Joseph Fiennes to play Michael Jackson in 9/11 dramedy; pardon?

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Following the tragic events of 9/11, an improbable story emerged about three of the biggest names in entertainment. Several days before the attack, Michael Jackson was playing a concert at Madison Square Garden and he'd invited Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando to join him. Then, after the towers fell and air-traffic to and from New York was cancelled, the trio rented a car and attempted to drive themselves back to California, getting as far as Ohio, or so the story goes. No one knows for certain whether any of this actually happened, but they're making a movie about it anyway.

The Guardian reports that ELIZABETH, MICHAEL, AND MARLON will be a one-off special airing on Sky Arts and star Joseph Fiennes as Michael Jackson, Stockard Channing as Elizabeth Taylor, and Brian Cox as Marlon Brando. This definitely sounds like something that I'm going to have to see to believe. Joseph Fiennes described the script as "a challenge," before adding "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.”