Entertainment ‘Playing Michael Jackson was a serious mistake’, says Joseph Fiennes on series “Urban Myths”In 2017, choosing Joseph Fiennes to play the King of Pop sparked controversy with family members of Michael Jackson, who died in 2009

Joseph Fiennes spoke for the first time about his decision to play Michael Jackson in Urban Myths (2017), Sky Arts’ anthology series about urban legends.

In the episode in question, Fiennes addressed the story that the Pop king would have taken a car trip with Marlon Brando It is Elizabeth Taylor shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. At the time, the lineup of Fiennes for the role generated criticism, including from the family of Michael Jacksonby the ‘whitening’ of the singer.

In a recent interview with The Observer, Fiennes regretted his decision to interpret the Pop king on the show, stating that “people are absolutely right to be upset”. The actor also said that, despite intense discussions about whether or not to remove the episode from the air, he was always in favor of removing it.

It was a wrong decision. Absolutely. And I’m part of that – there are producers, broadcasters, writers, directors, all involved in these decisions. But obviously, if I’m sincere, I’ll become other people’s voices. I would love for them to be around the table as well to talk about it. […] That was, you know, a bad decision. A serious mistake.

In another part of his interview, Fiennes revealed that he rejected a five-picture deal from Miramax after being bullied by the studio’s founder, Harvey Weinstein. Filmmaker and convicted rapist demanded that Fiennes accept the deal or risk having his career jeopardized by weinstein.

“It was an intimidation tactic that didn’t go down well,” he said. Fiennes. “The way he explained it came as a shock to me. But all of a sudden I sat in the room very present and happy and strong in myself to say, you know what, I’m not beholden to this. I’m pulling away.”

Fiennes recently appeared alongside Jennifer Lopez in Netflix action movie The mother (2023), which has since become one of the most-watched streaming English-language films of all time.