All Michael Jackson biopics up until this point have been complete and utter bullshit.

We’ve seen the king of pop’s younger years depicted on screen in The Jackson’s: An American Dream which debuted in 1992. The film took us through the beginning stages of The Jackson 5 in Gary Indiana all the way to Michael’s infamous Motown 25 performance in 1983. 

The film — which is based on Katherine Jackson’s autobiography —  was critically successful and even went on to win an Emmy for outstanding individual achievement in choreography. However, as time has passed, the movie has become somewhat outdated production wise.

Fast forward to 2004 where we were assaulted by the VH1 made for TV film Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story. 

The film starred Flex Alexander, who sported clown makeup and a terrible wig to chronicle Jackson’s adult life after the success of his iconic album Thriller. The film mainly deals with the scandals MJ faced during the later years of his career — most notably the child molestation trial that dominated the early 2000s. The movie flopped and fans took issue with the way MJ was presented in the film.

With a superstar as big a Michael, one would think getting his story right would be much easier a process, but there always seems to be an overarching issue with properly telling Michael’s story on film. He did so much in his short lifespan, surely there is more to capture. 

During his solo career, he released ten solo albums, co-wrote and produced countless tracks for both himself and others, and committed to bettering the lives of others over the world through his various charitable endeavors.

However, filmmakers are still presented with the challenge of portraying Michael Jackson as the immense talent that the world knew him to be. 

The solution to this problem, however, may lie in the 2014 film, Selma. 

Selma is the story of Martin Luther King Jr.’s time in Selma during the 1960s and portrays the fight he led for basic civil liberties like voter’s rights. The film opens with MLK being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Sweeden and ends with the successful march from Selma to the steps of the Alabama State capital.

Now, by sectioning MLK’s life in two parts like this, the film accomplishes two feats: first, it assumes that we already know MLK’s origin story. This assumption allows the director to pick a defining moment in MLK’s career, rather than trying to tell the entire story. Secondly, it allowed the filmmakers to give an in depth portrayal of one of the most pivotal points in MLK’s legacy, unlike other biopics where the subject’s entire is told in the span of two hours. 

Selma focuses on the events of this one very important moment, not only for MLK, but for the country. 

Because this story hasn’t been told on screen, viewers were allowed to see how this moment laid the foundation for MLK’s legacy. We’re allowed to take the events that happened to MLK, both professionally and personally, and see how they affected him as the leader. 

This concept should be applied to making the Michael Jackson biopic as well. 

Just like Selma, where Dr. King was first shown in a positive light, the next Jackson project should begin in 1978, after Michael’s critically acclaimed performance as the Scarecrow in The Wiz. It was during filming that Michael became friends with Quincy Jones, who would later agree to work with Jackson on his next solo project which came with Epic Records.

Off The Wall was a seminal moment in the career and legacy of Michael Jackson because it began to lay the foundations for the world wide musical superstar he would become in the years that followed. It showed the world that he was done with the more playful music he had made with The Jackson 5 and was ready to create an entirely new sound, a sound that would later be regarded by musicians the world over as the main influence for pop music. 

At the same time, this angle would give us the opportunity to delve into how Michael was dealing with success outside of The Jackson 5, how he conducted business, and his ability to resolve the insecurities he faced as a teenager. These are all things that could play alongside the main story of the film and foreshadow future events in Michael's life that we already know.

A Michael Jackson film will never be easy. Not only was his life packed with culturally significant moments, but he means so much to people across the world. 

The expectations are high for this one, and I don't have any solid advice for exactly how to get his story right. However, maybe the key to a successful MJ biopic is to stop focusing on telling the whole story, and just tell the right part of it. Selma taught us that.