A sad day indeed. Michael Jackson wore many hats over the course of his long career. He was an international superstar, and he leveraged that status to dip his toes into anything that interested him. In the world of film, Jackson enjoyed unparalleled access. He worked with luminaries, artists and auteurs who shaped the course of the medium as strongly as the pop star himself did in the music world.
Jackson was a pop cultural icon and his touch will forever be felt in all facets of entertainment. Here are just a few of the stars he hitched to in film during his long and storied career.
Sidney Lumet is a director’s director. He gave us classics like “12 Angry Men,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “The Network,” “Serpico” and the modern-day masterpiece “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.” He also gave us “The Wiz,” a playful recasting of L. Frank Baum’s “Wizard of Oz” set in a fantasy-land version of New York City. Michael Jackson starred as the Scarecrow opposite Diana Ross’s Dorothy. “The Wiz” is an amazing product of its time, accurately casting the plight of the African-American people against Baum’s timeless tale. And Jackson is front-and-center to it all; alongside Ross, Nipsey Russell’s Tinman and Ted Ross’s Lion, he ingrained in the lifeblood of the film.
Director Martin Scorsese needs no introduction. “Goodfellas” says it all, and there’s still so much more. Among that “more” is the music video for Michael Jackson’s “Bad.” Like “Thriller” before it, “Bad” is an epic-length presentation — 18 minutes in its full glory — starring Jackson alongside Roberta Flack and Wesley Snipes. Richard Price, the author of “Clockers,” wrote the short film attached to the music. “Thriller” blazed a trailer for the breaking down of barriers between music and film; “Bad” notched things up to the next level, and it was largely thanks to Jackson’s collaboration with Scorsese.