Joseph Fiennes is set to play Michael Jackson in a new British made-for-TV 9/11 road trip comedy movie. The upcoming drama parked controversy after casting the British actor Fiennes as Michael Jackson. Fiennes is the white younger brother of Ralph. Fiennes is a white British actor best known for his role in 1998's Shakespeare in Love.
Brian Cox will play Marlon Brando. Grease actress Stockard Channing will play Elizabeth Taylor. The screenplay was written by Neil Forsyth who wrote "Delete This At Your Peril."
According to a Vanity Fair article Michael Jackson, Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor had to take a road-trip back to California together after Brando and Taylor went to see the King of Pop play Madison Square Garden. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Michael, Elizabeth and Marlon were stranded in New York and decided to drive home to California. They made it as far as Ohio. The story is being dramatized in a one-off special for Sky Arts
"I got the script the other day," Fiennes told WENN.
"It's a challenge. It's a comedy. It doesn't poke mean fun but it's a story, possibly urban legend, whereby Michael, Marlon Brando, and Liz Taylor were all together the day before 9/11 doing a concert. Airspace was shut down and they couldn't get out and Michael had the bright idea to go to hire a car and drive."
"So the three of them got in a car and drove 500 miles to Los Angeles. It took them a while because they had to stop at a lot of Burger Kings for Marlon, but they got out!"
British actor Idris Elba recently spoke to the Houses of Parliament about the lack of varied opportunities for non-white actors in British entertainment.
"Because I never saw myself on TV, I stopped watching TV," Elba said. "Instead I decided to just go out and become TV."
"There wasn't enough imagination in the industry for me to be seen as a lead. When you don't reflect the real world, too much talent gets trashed. Thrown on the scrapheap. Talent is everywhere, opportunity isn't. And talent can't reach opportunity."
Elba told the British ruling house that Hollywood was far ahead of the U.K.
"I went to America because I was running out of parts," Idris said. "The USA has the most famous diversity policy of all: the American Dream. I want that British dream."
