During this year’s Nobel Peace Prize Concert Will Smith, who hosted the event along with his wife Jada, was joined onstage by other participating artists in order to pay tribute to the King of Pop. The Smith’s were joined by their two children, Willow and Jaden, and also by singers and musicians Wyclef Jean, Toby Keith, Donna Summer, Natasha Bedingfield, Westlife, Luis Fonsi, Esperanza Spaulding, Alexander Rybak, Lang Lang and Amadou & Miriam. The artists sang ‘Man In The Mirror’ and you can watch the clip below.

The concert took place Friday December 11, 2009.

watch?v=eaQ4rHzRI6Q&feature=player_embedded

Source: mjfanclub.net

Clearly Michael Jackson’s This Is It has a life of it’s own. I  (Trey Borzillieri) saw this movie at 10:30am and boy did I get a surprise. I was expecting an empty theatre this early in the morning. It was packed. I also expected the audience to begin dancing in the aisles from the onset. Not the case.

My expectations were way off. A few minutes into this unbelievable, one of a kind film, tears welled up in my eyes and began streaming down my face. I put my half eaten bag of popcorn to the side and my napkins turned into tissues.

I know I’m not alone when I say Michael Jackson had been absent from my life… a life he had been very much a part of many years ago. I remember being put in a long time-out in 3rd grade for wearing a green and purple sequined version of his glove, homemade by my mother. A “long time out” is good way to describe what Michael Jackson has been in for many of us.

In the documentary This Is It, he is back! Wow! From the films first song, Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, the talent, emotion and love of Michael Jackson strikes you, no matter what age you are. If you’re a Gen-X’er then you will be quickly catapulted into a brief self-analysis of your life. A sort-of evaluation of what has happened to you since you last saw this man like this! Then comes the rush of emotions aided by the music of course… past, present and the finality that you are watching him for the last time. Napkins turn to tissues all over again. As I wiped the tears off my face, shocked and embarrassed, I popped my head up to look at the rest of the audience. It seemed people were having a similar experience to mine. One can’t help watch this incredible film in shock and awe – just to be clear, a good, thankful, wonderful version of “shock and awe.” It’s almost as if we were destined to have this last piece of Michael Jackson no matter what.

This Is It is now the highest grossing documentary in history. Behind the camera capturing these revealing, special and final moments with Michael Jackson was Videographer Sandrine Orabona. She is a small documentarian in comparison to the epic scale of what the film now represents on all levels. As the world shares these moments with Michael in this extraordinary documentary one can only imagine what it must have been like to be six feet away from The Magician at work! Please tell us Sandrine.

TB: I just saw This Is It.

SO: So what did you think?

TB: I was blown away. I think I was all business walking into it. Then everything hit me and I was a disaster.

SO: A disaster as in crying?

TB: I started crying and crying and crying.

SO: Do you know how many people said have said that to me?

TB: Like the first song…

SO: Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’

TB: Yes, yes and I mean I wasn’t expecting any of it. I think it was a combination of his life, what he represented in my life, his talent and the finality of it all.

SO: I’m so happy to have been a documentarian on it and even to just have been in the presence. I think that what the Director, Kenny Ortega, was able to do is to distill the emotion that we all felt while we were there during rehearsal. Everybody hired on the crew were very good at what they do all the way up. We all felt so gifted and fortunate to be on the project and to be around this man because of everything he represents, because of how amazing he is as a musician, as an artist and just to be in a room with him while he was rehearsing, performing or going through the paces. Just being around his process everyday, I would come home and just be like I can’t believe I’m a part of this, I can’ t believe what I lived today. And everybody felt that. My friend Chucky, wearing the green jacket, he is an Emmy award-winning choreographer. He won an Emmy for choreographing the High School Musical films with Kenny Ortega. He dropped a potential project to audition as a dancer with no guarantee that he was going to be a dancer. He got the job and everyday he would look at me and be like, “I can’t believe I am living this.” Now this is a man that not only is he a dancer, but he is an Emmy winning choreographer, ok, so it was not lost on any of us, you know how amazing this experience was. I think it is really captured in the film.

TB: Yeah it is. You’re describing what hit me so hard…everyone feeling so fortunate to be there and what a gift this is and so appreciative of that. At the same time it was a flashback to someone who has in many ways has been absent from his musical life, absent from being the person we all know in terms of performing and…

SO: You mean as far as his comeback?

TB: Well this was the beginning of his comeback, so he’s been absent from the stage for a long time and the movie allows you to get to know him again, it’s makes you appreciate his talent all over again and then in the back of your mind you know he’s gone… and this becomes a one, two, three punch that the audience can’t help but be effected by when they watch the movie.

SO: It’s a really powerful piece of work because, for everything that you just stated. And I think what’s really important is that Kenny chose to focus on the experience that we were living in the moment, this piece doesn’t focus on the fact that he’s passed already because it is understood. I think that the power of it is drawn from the experience that we all had and by focusing on our experience, people are able to embrace essentially what we lived [during the rehearsals]. I had a friend say to me, “I felt like I had a front row seat to this experience”. And I replied, “That’s cause I did.” I was there. If you feel in your seat like Michael Jackson is performing Billie Jean six feet away from you that is because he actually did perform Billie Jean six feet away from me. If you feel that power coming through the screen, you can imagine what I felt on stage when that was happening. And you can see that too… there is a handful of us, I turn the camera around and it’s like fifteen crew and dancers on the floor watching and they can’t believe what they are seeing. That was the experience.

TB: Can you describe the amped up feeling you had at that moment?

SO: It’s exactly what you are talking about in terms of when you go see the film. It’s like genetically we all have Michael Jackson inside of us. In some way or another because of the way we grew up. We listened to his music and we realized what a genius this man is. And then also we [the crew working on this] are all professionals and we appreciate that even more as a dancer, as a musician, as a documentary filmmaker we understand that side of it even more. And then all of a sudden all of that comes up in you and you’re like I’m watching a man that I’ve seen on TV, that I’ve appreciated from a distance, doing what he does best six feet away from me. And I’ve got his team of crew members behind me feeling the exact same and the only reason I can’t do it is because I’m holding the camera. So many times I caught myself dancing while I was shooting. The bassline for Thriller just moves right through you.

TB: A very cool moment was when he vocally did the little guitar thing in the rehearsal for Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ to show the way it was to be done. He made the guitar sound so well and for a long enough time that it actually sounded like a real guitar.

SO: Watching a process for an artist like that… I am in awe. For the legends like Michael Jackson or Martin Scorcese, to just be around their process and absorb that like a sponge it’s like an apprenticeship. Just watching these people work is like a gift.

TB: Any comments on the process you saw while filming?

SO: Everybody that was on the show, like Kenny Ortega, Michael Bearden, Travis Payne and Michael Bush. These are all people that have been around Michael for a long time and they are also great artists in their own rights. There is kind of like a creative short hand they use rather than a lot of technical jargon. Like when Michael says; “make it sound like you are dragging yourself out of bed” It immediately evokes an emotional reaction and you can then translate that into the music that you are making and I thought it was a brilliant way of conveying that emotion.

TB: Did he have down days?

SO: No. Because of the level of energy that everyone shared, I didn’t even have my down days. What you see is what you got everyday at rehearsal. Everyone from Michael on down was really focused and on their way to creating this amazing show.

TB: Something that jumped out at me… his hands. They just came out of the screen, like the hands of a magician; they were all over the place.

SO: I was so focused on my little screen [in the camera] that I never really noticed that but a number of people have mentioned that to me.

TB: One of my favorite parts of the movie was when he started working on Human Nature, the creativity and the spontaneity of that.

SO: But that’s what I’m talking about. That is the kind of creative short hand that was flying all over the stage. It was a very creative space for everyone involved. All of the musicians were spot-on.

TB: Everyone was front and center and ready to do their best.

SO: Well you don’t get that kind of job without that though, I mean, front, center and incredibly happy to be there. Everybody. Grateful.

TB: I was really expecting people to be dancing in the movie theatre and I could actually here crickets. It seemed like the audience was in shock, overwhelmed and grateful to being seeing it more than anything else.

SO: Different people have different experiences; I think it depends on the audience. I have seen it a few times and they’ve all been different. With the crew it was very much like reliving it. I have seen it when the audience has been dancing and also seen it with a crowd that experienced it very much like you did. I see new things every time I watch it.

TB: The film is important, thank goodness you guys were there to capture it otherwise we may never have had anything like it with Michael Jackson.

SO: It was one of the things that made it so special for me at the time. The fact, that I personally had never seen anything like this before. I had never seen this side of Michael Jackson. To this day I continue to treat it as an incredible gift. I think a lot of people feel that way now that they’ve seen the documentary.

TB: A random thing –E he was wearing a shirt with Popeye gambling on it at one point.

SO: That’s Michael Bush right there. That’s the incredible art of Michael Bush.

TB: Was that rehearsal costume? Or everyday clothes for him?

SO: Michael Bush dressed Michael Jackson. Always.

TB: How did everyone deal with news of his passing?

SO: It was a very difficult day. I was actually there shooting at the time and I almost dropped the camera. I had to shoot on my knees through the better part of that moment. I was overwhelmed with the emotion and I was like, “Ok, I am going to pass out”. But I couldn’t because I had to film. The way I can describe it is… the entire world was mourning that day, imagine how it was in the rehearsal space. I have a hard time remembering it actually. I feel like I had an out-of-body experience.

TB: Were you a fan of his growing up?

SO: Who wasn’t? But I have to say that I am even more of a fan of his after having done this and observing him as a professional.

TB: Who are you?

SO: A documentarian, more specifically a music documentarian. A documentarian, shooter and editor.

TB: Can’t wait to see what you do next. Thank you.

Source: mjfanclub.net

Michael Jackson’s concert movie “This Is It” has taken more than $200 million at box offices worldwide in the first two weeks of release, the studio behind the movie said on Thursday.

Sony Pictures Entertainment said the movie had grossed $61 million in North America and more than $140 million internationally. Japan ($27.2 million) and the UK ($14.3 million) were particularly strong markets.

The movie is now the 22nd biggest grossing movie worldwide of 2009, according to industry tracker boxofficemojo.com

“This Is It”, distributed by Sony Corp-owned Columbia Pictures, was compiled from footage of Jackson rehearsing for a series of planned comeback concerts before his sudden death in June.

Sony paid concert promoters AEG and Jackson’s estate about $60 million for the right to make and distribute the movie.

The $200 million plus gross is almost three times more than 2008′s “Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour” — a movie some box office watchers had used as a benchmark for “This Is It.”

The Jackson film opened on October 28 for a planned two week run but has since been extended until early December.

Source: mjfanclub.net

In what was a very emotional tribute to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson’s band from his ‘This Is It’ tour reunited on George Lopez’ new show, ‘Lopez Tonight.’ Lead vocalist Judith Hill, and musical director for the tour and Lopez’ show, Michael Bearden led the band in a moving rendition of MJ’s beloved classic, Man In The Mirror.

Michael Bearden was briefly interviewed before the musical number and discussed the song that MJ was working on for the tour before his untimely passing, ‘Dirty Diana.’ Bearden revealed that there was to be a poll dance of sorts done by an aerialist for the stage performance. Bearden asked MJ,

‘Where will you be?’

MJ replied,

‘Where do you think I will be? I will be in bed.’

Bearden then asked him,

‘What about Orianthi [Panagaris]?’

(lead guitarist). MJ replied,

‘She will be in the bed with me.’

MJ then assured Bearden,

‘I can handle it.’

The show cut to a commercial and then showed the tribute.

As the tribute ended, Lopez revealed that a special screening of ‘This Is It’ had been arranged next door for everyone in the audience to watch tonight after the taping.

Source: mjfanclub.net

On June 25, just hours after Michael Jackson died, Tim Patterson drove 40 miles from his home to downtown Los Angeles with $60 million worth of film footage in his trunk.

As he sped down Interstate 5, Patterson carried virtually all of the 140 hours of rehearsal footage from Jackson’s planned “This Is It” concert series that would eventually be whittled down to the 112-minute movie now playing in theaters around the world.

Patterson, 53, a commercial director whose biggest regular gig is making ads for a golf equipment company, was one of two camera operators hired by concert promoter AEG Live to record “This Is It” rehearsals. Every night after work, he transferred hours of video shot by himself and collaborator Sandrine Orabona to two hard drives in his home office. The afternoon that Jackson died, Paul Gongaware, a producer of the concert and movie, called Patterson with an urgent request: The footage, which had suddenly become uniquely valuable, had to be delivered to AEG’s downtown offices immediately.

Thus began an unlikely odyssey in which a commercial director who had never worked on a feature film before became the only person, besides Jackson’s close artistic collaborators, involved in “This Is It” from beginning to end.

Together with longtime collaborator Brandon Key, Patterson worked on every cut of “This Is It,” from the original footage given to the media days after Jackson’s death to DVD extras recently completed.

“This will be the most important and incredible thing I do in my career,” he said.

Patterson’s involvement began in May when he e-mailed Gongaware to ask whether there might be some role for him in preparations for the “This Is It” concert. Gongaware was looking to start compiling behind-the-scenes footage. He hired Patterson and Orabona and put together a budget of $80,000. Over the next six months, using two $6,000 Sony cameras Patterson bought for the project, they worked six days a week, often until midnight, shooting performances and candid moments and interviewing dancers and others working on the concert.

Since the footage was intended only for promotional Internet videos and Jackson’s private archives, many important moments were shot by only one person. When performers’ body microphones were turned off, fuzzy sound was captured with a boom mike attached to the camera.

“If we had known it was going to be a movie,” said Patterson, “we would have shot with nine or 12 cameras and gotten coverage on everything.”

The week after Jackson died, Patterson and Key were at AEG headquarters, with equipment strewn on the floor, trying to figure out just what they had. Within a week of the singer’s death, they cut together the initial 97-second clip from “This Is It” that became an Internet sensation. By mid-July, top executives from studios including 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures came to look at what they had come up with. Soon after, Sony agreed to pay $60 million to turn the footage into a movie.

Patterson and Key worked with Don Brochu, who edited director Kenny Ortega’s “High School Musical 3: Senior Year,” to assemble a first cut. Patterson and Key then worked seven- day weeks for about a month, tweaking the first cut into the finished movie.

“We could have shown more behind- the-scenes stuff, but Kenny felt strongly that Michael would have wanted to include more songs for the fans,”

said Key.

After the movie was done, Patterson and Key went on to edit additional content for the DVD, due for release in January or February.

“I never imagined that I’d ever work on a project where I would break down and cry in the edit bay,”

said Patterson.

Source: mjfanclub.net

As it entered its second weekend in theaters, Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” has crossed the $100 million mark at international box offices.

The film has grossed $144 million worldwide. That is more than double the total for 2008′s blockbuster concert film”Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds,” a movie that most box office watchers were using as a benchmark for “This Is It.”

$44 million of “TII’s” take came from the United States and Canada. Outside of North America, the biggest theatrical markets through Thursday night were: Japan with $18.2 million, Britain with $11.1 million and Germany with $8.9 million.

The film, which opened on October 28 and was originally planned for a two week run, is now slated to run until early December in the United States and Canada.

Source: mjfanclub.net

The company 3D Eye Solutions, Inc. has been retained to provide a 3D conversion for “This Is It.” Along with practice footage from the ill-fated London concerts, “This Is It” also gave fans a tantalizing glimpse of creative film and visual effects that were produced by media creator and founder of Stimulated, Inc, Robb Wagner.

Stimulated, Inc was chosen by Kenny Ortega, AEG and Michael to provide elements to be included on the tour. Wagner was appointed to be Producer of The Dome Project, along with Michael and Kenny Ortega as Executive Producers.

Wagner worked with veteran Visual Effects Supervisor Bruce Jones to direct. The concert called for 25 songs with 16 songs having a film or video element added. “Thriller,” “Earth Song” and “Smooth Criminal” were each going to feature highly developed short films to be presented along with the live action, the films to be produced in stereographic 3D, a groundbreaking effort.

The video was to be presented on a 90 foot by 30 foot LED screen stationed directly behind the concert stage. The screen was to be the first of its kind, giving the audiences a 3D experience.

Wagner explained the concept for how the films were supposed to work.

“MJ’s plan for the shows was that the audience would be cued to put on 3D glasses. Then, at a certain point in each film, live action would leave the screen and would continue as a theatrical concert performance. MJ called that the ’4th dimension.”

3D Eye Solutions was commissioned by Stimulated, Inc.,

“For the dream sequence in Earth Song. Michael wanted to show the world as imagined by a little girl. He envisioned beautiful images dancing in her head from exotic locations throughout the globe. When we began production we immediately knew that it was not going to be practical for our budget or our schedule so we enlisted the services of 3D Eye Solutions to convert the stock footage from 2D to 3D. They were able to turn over the work very quickly and adapt to the creative changes that came down the pipe. Without them, we would have never made our delivery for the concert or the film,”

stated 3D Producer, Todd Cogan.

“This film is a tribute to an artist who created excitement every moment he was on stage. We are thrilled and honored to have worked with such a creative group and to have our work displayed to the millions of Michael Jackson fans worldwide,”

stated Mike Gibilisco, CEO of 3D Eye Solutions.

Source: mjfanclub.net

Although the posthumous Michael Jackson movie “This Is It” reportedly grossed more than $100 million worldwide in its first week, the behind-the-scenes work by concert promoters AEG Live to deliver the film could have made for its own film.

At the sixth annual Billboard Touring Conference in New York, AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips and AEG Live/Concerts West co-CEOs Paul Gongaware and John Meglen joined Billboard’s Ray Waddell to discuss the journey from Jackson’s tragic death to the King of Pop’s celluloid tribute.

The roots of the movie go back to January 2007, during the initial meetings for a planned series of concerts by Jackson.

“Early on, there were a lot of different representatives around Michael, so weeding through that was always a very, very difficult thing,”

Meglen says.

“I think the important point was that, what we laid out to Michael was the breadth of the company, of AEG. I think from the very get go, we kind of planted into Michael that we were a great match for him.”

The Jackson/AEG partnership resulted in a contract that initially included 31 dates, a number chosen by Jackson because it would be 10 more concerts than Prince performed. The number planned shows at the 02 Arena in London later grew to 50.

“There were phases,”

Phillips says.

“We never got ahead of Michael and what he wanted to do, both creatively and financially. We knew this was the way to go.”

The days immediately after Jackson’s June 25 death included numerous conference calls and meetings to quickly organize ticket refunds. Phillips says that 14% of ticket holders held on to their tickets, which were designed by Jackson himself.

The company also mobilized quickly to secure the Staples Center in Los Angeles for a Jackson memorial, obtaining the broadcast rights as well.

Soon after the memorial, the footage of the concert rehearsals that turned into “This Is It” arrived at the AEG offices in Los Angeles under lock and key, and with no committed plan to turn it into a movie.

After deciding to go forward with a film, and with major studios lining up to bid on the rights,

“the biggest concern was that something would leak on the Internet and destroy the value of the intellectual property,”

Phillips says.

“That’s why I’ve never seen security like this in my life. It was like working in the Pentagon.”

Although AEG faced an onslaught of media criticism leading up to the film’s release, Phillips is confident in the group’s handling of the entire situation.

“I think this company acted in a classy manner,”

he says.

“The people we work for were incredibly supportive, even with not knowing if we were going to be able to recoup the amount of money we had out. We were never put under pressure and I think we’ve always tried to do the right thing, including when we modified our agreement with the estate in probate court. I think we always did, or tried to do, the right thing.”

Source: mjfanclub.net

“MICHAEL JACKSON’S THIS IS IT” made motion picture history as the highest grossing concert film of all time. And now, the two-disc album companion to the movie Michael Jackson’s This is It released by Sony Music’s Epic Records makes its first week debut in the #1 spot of the Billboard Top 200 album chart, as well as the Soundtrack album chart.   U.S. sales of the album – which features new hit song “This is It” – totaled 373,100 units this week according to Nielsen Soundscan – this figure does not include significant sales from non-traditional retailers.

Sales figures from other parts of the world are still being tallied although the album did hit #1 in 16 other countries including Canada, Japan, France, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Turkey, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the Middle East and Colombia and Top-3 in the UK, Australia, Argentina, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and Spain.  A simultaneous #1 album and a #1 documentary film has not happened since 1971 when the Rolling Stones did it with the album Sticky Fingers and movie Gimme Shelter.

Michael Jackson albums now occupy the top five spots of Billboard catalog album chart at #1, #3 and #4; his Number Ones album is this year’s best-selling overall album year to date as of this week. Throughout his career, Michael Jackson has spent a total of 51 weeks at #1 on the Billboard album chart. Only The Beatles and Elvis Presley have spent more weeks at the top.  His last #1 was Invincible in 2001 although Thriller hit the top of the Billboard catalog album chart last October.

Disc one features the original album masters of some of Michael’s biggest hits such as “Billie Jean,” “Smooth Criminal,”  “Human Nature,” and “Thriller” arranged in the same sequence as they appear in the film. The disc ends with two versions of “This Is It,” the original and an orchestral version.  Disc two offers fans a rare listen to the early demo versions of classics “She’s Out Of My Life,” “Wanna Be Startin’,” “Somethin’,” and “Beat It.” This disc also features a recently discovered spoken word poem from Michael Jackson entitled “Planet Earth.”

Michael Jackson’s This Is It also includes a 36-page, commemorative booklet featuring exclusive photos of Michael from his last rehearsal.

Source: mjfanclub.net

To the surprise of probably nobody, Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” will debut atop the Billboard 200 albums chart released today (Nov. 4) with an eye-popping 373,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan — the fifth-best sales week for an album in the U.S. this year.

The companion album to the musical documentary film of the same name is Jackson’s sixth No. 1 on the tally and it arrives with his best sales frame for an album since 1995′s “HIStory” started atop the Billboard 200 with 391,000 copies.

Jackson collected his first No. 1 with “Thriller” in 1983 and later notched toppers with “Bad,” “Dangerous,” “HIStory” and “Invincible.” Earlier this year, Jackson also notched a No. 1 on the Top Comprehensive Albums and Top Pop Catalog Albums charts with the 2003 greatest hits set “Number Ones.”

The “This Is It” film bowed with late-night showings on Tuesday, Oct. 27, before rolling out wide the following day. Through Monday, Nov. 2, the film had collected $36.9 million at the box office in the U.S. and Canada. It’s already the second-highest grossing musical concert film in the U.S. and Canada behind “Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour” ($65.3 million).

“This Is It” is one of five albums to arrive in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart this week. The second-best debut comes from a reunited Creed, which sees its “Full Circle” enter at No. 2 with 110,000 copies. It’s the band’s first studio release since way back in 2001, when its “Weathered” started at No. 1 with 887,000 in its first week.

Source: mjfanclub.net

‘This is It’ director Kenny Ortega spoke to the audience at an Entertainment Weekly event in Los Angeles Monday night and said that he is

“happy for Michael”

that the  film, which opened to $101 million worldwide last weekend, is now the highest grossing concert film in history. The EW event was a tribute to the legendary director and choreographer.

“Michael had filmmaking in his future,”

Ortega said.

“So I’m just glad that this film—even though he didn’t get to have that experience—has in fact made him a movie star.”

Speaking to a crowd of approximately 200 in the EW lounge — part of this week’s American Film Institute Festival in Hollywood — Ortega gave Jackson credit for helping to resurrect the movie musical through his short-film style of music videos for songs such as Thriller and Smooth Criminal.

“We wouldn’t have movie musicals this day if it wasn’t for Michael Jackson,”

Ortega said.

Ortega also recalled personal memories of Jackson, including that MJ had two or three personal colognes that he frequently used, and that during rehearsals for ‘This is It,’ the dancers would line up to get hugs from him just because of how good he smelled. One afternoon, when Ortega had been working hard all morning, and was covered in sweat, he went to Jackson’s trailer to talk to him. When Jackson approached Ortega to hug him, Ortega said,

“You don’t want to hug me. I’m sweaty. I stink.”

Jackson replied,

“That’s ok,”

whipped out a bottle of his cologne, and spritzed Ortega with it. Ortega smiled at the memory.

“That whole rest of the day, everybody just was hugging me and saying ‘You smell like Michael!’”

he said.

Source: mjfanclub.net

A veteran Oscar voter predicts Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” will be nominated for best picture based upon its reception at today’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences screening.

He e-mails Gold Derby this report,

“Just attended Sunday afternoon screening of ‘This Is It’ at AMPAS in Goldwyn Theater before a capacity audience (1,000 seats) to experience the most enthusiastic response I’ve ever witnessed in 40 years of academy screenings. Similar to but better than the reaction given to ‘Chicago’ a few years ago.  Audience broke into applause at least 10 times. They were ‘mesmerized’ and gave film an enormous reception as credits rolled. The editing is brilliant.

I predict it will be the first doc to ever make the best picture nomination list, especially now that there are 10 best pic noms. I also consider the work ‘a gift to the world.’ “

Source: mjfanclub.net

In an interview with Moviesonline.ca, Kenny Ortega talks about Michael Jackson and says that MJ would have worked on rehersals for “Dirty Diana” on the day that he died. To read the entire interview please click here.

Source: mjfanclub.net

In “Michael Jackson’s This Is It,” moviegoers will not see the elaborate costumes created for the tour that never was, bedazzled with 4 million Swarovski crystals and lighted up using LED technology. Those are on display at the O2 Arena in London, where the engagement had been scheduled to begin in July, and will go on to New York and Tokyo.

But what they will see, in addition to tough and tender moments that humanize the pop singer, and one hell of a music and dance show, is an amazing array of designer outfits Michael Jackson wore to rehearsals.

A black leather, pagoda-sleeve jacket and a crystal-trimmed tuxedo are among pieces designed by the likes of Christophe Decarnin for Balmain, Kris Van Assche for Dior Homme and Tom Ford that speak to Michael Jackson’s renewed relevance in fashion circles and the changing relationship between music and fashion.

Michael Jackson became a style icon in the 1980s because of his individual, often theatrical styling choices for the stage — the single sequined glove, the white socks, the fedora. But his recent comeback effort was engineered with the help of fashion designers, with Balmain’s Decarnin recognizing the retro appeal of tennis-ball-shaped shoulders and over-the-top embroidery, and Michael Jackson appearing in his designs.

We had been used to seeing Michael Jackson show up for courtroom appearances in scrubs, surgical masks, armbands and other kooky attire, some of it designed by his longtime L.A.-based costume designers, Michael Bush and Dennis Tompkins, who have a Michael mannequin in their Los Feliz studio.

But his look changed with an introduction to fashion stylist Rushka Bergman, and it is her work that is mostly front and center in the film, as Michael Jackson’s everyday clothes end up as his de facto costumes.

A pint-sized powerhouse from Serbia who says things like “forever daaahling,” Bergman first met Michael Jackson when she styled him in Dior Homme for the October 2007 issue of Italian L’Uomo Vogue.

Some might say it was the beginning of his comeback when she put him in Hedi Slimane’s slim-line suits, fashionable at the time with Mick Jagger, Beck, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand and nearly every other credible male rocker.

The morning of the film’s premiere, Bergman pulled out snapshots of Michael Jackson trying on clothes at his house, and called him her

“supermodel”

because he fit into anything, including women’s clothes. She emphasized his sex appeal

“He’s sooooooo sexxxy!”,

which comes into focus in the film for the first time in a long time, despite Michael Jackson’s surgerized face.

“When he wears Balmain on screen, you say, ‘Wow!’ “

she said.

In the film, Michael Jackson looks fabulous much of the time, save for a few unfortunate print shirts and patched sweat pants that could well be the influence of L.A. fashion impresario Christian Audigier, who had approached Michael Jackson about collaborating on a line.

But more often, you notice sharp tailoring and light-reflecting color. In a Tom Ford tuxedo worn during dancer auditions, skinny orange Dior Homme jeans, a red leather Balmain motorcycle jacket with crystal-studded shoulders worn during the “Thriller” rehearsal and a Balmain suede military jacket worn with Alessandro Dell’Acqua gold sequin pants, Michael Jackson looks powerful and contemporary.

“Seeing the clothing Rushka had selected, you could see Michael’s influence,”

said Travis Payne, assistant director and choreographer for the This Is It performances.

In recent years, pop stars have turned to fashion designers for costumes with increasing regularity, with Kylie Minogue choosing Jean Paul Gaultier for her recent North American tour, and Beyoncé enlisting Thierry Mugler.

Payne wanted to bring fashion relevance to Michael Jackson’s on-stage persona too, so he solicited sketches from several designers, including John Galliano and Alexander McQueen.

Ultimately, New York-based fashion and costume designer Zaldy was tapped. Having worked with the Scissor Sisters and Gwen Stefani, while producing his own clothing line, he bridged the worlds of music and fashion.

Jackson was to have 10 costumes by Zaldy and six by Bush and Tompkins. Bush also helped dress the dancers and singers, as did Jennifer Rade, a Hollywood stylist whose star client is Angelina Jolie. The tour costumes will be featured in a “This Is It” DVD.

“Zaldy is the new cool thing and working with him gave Michael credibility,”

Payne said.

“But Michael Bush is near and dear to his heart. So I wanted them to collaborate.”

Bush’s “Smooth Criminal” costume is a white, 1940s-inspired pinstripe suit. Zaldy’s updated “Thriller” jacket is hand-embroidered to look as though it has blood dripping from the shoulders.

“That was probably the hardest piece to do because it was so iconic,”

Zaldy said.

But his “Billie Jean” costume was the pièce de résistance, with a jacket, tuxedo pants, ankle socks and a single glove that would light up using remote control, thanks to new Lumalive LED textile technology rushed through development by Philips Research in the Netherlands.

Zaldy remembers,

“In the fitting, when Michael tried it on, his mouth literally dropped and he said, ‘It’s everything I always wanted.’ “

Source: mjfanclub.net

As most Michael Jackson fans know, MJ always wanted to make movies. Now sadly, in an ironic twist of fate, ‘This is It’ has become the hit movie that he never managed to make while he was alive.

Jackson’s most prominent big-screen role was as the Scarecrow in 1978′s ‘The Wiz,’ but he continued to explore his love of film with projects like the 14-minute “Thriller” video, ‘Captain EO,’ and ’Ghosts.’ There were also brief cameos in sci-fi films ‘Men in Black II’ and ‘Miss Castaway.’ In an interview for EW’s recent cover story, ‘This Is It’ director, Kenny Ortega revealed that Jackson continued to harbor cinematic ambitions right up to the end of his life.

He told me he wanted to create a partnership with me to do films. We were talking about doing Legs Diamond. And we were talking about doing a full-length, 3-D feature of ‘Thriller.’ ”

Co-chairman of Sony Pictures, Amy Pascal, says that over the years she and Jackson had discussed a number of film projects that never came to be. The biggest of these unmade projects was a musical fantasy film called ‘Midknight’ that Jackson wanted to make with Batman production designer Anton Furst. Unfortunately that project  fell apart when Furst committed suicide in 1991. Pascal says,

“A million years ago, when I worked with [then-Columbia Pictures president] Dawn Steel, she and I tried to convince Michael to do a remake of ‘The Red Shoes.’

The Red Shoes is a classic 1948 British musical drama, based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, about a ballet dancer whose compulsion to dance ultimately destroys any hope she once had of a normal life, leading to the dancer’s tragic death. The project never happened. Pascal says,

“Michael’s life became The Red Shoes, I’m afraid.”

Source: mjfanclub.net