In 1987, Michael Jackson was already, to put it mildly, an “eccentric,” and you could see that on more than just the tip of his nose. But everything went a bit calmer. There were quiet rumors about an oxygen tent, the Elephant Man skeleton he wanted to buy, and this real chimpanzee who became the singer’s best friend and bedmate.
Michael Jackson, who only mutated into the real Jacko in the years that followed, a wreck and a father whose parenting skills were rightly criticized, was more of a twenty-something with whimsy in 1987, the year the album “Bad” was released. The record sold just as well as its predecessor “Thriller” (1982) and even had more singles at number one in the US singles charts.
Being the most successful singer of the 80s wasn’t enough for Michael Jackson. Now he wanted to make history as an actor too. Anyone who wanted to observe signs of incipient megalomania only had to watch Michael Jackson’s 1988 film adventure “Moonwalker”.
Was that even a movie? Or rather a series of music clips? Three sequences from the 90-minute work remain in the audience’s memory: the animated (clay) characters in “Speed Demon” and “Leave Me Alone” who seek Jackson’s life; as well as the in-film video for the gangster homage “Smooth Criminal”, in which the singer demonstrates his second most famous movement after the moonwalk, the 45 degree forward bend performed against gravity.
For this trick, Jackson used special shoes and threads that prevented him from tipping over. Famous dance moves: Why does the moonwalk itself, with which Jackson thrilled his fans in “Billie Jean,” not play a role in the film?
Heroin?
A framework plot was only thought of through the actors and their stereotypical roles: Jackson as the child-loving savior who first has to shake off his critics before he can save the world; then there is the very bad Frankie “Mr. Big” LiDeo (Joe Pesci) as Jackson’s antagonist. According to Wikipedia, a scene that was cut from the film shows how wrong it all is. In it, Pesci threatened to inject heroin into the children’s arms. The film ends with a live performance. After Michael has shown who the king is, the children can watch backstage as he performs the Beatles song “Come Together”.
Michael Jackson must have believed that conquering the world of the silver screen was easy. Fred Astaire! That basically it should be enough to show Jackson dancing, running and laughing with his little friends.
“Moonwalker” was only released briefly in European cinemas – its release in the most important, the US market, during the prestigious Christmas season, was canceled. Instead, the work went straight to video and was released on VHS in America. The maximum penalty for a film. And for the megastar Michael Jackson anyway.
However, given the fact that American cinemas brought in the most money, the box office results were okay. “Moonwalker” grossed $67 million and cost an estimated $22 million.
By 1988, Jackson had had enough of cinema. He only paid a brief visit to the screen: as an alien in “Men in Black II” (2002). He didn’t even have to put on a mask: the singer self-deprecatingly raised his then-current face into the camera.