It’s been six years since Leaving Neverland left an indelible impression on Michael Jackson’s legacy. The King of Pop was cleared of kid abuse prices throughout his lifetime, however one thing in regards to the Emmy-winning testimony of Wade Robson and James Safechuck caught within the collective consciousness, regardless of constant denials from Jackson’s household and those that handle his enterprise empire.
Leaving Neverland 2 picks up the story the place the primary movie left off in 2019, chronicling Robson and Safechuck’s authorized battle with the Jackson property as they search to carry the singer’s enablers accountable for the abuse they declare to have suffered. “I want my day in court,” Robson says intensely. In this sense, the Leaving Neverland sequel appears like a prelude to the primary occasion: a trial subsequent yr by which their allegations might be examined in entrance of a jury. Director Dan Reed calls it a “stepping stone” documentary. “The intention is to follow the stories until the end,” he tells Deadline.
Wade Robson
Leaving Neverland 2 sticks with the theme of Robson and Safechuck wrestling with their previous, made all of the extra intimate by Reed filming of their properties. There are moments of resonance as Safechuck talks vulnerably about what he would have informed his youthful self, minimize intently alongside pictures of him cradling his personal baby. The documentary additionally captures the passing of time of their protracted efforts to safe a trial, from mask-wearing in courtroom in the course of the pandemic, to baby sexual abuse legal professional Vince W. Finaldi declaring his plans to retire.
For Reed, the previous six years strengthened his perception in Robson and Safechuck’s model of occasions. The BAFTA-winning director by no means doubted the duo have been victims of Jackson, however he says the grind of the authorized battle underlines the authenticity of their story. The cost in opposition to Robson and Safechuck has at all times been that they need to make a buck out of their trauma. Reed thinks the prolonged authorized motion reveals the other is true.
“I wanted to show how difficult and unrewarding and exhausting it is to try and get justice in the court system,” he explains. “To people who say, ‘They’re just after money,’ I say: five more victims came out after Leaving Neverland and got paid $16-17M for their life rights. If James and Wade had wanted to make a quick buck, why didn’t they just go to the estate?”
While Reed has journeyed with Robson and Safechuck by their authorized travails, HBO is not alongside for the trip after co-producing the unique documentary. HBO knowledgeable Reed of its choice late final yr, which he described as “disappointing” as a result of the community was a “fantastic partner” on Leaving Neverland.
HBO has declined to touch upon the matter. Its choice is regarded as associated to Warner Bros. Discovery’s personal authorized battle with the Jackson property, which resulted in an opaque arbitration course of after Leaving Neverland breached a non-disparagement clause in a 1992 contract for HBO’s Dangerous Tour live performance particular. “I’ve not been made privy to the details of that and I’m not sure what happened,” Reed says.
James Safechuck
Reed doesn’t rule out re-teaming with HBO on a future Leaving Neverland movie and factors out that the community has a 10-year license for the unique documentary. “We look forward to one day renewing our collaboration on this theme,” he says cryptically. Leaving Neverland 2 will as a substitute premiere in North America on Real Stories, the Little Dot Studios premium documentary channel on YouTube, and Reed is “genuinely excited” about it reaching as broad an viewers as attainable. The documentary will first premiere on Channel 4 within the UK on March 18.
One of the explanations Reed turned to YouTube is as a result of he believes that main streamers (he namechecks Netflix and Apple) have gotten more and more risk-averse of their documentary storytelling. Instead, Reed says streamers have sought sanctuary in true-crime docs and scripted collection that embrace themes of intercourse and violence. “It feels as though maybe the world of streaming is more cautious [about] tricky subjects, political subjects, subjects that put people’s teeth on edge and make them upset,” he continues. “In order not to strike the wrong note with such a vast subscribership, you can’t really afford to do anything that isn’t absolutely safe.”
He’s not the one filmmaker to level out this chilling impact. Ezra Edelman, the director of the Prince documentary collection canceled by Netflix, says audiences are being served up “slop” within the quest for sanitized entry to high-profile topics.
Reed has been withering about Lionsgate‘s Antoine Fuqua biopic about Jackson, which he has accused of whitewashing the singer’s alleged sins. Reed, who has learn a model of the script, says it begins with blue lights and the arrest of Jackson at Neverland, and ends by discrediting Jordan Chandler’s baby abuse accusations in opposition to the pop star. The story will change, nonetheless, after the property found post-shoot that it had an settlement with Chandler to not dramatize his story. “What a massive f*** up,” Reed exclaims, questioning how the film will hit its October launch date amid re-shoots.
Dan Reed
It all leaves open the suggestion that Leaving Neverland might have been tougher to supply within the present local weather. Reed agrees, including that there would doubtless have been “blowback” from the “manosphere” as society “swings towards” conspiracy and disinformation. “For long-form storytelling that tries to elucidate complex areas of danger in our society, the road is going to get rougher,” he says. The situations make him grateful for public service broadcasters like Channel 4, which nonetheless have the “grit and the remit” to sort out the taboo.
On the day of our interview, Reed obtained his first abusive e mail about Leaving Neverland 2 and he suspects that worse is but to return from Jackson superfans when the movie premieres. The trolls ignore Reed’s efforts to supply the property a platform to rebut Robson and Safechuck’s allegations. He reveals his workings within the sequel, publishing an e mail he despatched Jonathan Steinsapir, an legal professional for the Jackson property, “begging” him to seem within the documentary. The movie then reveals Steinsapir mocking Reed because the lawyer enters courtroom. “Stil begging?” he asks the director.
For Reed, these moments are important for establishing the authenticity of his work — and in flip lending credibility to the tales of his topics. “This is the road we took to get to the place where I can confidently say, ‘I tried to make this film showing both sides,’” he explains. “Being transparent and establishing the credibility of our methods becomes absolutely vital if we’re going to survive as a place that people look to for truth.”