had four.
Then again, the absence of a new role might mean a respite from his breakneck schedule. Even a pirate needs some time off.
'Harry Potter' strong heading into the weekend
'Harry Potter' strong heading into the weekend
Sequel rings up $21.9 million on Thursday
By Gregg Kilday
July 17, 2009
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" continued to bewitch moviegoers Thursday as it took in an estimated $21.9 million at the North American boxoffice.
Piling that coin atop its opening-day tally of $58.2 million (including a record $22.2 million from its midnight previews), the Warners release has conjured up a domestic cume of $80.1 million in its first two days.
By comparison, 2007's "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the only other Potter movie to open on a Wednesday, drew a first-day gross of $44.2 million and a second-day take of $18.4 for a two-day figure of $62.6 million.
"Phoenix" went on to pull in $139.7 million by the end of its first weekend, its fifth day in theaters, but "Prince" is already on track to score well above that number.
Unseen Jackson footage on the way
Unseen Jackson footage on the way
ITV to screen docu from Uri Gellar home movies
By Mimi Turner
July 17, 2009
LONDON -- ITV is promising exclusive unseen footage of Michael Jackson from the private collection of the singer's friend Uri Geller in a forthcoming documentary, "My Friend Michael Jackson: Uri's Story," its production and distribution division ITV Global Entertainment said Friday.
The documentary will feature hitherto unseen footage of Jackson on a midnight shopping spree at London department store Harrods and visiting the grounds of Exeter soccer club, as well as footage from Geller's private archive showing the singer acting as best man at Geller's wedding.
It will also feature interviews with Geller offering his frank recollections of the star and some of the controversies that surrounded him.
"This is the real Michael Jackson, the way that just a handful of friends were privileged to see him -- relaxed, witty, loving, smart, sincere and genuine," said Geller. "This film gives audiences around the world the opportunity to experience the reality of life with Michael."
The doc, to be produced by Lesley Gardiner and exec produced by Alexander Gardiner, will be directed by Paula Lichtarowicz and distributed globally by ITV Global Entertainment.
Rob Thomas album treads dark waters
Rob Thomas album treads dark waters
'Cradlesong' focuses on misery and death
Associated Press
July 17, 2009
Rob Thomas' new CD, "Cradlesong," reveals a more complex side of the singer: Themes of despair, and even death, are explored in various songs.
While it may suggest a darker mood, the 37-year-old, best known as the frontman for Matchbox Twenty and hits like his "Smooth" collaboration with Santana, says it simply reflects life from a more mature vantage point.
"As you get older, your themes change and the things that are important to you change, your focuses change," said Thomas as he talked about his sophomore CD, which was released last month.
"And so there's a lot of stuff on here about -- obviously, not about being old, but just about being older. And the things that were important to you maybe not being as important to you now, and you have a whole new set of burdens to bear as you take on the responsibility of family, the responsibility of wanting to be an adult -- not just getting older, but being an adult, which are two separate things."
The first single, "Her Diamonds," was written for his wife, Marisol, who suffers from an autoimmune disease. It deals with his sadness over her health challenges (the music video features Alicia Silverstone).
Thomas said that to him, the process of making music is fundamentally about being honest.
"That's my job as a songwriter," he said.
Thomas also mused about his starkly dramatic album cover, which features a haunted-looking Thomas, his face half-shadowed, embellished by artwork. Thomas says he was inspired by French surrealist paintings.
"Like, some people hate it, and I think I love that. I can't remember the last time that people have cared about an album cover enough to hate it. So I think I've done something right," he said. "But I think it's a striking image."
Thomas begins rehearsals for his tour in support of "Cradlesong" in September. But even in the midst of developing his solo career, Matchbox Twenty isn't far from his mind. Thomas said before he hits the road, he plans to meet with his bandmates and start hashing out ideas for the next album to keep their "forward momentum" in high gear.
'Harry Potter' casts worldwide spell
'Harry Potter' casts worldwide spell
Sequel banks $104 mil during first day of global business
By Jill Serjeant and Steve Gorman, Reuters
July 17, 2009
The latest "Harry Potter" movie cast a $104 million spell over worldwide box offices during its first day in theaters, setting a new record for the boy wizard, distributor Warner Bros Pictures said on Thursday.
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the sixth in the film series based on the popular books by J.K. Rowling, grossed $58.18 million in North America and $45.85 million overseas on Wednesday, the Time Warner Inc-owned studio said.
The U.S.-Canadian tally, which includes a record $22.2 million from midnight showings, marks the second-biggest Wednesday opening domestically.
Only last month's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" scored a bigger midweek first-day gross, with $62 million in domestic ticket sales on Wednesday June 24, according to Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com.
The latest "Harry Potter" also ranks as the fourth-highest single-day gross for a film release in North America, behind No. 1 "Dark Knight" ($67.1 million), No. 2 "Transformers: Revenge," and third-place "Spider-Man 3" ($59.8 million).
"Quite simply, we owe this record-breaking opening to the remarkable fans who have stood by us and who stood in line to be among the first to see 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,'" Warner Bros President and Chief Operating Officer Alan Horn said in a statement.
Said Dergarabedian: "This is a tremendous opening. It's in the box office stratosphere."
The previous "Harry Potter" movie, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," also opened on a Wednesday last year with first-day domestic receipts of $44.2 million. That film went on to gross $937 million worldwide.
The first five films in the franchise, one of the most lucrative in Hollywood history, have so far taken in about $4.5 billion collectively at the global box office.
'Orphan' horrifies adoption groups
'Orphan' horrifies adoption groups
Warner Bros. removed objectionable dialogue from trailer
Associated Press
July 17, 2009
NEW YORK -- Often divided over policy and practice, America's adoption community has unified in dismay over "Orphan," a horror movie opening next week that its critics say will fuel negative attitudes toward real-life orphans.
Some adoption advocates are urging a boycott of the movie, which opens July 24. A coalition of prominent national adoption and foster care groups, while not joining the boycott call, has asked for a meeting with Warner Bros. CEO Barry Meyer to discuss their concerns.
"We are concerned that in addition to its intended entertainment value, this film will have the unintended effect of skewing public opinion against children awaiting families both in the United States and abroad," said a letter to Meyer from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.
Warner Bros. said it has taken the concerns seriously. Spokesman Scott Rowe told the Associated Press the company is considering adding a pro-adoption message at the end of the film when it comes out in DVD form.
Trailers for the film, shown nationwide for two months, make the basic plot clear without revealing the twist at the end. A couple mourning the loss of an unborn baby decide to adopt a girl from a local orphanage -- and their hopes for happiness give way to unease and fear as the new family member turns out to be far different from what they expected.
The trailer itself prompted outrage from many adoption advocates and adoptive families, and Warner Bros. responded by removing a much-criticized line from it in which the orphan, Esther, says, "It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own."
Rowe, while noting that virtually every film Warner Bros. makes offends someone, has stressed that "Orphan" is a make-believe story.
"It is not a depiction of any real-life events or situations and has never been portrayed as anything but an entirely fictional story," he said. "We apologize if we appeared insensitive with the initial trailer, as it's never our intent to offend anyone with our products."
Rowe said he'd not yet seen the letter from the adoption coalition requesting to meet with Meyer.
The letter, co-signed by leaders of 11 adoption and child-welfare groups, noted that an estimated 129,000 children are in U.S. foster care system waiting to be adopted, and that millions of children abroad also need adoptive families.
The letter said the film "may impede recruitment efforts by feeding into the unconscious fears of potential foster and adoptive families that orphaned children are psychotic and unable to heal from the wounds of abuse, neglect, and abandonment."
Among those signing the letter were leaders of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, the National Council for Adoption, and the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys.
Another signatory was Jedd Medefind of the Christian Alliance for Orphans. His group has launched a Web site -- OrphansDeserveBetter.org -- featuring a petition urging Warner Bros. to add a pro-adoption message at the end of the film and to donate a portion of box office receipts to aid orphans.
The Web site also asks individuals and families to share real-life stories, pictures and videos about their own experiences with adoption.
The film "seems to suggest that orphans are damaged goods, and that adoption could destroy a life," Medefind said. "We need truer stories."
Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, suggested that Warner Bros. could improve matters by helping produce educational materials about the value of adoption.
"It has been a long time since a movie caused this much angst and worry in the adoption, foster care and orphan care communities, even before its release," Pertman said.
Not every adoption-related group shared the angst.
"The moral panic 'Orphan' has induced is more entertaining than the film itself, which will pass into oblivion and DVD a month after release," wrote Marley Greiner, a leader of the adoptees-rights group Bastard Nation, in her blog.
"The 'outrage' is an opportunistic moment for drum banging and fund raising," Greiner wrote. "What better way is there to make publicity and $$$$$ for yourself than to create a victim where none exists?"
'Transformers' sets $59 mil record
'Transformers' sets $59 mil record
'Fallen' sinks 'Titanic' after 11-year boxoffice reign
Associated Press
July 17, 2009
HONG KONG -- The "Transformers" sequel has become China's biggest boxoffice hit ever by earning 400 million Chinese yuan ($59 million), a publicist for one of the country's two film importers said.
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" surpassed the 11-year-old record of 360 million yuan set by "Titanic," spokesman Weng Li at the state-run China Film Group said. "Titanic" made about $43 million based on exchange rates in 1998, the year it was released.
Weng said the "Transformers" sequel, released June 24, received a wide release on several thousand screens. China had about 4,100 screens by the end of 2008. The first "Transformers" installment raked in 280 million yuan in 2007.
"This is a tremendous achievement for the market in China and clearly shows that there is a strong growing demand for international films," said Mike Ellis, Asia-Pacific managing director of the Hollywood trade organization, Motion Picture Association of America.
The group wants China to relax its movie import quota of allowing in just 20 foreign blockbusters a year, aimed at boosting its domestic industry.
Weng said both installments of John Woo's two-part Chinese historical epic "Red Cliff" earned 300 million yuan ($44 million) this year and last, as did Chinese director Feng Xiaogang's 2008 romantic comedy "If You Are the One."
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," a science fiction movie, was apparently slightly censored. In the film's opening sequence, the Autobots and Decepticons battle in an industrial part of Shanghai, but when a U.S. military commander refers to the city, the word "Shanghai" is muffled.
Chinese censors are sensitive to portrayals of their country in foreign movies.
The "Transformers" record also highlights the earning potential of Hollywood films in China. But with piracy a lingering problem and moviegoing largely the habit of wealthier urbanites, the growing Chinese box office revenues remain small compared to the U.S.
The "Transformers" sequel earned $62 million on its opening day in the U.S. alone. The $200 million production has grossed $348 million in the U.S. and $380 million outside the country, according to the box office tracking Web site Box Office Mojo.
Chinese boxoffice revenues totaled 4.3 billion yuan ($630 million) in 2008, compared to $9.8 billion in the U.S. in the same year.
Natalie Portman joins Marvel's 'Thor'
Natalie Portman joins Marvel's 'Thor'
Chris Hemsworth stars as Norse god of thunder
By Borys Kit
July 13, 2009
Natalie Portman has been cast as the female lead in "Thor," Marvel Studios' adaptation of its comic book featuring the Norse god of thunder. Kenneth Branagh is directing.
Portman will play Jane Foster, who in early comic book lore was a nurse who became Thor's first love. The studio said the character will be updated for the feature adaptation, with Foster being a doctor-scientist type.
Chris Hemsworth is already cast as Thor. Tom Hiddleston is Loki, the god of mischief who serves as the movie's villain.
"Thor" is Marvel's stab at an epic fantasy adventure, spanning from present-day Earth to the realm of Asgard. The story centers on Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. As punishment, Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans but once here, he learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.
"(Jane) is the human lead, so to speak, who helps ground the film in reality," said Marvel's Kevin Feige, who is producing. "We spend a lot of time amongst the other realms of the Nine Worlds of the Thor mythology and our human anchor to that."
He added: "We wanted to avoid that syndrome of just because the hair is up and they're wearing glasses it means they're smart. ... We wanted somebody that can have the chemistry that the best of our Marvel couples have had, whether it's Tobey (Maguire) and Kirsten (Dunst) or Tony (Stark) and Pepper (Potts)."
Principal photography for the film is set for early 2010. The film will be released in the U.S. on May 20, 2011, distributed by Paramount Pictures.
Portman, repped by CAA and Brillstein Entertainment, is about to start shooting in Northern Ireland the Universal comedy "Your Highness," directed by David Gordon Green, and shoots David Aronofsky's supernatural thriller "Black Swan" in New York this fall. Her comic book and fantasy movie resume includes the recent "Star Wars" trilogy and "V for Vendetta."
'Bruno' tailored in U.K. for younger crowd
'Bruno' tailored in U.K. for younger crowd
Universal releasing two versions of the film at the same time
By Stuart Kemp
July 13, 2009
LONDON -- Universal Pictures U.K. is releasing a re-edit of Sacha Baron Cohen's "Bruno" to secure a "15" certificate and help boost audiences. It's the first time that two versions of one film will have been released at the same time in the U.K.
The "15" version is 110 seconds shorter than the original "18" film and was only submitted to the British Board of Film Classification on Monday.
There are three scenes in the original with strong sex and sex references considered by the board to go beyond the "15" level but acceptable at the adult "18" category.
The first scene features a montage of exaggerated sexual activity between Bruno and his boyfriend. The second shows Bruno comically miming fellatio and anilingus as he pretends to have oral sex with a deceased person with whom he is in contact through a medium. The third features sex among couples at a swingers' party, with sexual detail obscured.
All are likely to be cut to achieve the "15" certification. A BBFC spokesman said that the recut movie had only just landed on his desk and could not say which parts had been chopped.
The movie, in its unadulterated "18" version, reached the top boxoffice spot here and in the U.S. in its opening weekend, grossing £5 million ($8.1 million) in the U.K. and $30.6 million in the States.
Universal said movie theaters across the U.K. "have reported turning away large numbers of under 18s keen to see the new film."
Universal Pictures International president David Kosse said he hoped the cut version would bring in bigger audiences. The studio said it does not plan to submit edited versions of the film in any of the other seven territories in which it is releasing "Bruno."
In the film, Baron Cohen stars as the title character, an outlandish gay Austrian fashion TV presenter with an unquenchable thirst for fame.
The U.K. has seen reclassification of movies before but never for simultaneous release. "Saturday Night Fever," originally given an "X" certificate, was reclassified a year after as a "PG" with agreed cuts. And more recently, "The Passion of the Christ" was rereleased months after its original debut with a "18" certificate after cuts to get it a "15" certification.
Michael Jackson fans gather at London's O2 arena
Michael Jackson fans gather at London's O2 arena
July 13, 2009
LONDON (AP) -- Hundreds of Michael Jackson fans gathered outside London's O2 arena to pay tribute to the star on what would have been the evening of his first concert.
The fans brought candles and flowers to lay outside the 23,000 seat arena Monday, where Jackson was due to begin his run of 50 concerts. Some danced, others wrote tributes and watched images of Jackson beamed on a big screen.
Social networking sites and Michael Jackson fan sites had encouraged people to come to the arena Monday to remember the singer.
Lady GaGa makes Top 40 history
Lady GaGa makes Top 40 history
Has three No. 1 songs from debut, including 'Just Dance'
By Gary Trust, Billboard
July 13, 2009
NEW YORK -- Lady GaGa becomes just the third artist in the 16-year history of the Mainstream Top 40 airplay chart to collect three No. 1 songs from a debut album. "LoveGame" (Interscope) rises 2-1, marking Lady GaGa's third No. 1, following "Just Dance" (two weeks) and "Poker Face" (five weeks). The three songs appear on her top five Billboard 200 album, "The Fame." The set has sold 1,162,000 copies to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The singer-songwriter born Stefani Germanotta joins just two prior artists in accomplishing the triumphant triple play.
In 1993-94, Ace Of Base reigned consecutively on Mainstream Top 40 with three cuts from its debut set "The Sign": "All That She Wants," the title cut (No. 1 for a chart-record 14 weeks) and "Don't Turn Around."
In 2002-03, Avril Lavigne repeated the feat with a trio of tracks from her debut release "Let Go": "Complicated" (eight weeks), "Sk8er Boi" (one week) and "I'm With You" (four weeks).
On the Billboard Hot 100, "Just Dance" spent three weeks at No. 1, and "Poker Face" led for one frame. As of last week, "LoveGame" was bulleted at No. 5 on the Hot 100, its highest ranking to date.
Jacko Nanny Was Paid For Negative Interview
Michael Jackson’s longtime nanny and employee, Grace Rwaramba, did indeed sell out to vulture-like celebrity interviewer Daphne Barak.
Barak has posted a clip from the interview on her website and on YouTube as a teaser. The intention is to sell it somewhere. Barak routinely gets her “scoops” by paying her interview subjects, according to sources.
Today Barak started e-mailing the clip around to various Jackson insiders hoping to get them to jump on her bandwagon.
Rwaramba has denied doing the interview. But the clip speaks for itself. She tells Barak how she was fired last spring on a Sunday morning by telephone. The nanny says “the guy”—presumably Tohme Tohme—”terminated” her by offering her a “ridiculous” salary.
“Were you surprised?” Barak asked her. “Not really,” Grace replied. “It had happened before.”
The minute-long clip is interesting because Rwaramba will be offered as an important person in the lives of Jackson’s children when their grandmother, Katherine, goes to court next Monday to establish custody rights. The Jacksons seem unaware that Rwaramba—who was well compensated by Jackson—would turn on him, and for money.
Also, the nanny seems to indicate to Barak that she was “laid off” because she refused to take a low salary. That would certainly bring into question her selfless devotion to the children.
Ironically, Barak now is the common thread between Rwaramba and Michael’s parents, Katherine and Joe Jackson. Back in 2005, Barak interviewed the Jacksons, then sold the interview to CBS. Sources told me then that Barak kicked back a fee to the Jacksons. In 2005 I reported that both Joe Jackson and Daphne Barak were secretly in business with a man named Charles Coupet, who also served as a literary agent for Macaulay Culkin’s father, Kit. A year earlier, in 2004, Barak called this reporter and said, “I have Joseph Jackson on the phone and we want to talk to you about a project.” I passed.
Jacko Case: Homicide Detectives Take Over
Was Michael Jackson’s death an accidental murder? Was it more than just an accidental overdose on drugs?
The LAPD seems to think so: starting right after Michael’s memorial service on Tuesday, sources say that homicide detectives began making calls to Jackson’s inner circle, asking tough questions.
The questions are centered on the doctors around the world who regularly prescribed sedatives and painkillers to Jackson without even seeing him. Among the names are Dr. Arnold Klein, whom Jackson was seeing three times a week before his death.
But there are others. Right now, websites like tmz.com are thrilling to reports from a 2004 police raid on Jackson’s Neverland Ranch that turned up all kinds of prescriptions made out to aliases and Neverland employees.
But Jackson died two weeks ago, so the real investigation will be centered on current doctors and what they were giving Jackson. Klein’s name is the one that keeps coming up as the most contemporaneous. There are no doubt others, from Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and elsewhere.
Investigators might want to look into how Jackson got the drugs he needed when he was in Bahrain from 2005-2006, Ireland in 2006, and Virginia in 2007. Jackson also lived near Alpine, New Jersey in 2007 before returning to Las Vegas.
LAPD Chief Bill Bratton told CNN yesterday that based on the questioning by detectives of those closest to Jackson “we will have an idea of what it is we are dealing (with) — are we dealing with a homicide or are we dealing with an accidental overdose?”
But it’s clear that the LAPD already is thinking murder accidental or otherwise. That’s why the questions are coming from homicide.
Two things are clear though: Jackson admitted to his drug problems in a 2007 deposition. And he was running up bills of $48,000 a month at his local pharmacy. Revisit my reporting on these two important facts:
Jackson's father suspects foul play
Michael Jackson's father interviewed by ABC News
By Jill Serjeant, Reuters
July 10, 2009
Michael Jackson's father said Friday that he suspected "foul play" in the death of the singer, adding that his son had apparently taken drugs to help him relax and that he "never woke up."
Joe Jackson, 79, told ABC News in an TV interview broadcast Friday that he was dumbfounded when he learned that his son, 50, collapsed at home and was being rushed to the hospital two weeks ago.
"I just couldn't believe what was happening to Michael. I do believe it was foul play. I do believe that," he said, without elaborating.
Asked what he knew about powerful prescription drugs reportedly found at Jackson's home after his June 25 death, Joe Jackson said: "I didn't know anything about the drugs. I didn't even know the name of them. But I do know that whatever he'd taken was to try to make him rest because he had been working so hard, and that drug was supposed to try and make him relax.
"But anyway he didn't wake up. He never woke up. Michael died in his sleep."
Toxicology reports are pending on the official cause of Jackson's death but numerous media reports have said that the dangerous sedative Diprivan -- normally used in hospitals by anesthesiologists -- was found at his rented Los Angeles home.
The day before his sudden cardiac arrest, Jackson had been rehearsing in Los Angeles for a series of comeback concerts planned to start in July in London to revamp his career after a 2005 trial and acquittal on child molestation charges.
The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that the coroner's office has issued subpoenas for medical files from several doctors who treated Jackson, including his Beverly Hills dermatologist Arnold Klein.
Klein has denied ever giving Jackson overdoses of drugs.
Joe Jackson said he thought Jackson's three children -- Prince Michael Jr., 12, Paris, 11, and Prince Michael II, 7, who is also known as Blanket -- might one day follow in their father's footsteps.
"I don't know -- I keep watching Paris. "She ... wants to do something. And as far as I can see, well, they say Blanket, he can really dance," he added.
The children are being cared for by Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine, pending a Los Angeles court hearing next week.
Burial plans for the "Thriller" singer have not been announced.
Hometown honors Michael Jackson
Gary, Ind., event featured performances by local singers
Associated Press
July 10, 2009
GARY, Ind. -- Thousands of Michael Jackson fans flocked Friday to the city where he spent the first 11 years of his life for a memorial celebration for the King of Pop.
"I couldn't get tickets to the L.A. service, so I figured I'd do the next best thing and pay my respects here in Gary," said Greg Packer of Hungtington, N.Y., a 45-year-old retired highway maintenance worker, who lined up outside Gary's minor league baseball park ahead of Friday's event. "I wanted to experience this live with other Michael Jackson fans."
Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, and the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were expected to attend the two-hour event, which was to feature area singers performing Jackson tunes, video tributes and a question-and-answer session with some of Jackson's former neighbors and teachers. An hour before the event started, about 4,000 fans were already at the Steel Yard ballpark, about 2.5 miles from Jackson's boyhood home.
Jesse Jackson said during a news conference before the service that he hopes the pop star's life can provide inspiration to the children of Gary.
"I want young people in Gary not to just dance like Michael, you may never be able to achieve that, but study like Michael. Be focused like Michael. Be disciplined like Michael. Get the best of your gifts like Michael," he said.
Ashley Huizar, 17, of nearby Portage, said she was happy to attend Friday's event after trying unsuccessfully to get tickets to Tuesday's service at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
"I just love Michael. I've loved Michael since I was 2 years old. I grew up dancing to his music in the living room. He's just an amazing artist," she said.
Peter Mata, 33, a bill collector from Streator, Ill., was first in line at the ballpark. He drove 100 miles with his 14-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son and arrived on Thursday night.
"I just had to come. It's Michael Jackson," he said.
Jackson stopped at the Gary baseball stadium during a trip in 2003, the only time he returned to his hometown after he hit it big.
The Jacksons moved from Gary, located 30 miles southeast of Chicago, after the Jackson 5 recorded their first album in 1969. Streams of fans have visited the Jacksons' former two-bedroom home in Gary since the pop star's death last month.
