--- title: Michael Jackson's Movie Career: This Was It | TIME description: Though he only had one major role in a motion picture -- 1978's 'The Wiz' -- Michael Jackson worked with top film directors on music videos and short films canonical: https://time.com/video/xyUeKlhV/ og:title: Michael Jackson's Movie Career: This Was It og:description: Though he only had one major role in a motion picture -- 1978's 'The Wiz' -- Michael Jackson worked with top film directors on music videos and short films og:url: https://time.com/video/xyUeKlhV/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xyUeKlhV/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michael Jackson's Movie Career: This Was It twitter:description: Though he only had one major role in a motion picture -- 1978's 'The Wiz' -- Michael Jackson worked with top film directors on music videos and short films twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xyUeKlhV/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Michael Jackson's Movie Career: This Was It > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Michael Jackson's Movie Career: This Was It [Watch (HLS stream): Michael Jackson's Movie Career: This Was It](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xyUeKlhV.m3u8) (6:46)  _Published 2009-10-28. Though he only had one major role in a motion picture -- 1978's 'The Wiz' -- Michael Jackson worked with top film directors on music videos and short films_ --- Jul 27, 2023 1:15 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Passover Parody of Michael Jackson's ](/video/crnkSDkw/) ### Passover Parody of Michael Jackson's [Michael Jackson's Hometown Memorial](/video/HHvcKOMS/) ### Michael Jackson's Hometown Memorial [Michael Jackson's Songs and You](/video/1OCGrkLI/) ### Michael Jackson's Songs and You --- ## Transcript >> There's Michael. The man is here. >> Michael Jackson hits the silver screen once again this week. Dancing and singing for fans in a posthumous documentary of what would have been his concert tour swan song. >> This is it. >> Aw, As he came into the window. -" This is it" he told his fans and " This is it" is what it's called. >> He struck you a crescendo Annie. He came into your apartment. He left the bloodstains on the carpet. >> With so many unreleased recordings sitting in vault, it's unlikely to be the last we'll hear his voice. >> Let's do it one more time. >> But Jackson's posthumous IMAX debut is likely to be the last chance for the big screen success. Jackson's history with the movies has seen him working with some of Hollywood's top directors though rarely for wide release in theaters. Those of us who grew up with Michael first heard his voice in a Hollywood movie in Ben in 1972. >> Ben the two of us need look no more. >> We all read the thriller was about a killer rat and his killer rat powers, but the title tune couldn't be sweeter. >> sure they'd think again if they-- >> Originally, written for Donny Osmond. The ballad about a boy and his rodent pal sent Michael to number 1 on the charts for the first time as a solo artist. >> Like Ben >> Six years later, a 20- year- old Jackson would graduate from rats to Oz. >> Toto, he sat down, he sat down, he sat down. >> Director Sidney Lumet teamed him up with Nipsey Russell and Ted Ross as the trio to ease on down the road with Diana Ross as Dorothy in The Wiz, the celluloid version of Broadway retelling of the Wizard of Oz. >> Ease on down, ease on down the road, ease on down the road. Come on. Ease on down. >> In the early 1970s, Lumet had huge successes with the gritty drama Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon, but audiences stayed away from Lumet's big and expensive Wiz. >> Ease on down, ease down. >> Not even the star power of Ross and comedian, Richard Pryor as the World Trade Center dwelling wizard could draw them in. Critics panned the movie. They couldn't fathom a 34- year- old former Supreme as the innocent Dorothy, but Jackson got good notices for his scarecrow. -" They are all illusions. All there is that is real is the friendship ." >> Though it was a financial flop, it was on the set of The Wiz where Michael first met Quincy Jones, his school mentor, who would guide him to superstar success. After The Wiz, Jackson never had a major role in Hollywood film. It didn't matter according to Time's Richard Corliss. " TV would be his multiplex, MTV his studio ." >> They told him don't you ever go around here. >> In 1982, Jackson's Thriller album became the biggest seller ever and the songs cried out for a cinematic treatment. >> So beat it. Just beat it. >> Go away. >> With the title track Animal House, director John Landis, fresh from his serial comic horror film American Werewolf in London, helm the gruesome tale of a boy and his girlfriend beset by zombies. At 40 minutes long, Thriller was a film short that rejiggered the music video for the MTV generation. Jackson already MTV's biggest star made the small screen grew larger. >> What's the problem? >> And Hollywood authors began to take notice. >> I'll take you home. Losers. But, we're gonna do it right this time coz we're the best. -" Don't ." >> Francis Ford Coppola of Godfather and Apocalypse Now is has turned the super famous moon walker into a space traveler in Captain EO. The 3D short played at Disney's Theme Parks for more than 10 years. The plot takes Jackson on a mission across the stars to help Anjelica Huston, villainess witch queen discover her inner beauty. All it takes is a dance beat and a few signature moves. >> Sir. >> Produced and partly written by Star Wars creator George Lucas. Cluttered with every object you can hurl in space, Captain EO seemed crafted mostly to play for the 3D effects, which you can't really see in this grainy You Tube version. When Jackson followed up his Thriller album with Bad, another major director got involved. The music video of the title track was directed by none other than Martin Scorsese. >> Pull back. >> An extended 18- minute version shows Michael as a kid coming back to the hood from boarding school. >> You aint down, you aint bad. You aint bad. >> He proves he is bad to a pre- blade, pre- IRS played Wesley Snipes. Bad was the last video to be given a narrative treatment by a top film director. Later video would still be lavish and expensive for a while, but story lines grew thinner. In Ghost, Jackson will do a 30- minute fright show directed by Oscar winning make- up artist, Stan Winston and co- written by authors Stephen King and Jackson. >> Did I scare you? >> Uh- huh. Oh yeah, yeah. >> Zed, the Drolecks are gone and the treaty is signed. >> Good work. >> He talked his way into a cameo in Men In Black II. >> What about that position you promised me in Men In Black?- Still working on the Alien Affirmative Action Program. I'll keep you posted. >> Wait a minute that's not what you promised me. >> Yeah, you're breaking up. >> Zed. >> I can't hear you. >> Zed hello? >> I'll call you back. >> I could be Agent M! >> And the parody of that cameo is agent MJ sent in a beam of light by the pope to save the hero in a B movie spoof Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls. >> Good evening, Agent Mike. >> It was his last performance on film, but it never saw a wide release. >> You must stop it. >> His performances prove that the late King of Pop will not be known for his acting jobs. >> As he came into the window, it was the sound of a crescendo. >> But that dancing and singing, that's immortal. >> I like lovin' this way. >> If Jackson is to be remembered for any big screen performance, this it it, maybe it. >> Thinking out. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Michael Jackson's Movie Career: This Was It","description":"Though he only had one major role in a motion picture -- 1978's 'The Wiz' -- Michael Jackson worked with top film directors on music videos and short films","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xyUeKlhV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2009-10-28T20:31:36.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xyUeKlhV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/xyUeKlhV/","duration":"PT6M46S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/xyUeKlhV/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```