R.I.P. King of Pop

Michael Jackson died today at age 50.

The King of Pop reportedly was rushed to the hospital this afternoon after he went into cardiac arrest at home and stopped breathing.

Jackson had been planning a series of summer comeback concerts in London, and had been rehearsing in the Los Angeles area for the past two months. He was said to be in good health, which makes the news of his dead all the more stunning.

The ’80s icon’s passing is undoubtedly something to mourn. He leaves a void that certainly cannot be replaced, although a part of me already had said good-bye to MJ a long time ago.

I’m more surprised by the fury with which people text-messaged or went on Facebook and Twitter to spread the news.

But like I said, he was the King of Pop. A chapter of modern music has officially come to an end.

Photo: PhotoBucket.com.

Update 1: Click here to read condolence messages from the likes of Miley Cyrus, Demi Moore, Ludacris, John Mayer, MC Hammer, and Lindsay Lohan, among others.

Update 2: Director Steven Spielberg said that, “Just as there will never be another Fred Astaire or Chuck Berry or Elvis Presley, there will never be anyone comparable to Michael Jackson. His talent, his wonderment and his mystery make him legend.”

Update 3: The Queen of Pop, Madonna, “can’t stop crying over the sad news. I have always admired Michael Jackson. The world has lost one of the greats, but his music will live on forever! My heart goes out to his three children and other members of his family. God bless.”

Lisa Marie Presley, Brooke Shields, Cher, Quincy Jones, Whitney Houston, Jane Fonda, Britney Spears, Usher, and heir apparent Justin Timberlake have echoed the sentiment.

Update 4: Beyoncé, Chace Crawford, and Paul McCartney also have expressed their sorrow.

Ditto Mariah Carey, Dick Clark, Soul Train host Don Cornelius, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, Wyclef, John Landis (the director of Michael Jackson’s iconic “Thriller” and “Black or White” videos), the Rev. Al Sharpton, and Russell Simmons. And Diana Ross and Tina Turner.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Taylor, one of Jackson’s closest and longstanding friends, was “too devastated” to issue a statement, her rep said.

Update 5: President Barack Obama has sent his condolences to the Jackson family.

Update 6: Elizabeth Taylor has released a statement saying, “My heart…my mind...are broken. I loved Michael with all my soul and I can’t imagine life without him.”

Coldplay & Co. Slay Super Bowl 50

Well that was a genius Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show.

Brought on to help celebrate the 50th edition of the big game, Coldplay may have initially seemed like a wildly odd choice for such a piece of Americana entertainment, but the British band proved once and for all that they are, indeed, so universally well-liked (and ragged on because haters are gon’ hate) because they are quite simply that good. There isn’t an arena, nay, a stadium on the planet that those Chris Martin-fronted Brits cannot rock, and Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on the day it would have the most eyes on it ever, was not going to be the exception. Just like it won’t be in September when Coldplay rolls back into town on its “A Head Full of Dreams Tour.”

What Coldplay & Co. – including the National Football League and the band’s special guests, Bruno Mars (with Mark Ronson) and Beyoncé, not to mention Lady GaGa early on – delivered yesterday was a master lesson in brand rebranding. Marketing at its very bestest.

Coldplay are (now) fun! The world’s harbinger-of-a-very-special-message band (more on that later, but lemme just say, the lads only want to see the world rise).

Bruno Mars is your next King of Pop – unless President of Pop Justin Timberlake decides he still wants the title, in which case I give JT six months to make a new move. I would live happy seeing those two challenge each other for life, btw.

Beyoncé’s the new and improved Madonna, near-flawless art as matter of fact (because when you Yoncé, you don’t need to peacock like Kanye), while the NFL is an American institution dead-set on showing that it cares by allowing its acts du year to move many conversations forward (again, more on that later).

Oh, and Lady GaGa is now Céline Dion.

Headliners Martin, lead guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and drummer Will Champion acknowledged the bull before ’em and took it by the horns, alright, sticking to their Coldplay guns by staying true to themselves and singing the songs that made them Coldplay in the first place. They reminded everyone, albeit momentarily, of the reasons why their music is so effective, and they did so by simultaneously displaying a lot of generosity toward their peers and their audience.

See, Coldplay is often mocked by the tug-at-your-heartstrings-ness and Gwyneth-ness of “Fix You,” a song believed to have been written for Martin’s now ex-wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, in the wake of her father’s death early into his relationship with the actress-turned-GOOPer, and by the, I dunno, earnestness of their true-introduction-to-world-domination single “Yellow,” a ditty that’s almost 16 years old. On paper, the Coldplays have no right being as big as they are, but, much like Adele, they connect with folks in ways folks sometimes don’t even want to accept, much less own for themselves, and their shows are pretty f---in’ magical. They make fans outta non-fans.

It’s really hard to resist Coldplay, and it’s comical to see people try.

“Viva La Vida,” a massive-hit anthem performed during the Halftime Show, is the encapsulation of Coldplay, a band that has expertly combined Olympics-quality pageantry with beautiful, effective songwriting forever. “Viva La Vida” is an honest offering, and much derided. And yet, it was a spectacular way in which to kick off things yesterday, especially because, as Martin put it, “We’re in this together. Let’s go!”

That included the game’s eventual winners, the Broncos, as well as the Carolina Panthers, the thousands gathered at Levi’s Stadium, those millions of us watching at home...and, indeed, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars.

Both previous halftime headliners came back to the Super Bowl turf as special guests and helped the NFL and Coldplay celebrate the annual tradition’s past, the moment...the present, and especially its future. Mars went first, capping a winning year by serving an electric performance of his and Mark Ronson’s huge, Grammy-nominated “Uptown Funk.” His charismatic, unreal dance moves were the thing dreams are made of, and prove that he has a claim to the throne the late Michael Jackson once occupied.

And then there was Queen B.

As she showed us once before, Beyoncé is the real deal. An artist and a badass bitch through and through. An amazing example of womanhood, blackhood, and feminism, all wrapped up into a vessel-like artiste that has learned from the best (M) and will progressively continue to set the bar higher and move the conversations we need to be having forward through the sheer power of art. Through her own sheer power. She gives what we need while giving what we want, all the while letting her message speak for itself and for herself (because we may crave Beyoncé, but we don’t need or get to have all of Beyoncé, ergo the rare public appearances and via-email-only interviews).

That she performed her then-surprise new single “Formation (Dirty),” a song barely 24 hours old, should come as zero a surprise. Gf didn’t just come to play. She came to slay, OK (pardon the clichéd use of her latest chanson de guerre). Beyoncé is a disciplined student of the School of Queen of Pop Madonna; her savvy is incredible, so, of course, she would trot out “Formation (Dirty).” The world already knew it; it was beyond-familiar with its commentaries on identity and current sociopolitical matters. Also not a surprise? That she would announce a new tour immediately following the Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show.

Do not insult or, worse, discount Beyoncé’s intelligence ever again, world. And remember, she doesn’t want to be Queen of Pop. Bitch she’s Beyoncé!

Which brings me back to Coldplay.

Everything came back full circle for the band after it gracefully relinquished the spotlight to two other acts because those guys knew people would love it. And those guys, they’re not going to withhold from their fans. Their move to share was smart, and it proved that you can be a person who enjoys many things. You can love many things. You can believe in love. Which means you can believe...in peace.

Yes, even peace got a rebrand (thanks, #BelieveInLove!).

Coldplay was brought on, by the NFL, to help celebrate the 50th edition of its big football game. The band shared the spotlight with two true individuals, who each had something important to say (they, too, are the face of America...they like to have unapologetic fun and form and share meaningful opinions on the state of the nation – deal with it because it’s a good thing, and it’s a very good and American thing that it’s happening; and you could say that Coldplay, Brits that they are, making their way stateside, represented the face of immigration).

Everybody won (alright, maybe, not the Panthers). “Up&Up” we go.

Photo: Facebook.com/coldplay.

Update: Since the show celebrated past performers with two big returns and some clips, what gives? Why was Madonna not shown on TV?

I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with anything other than she probably was shown at the stadium, just not on the televised show. Some cutaway more than likely cut away from her and others.

Oh. What. Do you think it has something to do with the beef M supposedly has with...Gwyneth Paltrow? That G.P. put the kibosh on showing M, telling her consciously uncoupled ex and her BFF Beyoncé to diss the Queen?

Doubtful.

That would not be on brand.

Nostalgia, Pt. 32

As family and friends prepare to say their final good-byes to Michael Jackson, today we remember the late King of Pop.

Yes, we’ve been remembering him every single day ever since we heard the news of his untimely death late last month, but today’s different.

Today’s final.

We remember MJ with a little more respect today, and as the Rev. Al Sharpton said we should this morning on the Today show, with a little more attention paid to the legacy of his work as one of the world’s most iconic entertainers.

Michael Jackson never was a visceral experience for me.

I listened and danced to “Thriller” at parties, and just FYI, I never dared recreate his moves in the video.

My older sisters used to needle me with a version of “Beat It” they’d reworked just for me.

And I never saw him perform live, although I once came close when he toured the world in support of his HIStory, a show that would not go on and make it to South America because of one his many legal troubles in the ’90s. I remember my mom went to return the tickets to this department store, and came back home with a new washer and dryer and a new sofa. “It was either that or store credit,” she told my dad, who was not amused.

The MJ I knew best wasn’t the headline-maker of “Bad,” “Billie Jean,” “Smooth Criminal,” or “The Way You Make Me Feel.” Sadly, I came to know him as the embattled headline-grabber who, on rare occasion, put out a good song like “Black or White,” or “Scream,” his duet with his sister Janet.

Once upon a time, at the height of his popularity, he was the King of Pop. Jackson reached across borders, bridged differences between people, and, indeed, made billions of people feel like one. He had such singular power. He cared about us, and we really did care about him.

Until the very day end, ever the consummate entertainer, Michael Jackson was good for a memory, for a laugh (be it well-intentioned or mean-spirited), so let’s let today mean something good.

In MJ’s words, let today be a day when “we stand together all around the world joined in a common purpose to remake the planet into a haven of joy and understanding and goodness”:



I think Michael Jackson truly wanted to make this world a better place. As he once again brings billions together, I can only hope we can all remember we can heal the world.

It’s what he would’ve wanted.

Long live the King!

Update 1: I thought Jennifer Hudson performing “Will You Be There” (the Free Willy song!) was fantastic.

Update 2: Seeing MJ’s daughter Paris address the crowd at the Staples Center moved me:

Long Live the King

There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it, Michael Jackson’s THIS IS IT, the crown for most anticipated…uhh…film of the year is yours.

Yeah, I hesitate to call this epilogue in the life of the late King of Pop a documentary film because it really is nothing but a making-of documentary, y’ know, material that anyone would’ve expected to find as extras in the eventual DVD release of Jackson’s never-happened “This Is It Tour,” a series of concerts in London scheduled for last summer. So if you’re looking for that, then this will be right up your alley.

Here we are, though, and here we’ve been anticipating the opening around the world of this exclusive two-week engagement of Michael Jackson’s THIS IS IT, hoping that we’d be among the lucky ones to score tickets to this event.

And there you’ll be in the next few days, standing in line, buying popcorn, saving seats for friends, singing along with MJ, and choking up as you realize that, indeed, this is it.

After a lifetime of entertaining us, of shocking us, of disappointing us, MJ is gone. Buried, but certainly not forgotten.

Watching Michael Jackson’s THIS IS IT, though, I couldn’t help but wonder: Is that all there is?

“This film is Michael’s gift to his fans,” said Kenny Ortega (High School Musical), the tour’s director-turned-the doc’s director, in anticipation of its release.

Some may say it’s a risky way for a studio to make a buck, but I really think that this is actually more of a bittersweet farewell.

As Jackson rehearsed for his much-anticipated residency in London but a couple of months before opening night, Ortega and his crew were there with him. They “caught the magic” on camera, which is what you’ll see at the movie theater.

No one could’ve imagined that Jackson, who demands perfection in the nicest of ways, cracks jokes, and appears game and stronger than he’s been described since his death in the media, would be gone before the tour was set to star.

Michael Jackson’s THIS IS IT gives us a rare look at MJ’s genius in action. We hear him asking to let notes “simmer,” blessing everyone around him. We see belt his hits. And we see him dance. Boy, could he dance. (Alas – Spoiler Alert! – there’s no moonwalking.)

We see him getting ready to come back to us – come back alive, perhaps? – and while his dancers are shown doing the heavier lifting, MJ’s essence permeates throughout the stage and runs through their veins.

I’m not sure Michael Jackson’s THIS IS IT will satisfy more than a mere curiosity for what may have been. That concert Jackson was prepping was going to be groundbreaking…seminal…. Epic.

He was just so, after all, and this doc runs with that. There’s no mention of “the end.” This is a celebration of his final work, period. So that’s why and how you should see it. This is an event you do not want to miss, but leave your morbidity at home.

Michael Jackson was a King, but damn it, he was a man, too. A showman. And what a showman he was.

If you’re looking for answers, though, you will not find them in this bit of nostalgia. He wanted to be startin’ somethin’, and now you can see how, so enjoy that.

My Rating ***

Photo: Sony Pictures.

Beyoncé the Vanguard

Later this month, Beyoncé will officially become a Vanguard.

That’s because MTV has decided that now is the right time to honor Queen B with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, which is exactly what the network will do during the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards set for later this month.

Beyoncé – whose self-titlted surprise “visual album” redefined the videomaking game last year – joins the ranks of Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, U2, Bon Jovi, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Davids Byrne and Bowie; directors Hype Williams, Mark Romanek, and Wayne Isham; and, of course, the King of Pop himself in receiving the kudos.

Needless to say, girlfriend will sing and dance for her supper award, as she is scheduled to take the stage at the ceremony, which will air live from The Forum in L.A. on Aug. 24.

So you best be ready to bow down, bitches. You know she’s gonna outdo last year’s recipient, President of Pop JT, who put on a 15-minute mini-show before getting his award, with a never-saw-it-coming kind of spectacle.

Betcha she jumps on stage and renews her vows to Jay Z, not only hushing all of her marriage’s naysayers but making a statement on the state of the media as well.

Or som’in’ just as wild and unexpected and jaw dropping.

Photo: EW.com.

VMA Gossip About M

I’m hearing that Madonna may defy convention (and gravity, as usual) at tonight’s MTV VMAs by – gasp! – walking the red carpet and doing pre-show interviews.

The Queen of Pop is attending the ceremony at Radio City Music Hall in the Big Apple to kinda sorta introduce Janet Jackson, who will open the show with a tribute to the late King of Pop, her brother Michael.

MTV supposedly had wanted M to do the tribute (because who else could), but I hear the Jackson family is very involved with that part of the program and they...suggested that Janet do it.

I’m also hearing that Madonna has put her own stamp on her introduction – nobody tells the Queen what to say, after all – and that part of it will include a little nod to a performer who has influenced many acts working today...a performer, who like her, wanted to rule the world. And then, she won’t ask the audience to give it up for Janet Jackson...not specifically, not by name. As least she is not expected to.

Oh, and ever since it was announced that M will be attending the show, all the other performers have been busy upping the ante. For instance, Lady GaGa’s wetting her leotard preparing “a very Madonna-like performance of ‘Paparazzi.’” And Pink’s gonna get her acrobatics on when she performs...“Sober”?

Photo: FashionTime.hu.

Update 1: Are Shakira and Pink wearing the same dress? Yep. Balmain. Hello!

Interesting: Is Balmain the It designer now that Madonna wore it in her “Celebration” video?

Update 2: Great speech, M. Personal and real and touching.

Update 3: Was that Chris Judd, Jennifer Lopez’s second ex-husband, dancing with Janet Jackson?

And by that way, was that opening number kinda totally lame?

Update 4: No, you know what was lame: Kanye West ruining Taylor Swift’s moment.

Kanye, you’re an ass. I hope you’re proud of yourself – you probably just made a teenaged girl cry. It’s one thing for you to lose your s--- when you, well...lose, but Beyoncé’s an independent woman. She doesn’t need your help, and she didn’t want it, either.

A--!

Update 5: Suck on that, KW! Taylor Swift rocked two subway stations, not to mention one heckuva subway ride, and showed you why she won. You can apologize now.

Update 6: Sorry, Lady GaGa, but you tried too hard, dear. You ain’t taking Madonna’s crown tonight.

Update 7: I loved what Green Day did on stage. Security looked like they were loving it.

Update 8: Twilight’s Taylor Lautner does look so much bigger than when I met him last November. His suit looks like it’s about to burst.

Update 9: Go, Beyoncé with your big bad safe self!

Your bodyguard was kinda douchy on the red carpet (did y’all see that?). And Kanye West, well...you know. But your Brazilian wax technician deserves a raise!

Update 10: Kanye West has issued an apology to Taylor Swift.

I hope he enjoyed the crow.

Update 11: In case you care about who won what, click here.

That Thing They Do

There’s a good 10 minutes or so of Crazy, Stupid, Love that I just don’t recall.

Well, I can remember the basics of the scene, but there are about, mmm, six sexy, finely sculpted, oh-so-good reasons for my distraction, and they’re all on Ryan Gosling’s tummy. The actor does look Photoshopped he looks so freakin’ amazing.

Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling star in this dramedy written by Dan Folgeman (Cars) and directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (I Love You Phillip Morris), as Cal Weaver and Jacob Palmer, a middle-aged man facing divorce and the young lothario who gives him his groove back, respectively.

Jacob Palmer – even that name sounds outstanding....

Oh, yeah, this review could very well be a one-man ode to Ryan Gosling, but he’s but one of the things there is to love about this deeply lived-in movie.

There’s also Carell, who as Cal, schlubby, bad-slacks-and-sneakers-wearing accountant Cal (I believe he was an accountant), delivers yet another subtle and superb performance in the great tradition he began building with Little Miss Sunshine and Dan in Real Life. His work here isn’t showy or in your face like it was in, say, Evan Almighty. There are not high jinks, y’ know, just a grounded emotion, an Everyman-ness that pulls you in and makes you feel like, yeah, you, too, would jump out of a moving car after your significant other announces they’ve strayed and they think they want a divorce.

Cal’s wife, Emily, is played by Julianne Moore. She’s cheated on Cal with a co-worker, who’s a bit of a pill and played by Kevin Bacon. She’s feeling pretty lousy about the whole thing, too (ergo the blurted-out confession right there in the opening scene), but mostly about how she can’t figure out when she and Cal stopped being an “us.”

Neither can he. And Carell plays that confusion and that hurt beautifully. So what does a guy like him do when his world comes crashing down? Evidently, he takes himself to the swankiest bar in town.

That’s where he meets Jacob, the super-suave ladies’s man/king of L.A.’s nightlife. Jacob’s a god, and I really am not just saying that because Gosling plays him (although that factors in). He. Is. The s--- in his three-piece (colorful!) suits and precise haircut. He’s got the lines and the moves.

He's got the conquistador thing down to a science, and he’s exactly what Cal needs to snap out of his funk. And what a funk it is. It’s actually the reason Jacob takes him in, becoming the Cher to his Tai. Cal needs a makeover double-pronto, not just because he could use it but because Jacob has had to up to here listening to his whining night after night. He feels sorry for the guy in every sense of the word.

So he makes him up, teaches him some game, gets him laid (Marisa Tomei plays one of his conquests).... And they bond, more or less. He becomes a Miyagi and a pal.

Elsewhere in Crazy, Stupid, Love is Hannah (Emma Stone), a young, systematic law school grad studying for the bar who hopes her colleague-ish paramour will pop the question. She’s recently met Jacob, but she hasn’t fallen for his shtick (she kinda sees right through it). But she’s met him, though, and eventually, as it would happen, their paths will cross again. Just go and check out the link to the trailer at the top to see where I got that Photoshop line.

And still elsewhere is Cal and Emily’s son, Robbie (Jonah Bobo), a thoughtful 13-year-old with a crush on his and his little sister’s babysitter (Analeigh Tipton), who refuses his advances, for she has a secret crush of her own.

Crazy, Stupid, Love is not a groundbreaker, but here’s what it is: It’s true.

It’s about who we are before we fall in love and who we become after we fall in love, and our conviction in the whole crazy, stupid thing. The road ain’t always pretty or easy, but it’s one heckuva journey. As, trust, is this movie (plus, Gosling!).

My Rating ***1/2

Photo: Warner Bros.

M Joins the VMA Party

The Madonnasphere is abuzzin’ with news that the Queen of Pop will be attending but not performing at next week’s MTV Video Music Awards.

It’s something that’s been gossiped about, so, perhaps, there’s plenty of truth to the tidbit I heard about how MTV wanted M to pay tribute to the late King of Pop Michael Jackson, since only the Queen could....

We’ll see, huh.

Photo: Horiwood.com.

From M for MJ

As expected, the Queen of Pop honored the late King of Pop in concert last night:



I’m kinda loving that Madonna quoted Princess Selenia, the character she voiced in Arthur and the Invisibles, at the end there….

Madonna Directs Again

The directing bug bit Madonna but good.

The Queen of Pop is set to helm her second feature, a biopic called W.E. about the scandalous affair that led King Edward VIII to step down from the throne. The project will tell the story of the king’s liaison with Wallis Sampson, whom he eventually left the crown behind to marry.

M reportedly has lined up Up in the Air’s Vera Farmiga to play Simpson, an American socialite who divorced her second husband when, in 1936, Edward proposed to her after a two-year affair.

Truth or Dare director Alex Keshishian is co-writing the script. W.E. will follow up her first effort behind the camera, 2008’s Filth and Wisdom.

Photo: Madonna.TheCandidPhotos.com.

Update: And in other Queen of Pop news....

Madonna is in talks to launch a from-your-head-down-to-your-toes women’s clothing line to be sold at Macy’s.

The actual clothing range would be called – what else? – Material Girl, while the lingerie line would go by the name Truth or Dare.

I smell an Mstastic return to New York Fashion Week....

Racial Fluidity Alert!

OMG, Hollywood. You dumb. And a sucker for punishment.

Joseph Fiennes – the super-white English star of Shakespeare in Love – is going to play circa-2001 Michael Jackson in a new road trip dramedy about the New York-to-California journey the late King of Pop, his BFF Elizabeth Taylor, and Marlon Brando (may they all rest) reportedly went on following the events of 9/11. Stockard Channing and Brian Cox are set to portray Taylor and Brando.

But back to this bit of wacky casting news.

Why would the powers that be go in this direction?

Because Fiennes’ bone structure is that similar to Jackson...?

Look. I get that a black actor probably couldn’t physically pull off playing the Michael Jackson of that era. We all know why. But why, oh why would anyone think it’s a hot idea to move forward with this zeitgeist-deaf project?

Oy.

Photo: Zap2It.com.

It’s Not the Size of It That Matters

By now y’all know that Zack (Dawn of the Dead) Snyder’s “spectacular” (yeah, I’m quoting myself) 300 made boffo box office business over the weekend (to the tune of $70 million), so I’m going to try and keep this short and sweet for the lot of you who may have yet to see the movie.

Before, though, click here to read Frank Miller’s take on the difference between his comic and the movie.

Alright, back yet? Cool.

A complex, dark, and lavishly violent recreation of the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae – where King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro, of TV’s Lost) and his massive Persian army – 300 is quite the visual treat.

The first 20 minutes are a bit of a drag, though.

With a tedious narration, 300 needlessly tries to establish itself as a serious pop corn action fantasy – a sort of Gladiator-meets-Tom of Finland, for the post- post- post-MTV generation, if you will.

But things pick up nicely once the action begins, the army of 300 looking mighty fine as they prepare for glory. The movie even paces its main plot with a humanizing, if predictable subplot about politics and the reasons for which Leonidas "really" goes to fight.

In any case, it is quite the spectacle to behold. It’s nice to see that, indeed, it is what you do with it that matters (the small army, that is, which, by the way, someone should send after this loudmouth), and to see Butler finally bask in some Hollywood glory.

My Rating ***

Photo: Warner Bros.

Two Weeks Only

Michael Jackson fans ought to be happy about this one.

Rehearsal footage from the late King of Pop’s never-happened “This Is It Tour” is being packaged to open in movie theaters around the world for a two-week October run.

Tickets for the exclusive engagement will go on sale in most cities beginning on Sept. 27.

“This film is Michael’s gift to his fans,” said Kenny Ortega (High School Musical), the tour’s director-turned-the movie’s director.

“As we began assembling the footage for the motion picture we realized we captured something extraordinary, unique, and very special. It’s a very private, [an] exclusive look into a creative genius’s world.”

Michael Jackson THIS IS IT will offer Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place beginning this summer in London’s O2 Arena.

Chronicling the months from April through June, 2009, the movie’s drawn from more than 100 hours of behind-the-scenes footage, featuring Jackson rehearsing a number of his songs for the show.

It’s a small consolation for MJ fans, but it certainly will make them happy.

Photo: Guardian.co.uk.

Update: Evidently, MJ will finally be buried on Sept. 3 and now on what would have his 51st birthday on Aug. 29.

Trading the 0 for Ben Temps

90210’s Michael Steger, a.k.a. Navid, will appear on the upcoming third season of HBO’s True Blood.

The young actor will play Tony, a gay prostitute who gets picked up by King of Mississippi (Denis O’Hare) because of his resemblance to his current steady, Talbot (Theo Alexander).

Steger will pop up in one single episode during Season 3, but may recur during Season 4.

Meanwhile, British actress Lara Pulver has been tapped for the recurring role of Sookie’s (Anna Paquin) fairy godmother, Claudine.

Photo: TVFanatic.com.

W.E. for the U.S.

Good goin’, Harvey.

It was announced yesterday that The Weinstein Company has acquired the domestic rights to W.E., Madonna’s second directorial effort, which Harvey Weinstein, ever the clever one, is calling her feature-length debut (because, clocking in at 81 minutes, M’s Filth and Wisdom is considered a short).

Co-written by the Queen of Pop and her Truth or Dare director Alek Keshishian, the decades-spanning film tells the love story of King Edward VIII (James D’Arcy) and American divorcée Wallis Simpson (Andrea Riseborough). Abbie Cornish (Limitless) co-stars.

“Madonna has really come into her own as a filmmaker with W.E.,” Weinstein said “She’s taken one of the most famous romances of the 20th century and brought it to life in a smart, sexy, and thoroughly modern way. It’s a terrific addition to our U.S. release slate.”

Well, if someone knows what they’re talking about when it comes to this, it’s Harvey Weinstein. Could one of his infamous (and effective) Oscar campaigns be possible for Madonna? Time will tell....

Photo: Life.com.