Movies

'Leaving Neverland' director Dan Reed is disappointed by the reaction to the 'Michael' biopic. He spoke about the new film.

Dan Reed, the director of the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, has expressed his distaste with the new Michael Jackson biopic. Michael director Antoine Fuqua implied that Jackson’s accusers were just trying to make money. Reed pushed back at this claim, slamming the biopic as a cynical cash grab.

Five men have accused Jackson of sexually abusing them during their childhood. Jackson denied this, but admitted to sleeping in the same bed as children. When asked about the allegations, Fuqua told The New Yorker that he didn’t know the truth about the allegations, but added that “sometimes people do some nasty things for some money.”

Reed found this response ironic, as he thinks the Michael biopic is a cash grab.

“For Antoine Fuqua to accuse people of gold digging is kind of ironic,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “It seems to me all the people involved in this movie are just making bank.”

While an earlier version of the film showed Jackson dealing with the allegations, these scenes are no longer in the film. Reed believes that it’s impossible to truthfully tell Jackson’s story without the allegations of child sexual abuse.

“How can you tell an authentic story about Michael Jackson without ever mentioning the fact that he was seriously accused of being a child molester?” he asked. “I just don’t really see it. If anyone’s making money, it’s Michael Jackson’s estate and the people who worked on this biographical picture.”

Though Jackson has been accused of child sexual abuse, many of his fans do not believe the allegations. The film was a massive box office success. Reed said he has gotten significant backlash for making Finding Neverland.

“It’s like religion. Is that interesting? I don’t know,” he said. “They think he’s a God, so blasphemy is not permitted, and anyone who blasphemes against the deity is threatened with death. That’s pretty routine. We’ve seen this going on down the centuries.”

He shared why he thinks people seem so hesitant to believe the allegations.

“I think it’s partly because his music is so ubiquitous, right? It’s part of the soundtrack of people’s lives. But it’s partly because also Jackson, he kind of incorporated an identity for himself where he had a cover story for why he liked to keep company with little children, right?”

He thinks the press has been too favorable in their coverage of Jackson

Ahead of the film’s release, Reed said he saw a lot of positive coverage. While the film has received overwhelmingly negative critical reviews, he saw favorable coverage as well.

“I think clearly some of the press is sucking up to the Jackson machine because: A, the estate and the fan base has always ensured that the price of criticizing Michael is years of invective and smears and what have you,” he said. “And B, there’s a ton of money to be made by any kind of association with the Jackson IP. If you can get on board and be part of the success of this movie, then that’s going to be good for you.”

He believes that Jackson’s estate has intimidated people.

“The reason why he gets away with it is because he was so wealthy and surrounded by very aggressive and resourceful lawyers and had tremendous resources,” Reed said. “The Michael Jackson estate still instills fear in anyone who wants to oppose them, and they’re certainly a formidable opponent if you want to take them on.”