Very Interesting-KO, Michael Bearden, and Travis Payne

Okay guys. I just found this and thought it was so good that I HAD to post it. It's from October 23 but I've never read it before. Couldn't find it anywhere on here either so...enjoy. I know it's long but please read. <3 The statements that stood out most to me are RED. And my notes are in parenthesis. Oh and sorry about the big gaps. Looks like I kept hitting the 'Enter' key. But it did this automatically and I'm too lazy to fix it. Forgive me. <3

On Wednesday, October 28, the world will finally have a chance to see some of the last performances by the "King of Pop,"
Michael Jackson, thanks to the extensive rehearsal footage that accumulated over the
months in which he prepared for his string of sold out shows at London's O2 Arena, plans that were cut short by Jackson's sudden death on June 25th.

The results are Michael Jackson's This is It,
not necessarily a concert film as much as a behind-the-scenes
documentation of all the work and preparation that went into what many
thought would be Jackson's comeback.

To learn more about the movie, ComingSoon.net sat down with the film's
director Kenny Ortega (far right) and Jackson choreographer Travis
Payne (center), both of whom have been working with the singer on his
live shows going back to the "Dangerous" and "HIStory" tours, as well
as the show's musical director Michael Bearden (left). It was
surprising to see them doing so many interviews for the movie,
considering how difficult it must have been to talk about their dear
friend, and it was quite an emotional experience for the men to talk
with reverence about Jackson and his involvement with the movie from
the beyond.

Before our interview, we were given a brief glimpse at roughly 13
minutes of footage from the movie, which showed Jackson preparing a few
of the numbers from the show with this team. The footage goes through
songs like "Human Nature" and "The Way You Make Me Feel" in their
various incarnations as we watch their evolution from the early
rehearsals to the last few weeks just before the show was going to
debut. Needless to say, the first time we see Jackson in full regalia
doing some of his trademark moves, a shiver goes down your spine,
because it's obvious even from that little bit of footage, Jackson was
still very much in his prime when he passed.

ComingSoon.net: How long does it usually take to stage a production
on this scale? I know the shows were announced in March, so were you
guys already well into planning and preparation at that point?
Kenny Ortega: No, actually, not at all. Michael called me just
before the announcement in March, and then we began early April, and in
the beginning it was just putting the team together and conceptual
discussions, then the dancers started at the end of April, the band
started the first week of May, didn't it?
Michael Bearden: The band started the first week of May, but I started earlier. I was on before the dancers.
Ortega: We put our creative team together, then we put our
dancers, singers and band together. Michael was actually working with
Travis privately on building up his dance routines and then also worked
with Michael privately on the music. We all kind of came together on
the big stage at the Forum in May.

CS: So that was the Forum that we saw in the movie.
Ortega: The Forum and the Staples Center. There are five venues
in the picture: the O2 where Michael made the press announcement, the
Nokia Live which is where we did the big dance auditions, and then we
did Center Stages where we did band, dancer, singer and conceptual
meetings and early rehearsal, and then we moved into the arenas as we
started to put the show on its feet.

CS: So we're going to be seeing some of the auditions and other things leading up to rehearsals?
Ortega: Yeah, yeah.
Travis Payne: The film is the story of what was to be "This Is It." It's the entire process, the creation of the show.

CS: I know you two (Kenny and Travis) worked with Michael for a long
time but was this the first time you worked with him, Michael?
Bearden: No, I worked with Michael in 2001 on the 30th
Anniversary concert at Madison Square Garden, right before 9/11
happened. This is the first time I worked with him this closely and in
this capacity. I was just a sideman in that band, and I worked with his
brothers and every artist that was on the show, but this was not my
first time working with him.

CS: Since you all had experience working with him, did you get the
impression that he was trying to reinvent himself in some ways or was
it just a matter of giving the fans what they were expecting?
Ortega: (chuckles) He didn't need to reinvent himself. It wasn't
about reinvention, but in putting the show together, at times it was
about reimagining, freshening, creating new stimulus, surprises.(Ooohh...surprises???)
Bearden: Expanding ideas.
Ortega: Expanding ideas, but there were the classics that didn't
need to be touched.(Lol...reminds me of when MJ was telling Bearden that he wanted the song to sound eactly like he wrote it...like it was on the album.)
It was a real rangey dynamic of ideas that were as
simple and as basic and as intimate as Michael standing on a stage in a
light with the band and the audience, to these enormous elaborate
3-dimensional motion picture production experiences. We had a cast of
70 that was planned to open the show in London. It was truly without
question the most realized arena production I think ever.
Bearden: Amen.
Payne: Yes.


CS: From what I've seen, this could have been like a long-running Broadway
show that you set up and it would just run for months and months if
they wanted. I was curious about the filming of everything. Was it
always very common to do that?
Payne: It was always part of the process to document everything,
often times just for reference sake, so that we could compare what
happens from one day to the next. All in the efforts of honing the
ideas to be the best they could, so fortunately, like every other
process, the cameras were rolling, which is thankfully how we were able
to construct this movie.

CS: Who originally came up with the idea to do this? You obviously
had spent a lot of time getting this show together, but who said, "We
should at least try to show the people what they would have seen..."?
Ortega: Well, the fans were demanding it. Immediately after
Michael had died, (Okay, tell me if I'm crazy. When he says, "had died" something tells me he is saying this because MJ is alive...I mean why wouldn't he just say, "after Michael died" as in he is still dead? "Had" sounds like "after this step"...Am I the only one thinking this??) while we were all just really arrested with the
tragedy of it, in the midst of creating the memorial and really just in
slow motion moving to the surreality of what had (Arrg...there's that word again. It's haunting me. Maybe I am losing it) happened, the fans who
were also going through their own tremendous agonies over the loss of
Michael but also, at the same time saying, "We had tickets. We must
know what was it? What were you doing? Please please..." They were
begging in the thousands from all over the world in every language,
"Please, please, please let us know what Michael was doing. Share with us, anything. Don't you have anything?" So the estate that represents
the better interests of Michael, his family picked up on that and they
came to us and said, "We need to do this." At first, we were all like,
"Huh?" But thankfully, we all agreed together that this was... we've
said that this was an honor project, not a glory project, and that this
was about a calling. It was like our responsibility to recognize that
the journey was not over, and that we had to step it up and pull it
together and find a way to become objective enough to be able to do it.
It was very difficult, but we kept each other in the room, we kept each
other up...
Bearden: A lot of tissue moments, a lot of tissue moments.
Ortega: We had to take some walks.
Bearden: Yeah.
Payne: And this was Michael's greatest work, and he was so very
passionate about it. He knew that this was a time to return to the
stage and remind people of a lot of the messages that had been woven
through his music and his art for years. Peace and hope and love and
protecting the planet and doing everything we could as a humanity to
insure that there is an environment safe enough for future generations
to inhabit. We knew from that moment on that this was so important to
him. It was a journey we had all begun together that it was very
important that we finished it... for and with Michael. (See...I really believe that this is one of the major reasons MJ hoaxed his death. To get these messages out there now that people are willing to listen. Now that they're curious about this whole "Michael Jackson" thing. He's not on the back burner anymore. No, sir.)

CS: At what point did you start going through the footage and what
was involved with that because it must have been so difficult.
Bearden: Well, it was after the memorial and there was talk of a
tribute concert and that was right before the bidding happened for the
footage and then once Sony acquired the rights, all of the talks about
tributes stopped and they brought Kenny and Travis and I in to look at
this endless long string of...
Ortega: (laughs) 80 hours of footage. (Shh...KO, don't interrupt. )
Bearden: And it was quite emotional because we hadn't dealt with it at that point. (Hmm...really? Because some people think the movie was planned.)

CS: Not all 80 hours at once of course.
Ortega: No, no, no, but basically, we saw enough to know that
there was enough there to do something, and that was in like mid-July,
and then we talked about it musically, we talked about it conceptually,
and we left the editors for two weeks and gave them a conceptual plan
and direction, and then they did a massive assembly and that was like
six hours and we all came in and looked at that together, then we got
together and talked about it, and just basically went in after that and
said, "Okay, here's the movie we want to make. We see a movie in here."
Bearden: At one point, one of us was with MJ every day, either
Travis or Kenny or I or all of us collectively, so it was a big lump of
clay, if you will, that we could start to see where to chisel and we
had to do it as a team, because there was so much to do, and the other
thing that we did was we always considered Michael in every aspect of
it, so it wasn't only us guiding the hammer and chisel, it was MJ. I
would go, "Does he like this shot here? No." Each of us would have a
moment where we actually felt Michael's presence, so that's what
happened. We had a wonderful blueprint from Michael; he was always the
architect of everything that he did, and since we were there every day,
we knew what he wanted so we tried to realize his vision and try to
translate that into the film.
Ortega: I have to tell you. One time, we were sitting in a room
and we were looking at three different performances of rehearsal of
Michael doing one song, and I was like, "I love that. How are we not
going to lose that?" and Travis and I were looking at it, and I was
like, "What do you think we should do?" and Travis said, "He said 'All
of them'" and I said, "What?" "He said 'All of them.' He told me, 'Use
them all.'" Then we realized that he was in the room, and he was
talking to us and he was saying, "You don't have to just show one of
them, show them all!" At different intervals of the film, you may see
Michael in one afternoon's rehearsal of something and then in the very
next song, you might see weeks of rehearsal in a compilation. We really
did feel guided, we really did, we felt guided. (Hmmm...veeerry interesting story. )

The other thing that was in our minds and in our hearts every single day was the fans.
What do they need? What is going to help them come to arrest this heartache
that is inside of them. Before we would throw something out, we would
say, "I dunno about that. They're going to want that." So we argued for
them, we were like there for them. (Aww...how thoughtful. Like it said in the beginning of the film, "For the fans.")


CS: In the footage, there's a split screen of Michael doing three different
versions of how he ends one song. This show seems so planned and
well-rehearsed so is there still room for improvisation when it comes
to what Michael does in each song?
Ortega: These guys had to learn every song of every record. They had the whole catalogue.
Bearden: We had about 30 songs done in two weeks. I have the
same sort of work ethic that MJ does. He's all work. Very kind, very gentle,
a perfectionist but not in a dictatorial sense where you must do
whatever he says. It's very collaborative, but at the same time, you
had to get done what he wanted to get done. We had to be at the ready
for anything that he wanted to do, because he was so spontaneous and
creative that way, even though he had a sense of direction. A wonderful
thing that I loved about MJ is that he allowed for what we all called
"creative jousting" so if there was something that I didn't like--or
not even that I didn't like but had a different suggestion--then he
would go, "Well, then make me feel that. Okay, let's do that."
Payne: Having performed in the "Dangerous" and "HIStory" tours
with him on stage, he was a master improvisational dancer, the best I'd
ever seen, and there was a lot of room for him to have a different
experience every night. There were moments where he called the chunks,
where he was expected to tuck in and be in unison with the dancers, and
that's what we would focus on in rehearsal, but then clearly there was
room for him to have his own experience, so that it was fresh and new
for him every night.
Ortega: And he always wanted you to be watchful. When you worked
with Michael Jackson, you had to plug in. You weren't the band or the
singers or the dancers; you were an extension of Michael Jackson. It
was an organism, and you see in the film. At one point, he goes, "No,
stop. That happened too fast. Watch me!" and someone might start to say
something and he would say, "Just watch me. I'll take you there."
What it was was Michael was the conductor, and that at any given moment, he
was liable to go into an improvisational moment. He was going to play
the crowds, and he says it, "I might just want to shake my shoulders. I
might want to just unbutton my jacket." (HEY!! That was the extra clip at the end of TII. You put it there why KO?? Just to show that he wanted to play with the crowds???)
So basically what was happening
was everybody was getting fine-tuned, plugged in, and you even see him
at one point, he does a stop and he does a little hesitation to see if
anybody's going to jump the gun, a little passive/aggressive test...
and no one does, and he's got a little smirk on his face, and he knows
he's in charge and that everybody's watching him and paying attention,
and then he drops that hand and everything goes. (Woohoo!!! Go Michael!! ) Michael had that
ability on any given night, at any given time, to switch it up. He had
to be ready and the choreographer had to be ready...

CS: That sounds a lot like James Brown. I've seen concert footage of
him where you're really amazed that his band can keep up with him,
because there's no way they could know what he was going to do next.
Bearden: That's funny that you say that because we actually
talked about that a lot, and that's where he got a lot of that from. It
is pretty much like James Brown and Jackie Wilson and all those things
he absorbed when he was a kid. He would be on the side of the stage
when the brothers were playing at the Regal in Chicago, all these
wonderful places that they played, and he would just listen to them and
he's looking and studying (We all know Michael LOVES to observe, study, learn, and understand. )and even at age 8, he's doing this.

CS: This movie isn't really a concert film as it's more behind-the-scenes...
Ortega: When we started out making the film, we did think it was
going to kind of be a documentary, in that it was going to, as best we
could, tell the story of the greatest show that no one ever got to see.
I always put my foot down when anybody ever tried to reference it as a
concert film and I'd say, "Don't say that." Because we were always a
work-in-progress. We never were able to become the concert, the show
that we had set our path on, however, the movie at some point kind of
just grabbed a hold of itself and formed itself, and what we ended up
with was 111 minutes that's pretty much wall-to-wall music. The sound
in this film is extraordinary. Michael worked with Paul Masi, Academy
award winner that did the mixing for "Shine a Light," the Scorsese
Rolling Stones film. Really, it's like a mosaic that lives somewhere in
the middle of being a documentary and a concert film.

CS: Do you think a movie like this might have ever happened if
Michael Jackson was still alive? Would he have allowed this much
behind-the-scenes footage to be seen?
Ortega: We have never found a movie out there that is like this.
We tried. We really wanted to find one, we wanted someone to show us
something, to help us. It would have been really nice to have a
reference, and I want to say, "No, I don't think so."
Bearden: Yeah, someone asked me that earlier and there is no
reference, because even "Shine a Light" and those kinds of music films,
the artist could actually go to the premiere and see it. This was never
intended to be a film. (Hmm...)
Ortega: How about that there was nobody in the arena while we were shooting it.

CS: I heard some applause during certain moments so obviously someone must have snuck in.
Ortega: 11 dancers and a few crew members that were privileged to witness it.
Bearden: Have you ever seen Michael in any video moment in an arena that big with nobody inside?



CS: I want to talk about Michael's legacy. Obviously, he made and sold a
lot of records, and now everyone is realizing we've lost someone great.
Can you talk about that legacy and where you feel it goes from here? Do
you think that his unfortunate passing will insure more people discover
his music?
Payne: I think so. I think that clearly Michael's fanbase that
had been with him all these years was poised to descend on O2 and just
soak it up and be with their hero, but I think of course, because of
his untimely death, there's a lot more curiosity surrounding the
project. I believe that it could quite possibly reach many more people
than it would have. (Yes...many many many more people are aware/curious now.) It's unfortunate that we had to lose him physically
in the process, but I believe that he'd be happy that a greater
audience are going to get to hear and see the messages that were so
near and dear to his heart for all of these years that were the
foundation for him wanting to return to the stage.
Ortega: And we had such reason behind everything that we were
doing. Everyone that worked on this project, once we lost Michael, kind
of immediately knew that he left us with this responsibility. His
music's always going to be there. His short films are always going to
be there. You can look at "Dangerous," you can rent "HIStory" or
"Thriller," but the reasons behind Michael wanting to go out and do
this series and beyond--take it to India, take it to Japan, take it
around the world--were plentiful, and they were deep and they were
sincere, and he was really emotional behind some of it. We were there
every day, coming to really appreciate and value why Michael was doing
this at this stage of his life. Now he's gone and I know I speak for
all of us here and everyone involved, we know that part of the legacy
we have to keep by doing everything we can to remind people of those
messages that were so important to Michael. That's how you keep someone
alive. That's how the legacy continues, and even grows, that all of us:
His fans, the creative people that were privileged enough to work with
him, have to remember that we have our part to do. We have a
responsibility to do. (Amen. I'll do my part. You do yours. And I DO BELIEVE MICHAEL IS COMING BACK. )
Payne: Hopefully, if people attend this film, and are able to
connect with Michael again and are able to hear the messages that are
so passionate to him and he was so adamant about. If each one of them
goes out and does one thing each day, then that would have made him
happy. I believe that starting there can affect a great deal of change,
and that would be a triumph.

CS: I wish there was a movie like this when Elvis Presley passed
away or when John Lennon was shot, because this puts the focus back on
the music. I haven't seen this in IMAX so how has the footage
translated to the larger format, because it's obviously very rough.
Ortega: Yeah... at first, our post-production producer came in,
dancing a jig, Chantal Feghali, an amazing post-production
supervisor/co-producer, she came in, "We've got the IMAX!" and we kind
of looked at her and went, "What?!?" Because it is gritty, it is raw,
it is not always so pretty.
Bearden: It was never meant to be a film. (Okay...I was starting to believe you Bearden. But you just said it again. Someone is being repetitive. And how do we know you guys didn't mix up the quality of some shots so it would LOOK like it wasn't meant to be a film????? Hmm??)
Ortega: But in fact, all the folks that went to Seattle to work
on it came back to us going, "You're going to flip out." You know on
Halloween night, we get to see it at IMAX, they're giving us a special
screening. I hadn't even told you yet.
Bearden: Is that right? Wow.
Ortega: I don't know if you know but we have 15 world premieres
happening simultaneously, which I've been told is completely unique and
from Los Angeles, we're going to be like the homebase, plugged into all
15 of those world premieres, screens everywhere, Leicester Square in
London, they're expecting thousands of people to come in at 1 o'clock
in the morning. On the streets, they're going to have big screens out
there. Everywhere on the planet at the same time. We're talking some
major cities including Sydney and Tokyo and London and...
Bearden: Even Bermuda!
Ortega: Bermuda, Munich, it's pretty exciting.

CS: As far as your own plans, Kenny, are you going to go back to working on "Footloose" now that you're done with this?
Ortega: Woo! You know, I gotta take a minute. I really have to
take a minute. I haven't had a chance to really fully just have some
personal time with the idea that Michael is no longer here. That that
phone is not going to ring with some new idea, that I'm not going to be
sitting across from him, talking about the movies that we were
planning. These things, I've had to put on the backburner and just stay
focused on the creative issues at hand, and I think before I do
anything next, that I just want some really good alone time, and some
time with my family. Because a lot has happened, and it's going to
impact my life. Michael and I weren't just doing "This Is It" - which
is enough to be doing with Michael. I mean, you come out the other side
of that, having been on a journey like never before. Michael and I also
had film projects in mind, so this changes the course of my life, and I
just need to kind of step back and look at that. "Footloose" is out
there. There are other projects in development that are out there.
What's absolute is that I'm going to put a hold on that right now.
Bearden: I echo what Kenny says. I haven't really had time to
process everything. We went straight from Michael passing to the
memorial to the proposed tributes to the crafting of the film, to the
funeral. Like he says, I'm still going to miss the alone time with
Michael just talking about simple things like grits or anything stupid
that we would talk about, but what I am going to do is that I'm the new
musical director for George Lopez's new talk show that's going to come
out on TBS four nights a week starting November 9. What I was able to
do was get a couple of the guys that were in MJ's band and who weren't
working--when Michael passed, the work stopped for them (Hmm...how many others did the work stop for too?)--so I was able
to get them into a new fold and we'll still be able to create and do
things, which I was happy I was able to do. In this tragedy, came some
light for them. I never stopped working on this, but this is something
I can do. I'll still need some alone time to be with my family and I'm
going to take that time, but I'm going to embrace this new project, and
George was gracious enough that I think he said he wants us on to talk
about this when the film is out.
Payne: Fortunately, we had the opportunity to assemble this film
with Kenny leading the way, and that's all supporting each other, and
it began a healing process for us. It proved very helpful and cathartic
to be able to sit there with the footage and still be with Michael. I
hope that his fans will feel that way, too, that they have him back for
a while, and to celebrate him now. I think that the world has mourned
for so long, and I'm not at all suggesting that we forget him, but I
think it's time to celebrate him and do the work. I think he would want
to connect with his fans, get these messages out there, and smile down
from heaven that change is actually happening because of his work. (Travis, I have mourned...so so much. But I feel in my heart that Michael is still here. I will NOT lose hope or faith. And I will continue on this journey until I know the truth about what really happened here. Regardless of what it is exactly, it's something. And nothing about MJ's "death" makes sense or seems logical. So, once again, keep the faith. )

Michael, your messages have been heard. Change is coming. We are patiently waiting. Our hearts are overflowing with love for you. <3

With all my L.O.V.E.
Elizabeth

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=60258

Ms. Lizzie you weren't kidding about the post being long;) but thanks for sharing this with us! I read it all, I promise I did I love your side comments. I too find it very weird when they are both talking about Michael being in the editing room with them and telling them which footage to use? Humm..strange! Could it be because MJ was really there with them and it was his phisical voice they heard?

"We had tickets. We must
know what was it? What were you doing? Please please..." They were
begging in the thousands from all over the world in every language,
"Please, please, please let us know what Michael was doing. Share with
us, anything. Don't you have anything?" So the estate that represents
the better interests of Michael, his family picked up on that and they
came to us and said, "We need to do this."

Hum... So we were begging to see what they were doing? I find this odd, as a fan and this is my opinion. I know that when I heard news of MJ's "passing" the last thing in my mind was to see what they were doing. Especially since during that time we didn't know the rehearsals had been filmed? Strange as to how fans begged to see something that we didn't know existed!(was I the only one who didn't know of the footage at that time?) Am I making sense, or is it too late for me already, almost 2am here! lol

Very good interview and insights to the interview...Again, Thanks for sharing!

Lol. Yes, it is very long. Hehe. And I trust you. Thank you for reading it. I know most people might just skim. <3

Could it be because MJ was really there with them and it was his phisical voice they heard?

Haha!! Exactly what I was thinking.

Strange as to how fans begged to see something that we didn't know existed!(was
I the only one who didn't know of the footage at that time?) Am I
making sense, or is it too late for me already, almost 2am here! lol

You know you're right. That never caught my attention. Thank you love. It is weird to ask for something you don't know exists. Haha. Maybe this is a significant question though. "Share with us, anything. Don't you have anything?" Hmm...and don't worry. It's 2:16 am here and like I said around this time yesterday after reading your post, I feel like a zombie. Hehe!!

LizzieBee wrote:Lol. Yes, it is very long. Hehe. And I trust you. Thank you for reading it. I know most people might just skim. <3

Could it be because MJ was really there with them and it was his phisical voice they heard?

Haha!! Exactly what I was thinking.

Strange as to how fans begged to see something that we didn't know existed!(was
I the only one who didn't know of the footage at that time?) Am I
making sense, or is it too late for me already, almost 2am here! lol

You know you're right. That never caught my attention. Thank you love. It is weird to ask for something you don't know exists. Haha. Maybe this is a significant question though. "Share with us, anything. Don't you have anything?" Hmm...and don't worry. It's 2:16 am here and like I said around this time yesterday after reading your post, I feel like a zombie. Hehe!!

You are welcome Glad I could help at least what ever little I could being my eyes are shutting down lol Oh! btw thanks for reading and commenting on my post, I read what you wrote and after I had posted and notice I stated the length of your post, I knew the length of my post, would come back to bite me in the...well you know where! lol Love ya!

@Banessa
Lol...sorry. I'm cracking up right now. My baby brother is watching Madagascar and the lemur king thing just said, "Don't you see? You've insulted the freak."

Anway...Lol at the length of the post thing. Yours is still much shorter than mine though. Hehe. I love reading your posts. They are very informational. Yay! And you always make me laugh. So thank you for that!! *hugs you* Love you more. <3 Remember to smile today. Haha!!

Lizzie,
Incredible, wonderful article!
Thank you so much for posting and with your comments.
I agree that we the fans did not known about the footage. We only knew that O2 TII was being rehearsed at that time. How could we ask for more? Then snippets of footage would show up on various TV programs, that's where flags started waving with me. He looked incredible, my heart said we need the truth cuz what we are being told is BS. Any normal free thinking person could see through the wool.
I'm so happy I am a part of this group. Thank you!

Yes I'm simmering Michael L.O.V.E.

Thanks for sharing both the article and your insights -- this was really interesting!

What I can't get my head around is, if TII was infact mean't to be concerts then hth could they get the team together, rehearse and put a huge 50 show comeback together in 2/3 months?? This doesn't really make sense. MJ is a perfectionist he hadn't toured in over a decade so I can't see how he could get fit and back in shape vocally in this short amount of time!

Now you can make a movie in 2/3 months!!

CS: Who originally came up with the idea to do this? You obviously
had spent a lot of time getting this show together, but who said, "We
should at least try to show the people what they would have seen..."?
Ortega: Well, the fans were demanding it. Immediately after
Michael had died, (Okay, tell me if I'm crazy. When he says, "had died" something tells me he is saying this because MJ is alive...I mean why wouldn't he just say, "after Michael died" as in he is still dead? "Had" sounds like "after this step"...Am I the only one thinking this??) while we were all just really arrested with the
tragedy of it, in the midst of creating the memorial and really just in
slow motion moving to the surreality of what had (Arrg...there's that word again. It's haunting me. Maybe I am losing it) happened, the fans who
were also going through their own tremendous agonies over the loss of
Michael but also, at the same time saying, "We had tickets. We must
know what was it? What were you doing? Please please..." They were
begging in the thousands from all over the world in every language,
"Please, please, please let us know what Michael was doing. Share with us, anything. Don't you have anything?" So the estate that represents
the better interests of Michael, his family picked up on that and they
came to us and said, "We need to do this." At first, we were all like,
"Huh?" But thankfully, we all agreed together that this was... we've
said that this was an honor project, not a glory project, and that this
was about a calling. It was like our responsibility to recognize that
the journey was not over, and that we had to step it up and pull it
together and find a way to become objective enough to be able to do it.
It was very difficult, but we kept each other in the room, we kept each
other up...


Didn't DiLeo say that they were all looking at some footage and someone, he couldn't recall who, said: Too bad the fans will never see what could have been.
And that's when they decided that they had enough footage to show the world.

@ mjssoulmate i heard that too

@ lizziebee great posts and points!

@Banessa-thats right-and when MOST fans heard they were releasing it they weren't all that happy until they found out the estate was getting like 90 percent of it. What I read was on the official fan site was the feeling that SOny was capitalizing on the mourning fans.

@2 Bad
Looks like you're pretty new. Welcome!! *hugs you*
Thank you and you're welcome. <3 You guys are right about the rehearsal footage thing. It WAS after they released the TDCAU clip that people started wondering. Also, why it was shot in HD. Lol.

@city.gal1 and nellyka7
Thanks for taking the time to read guys.

@ishealive
Hehe. Yes, it would only take 2/3 months to make a film. But MJ was a perfectionist so I doubt 2/3 months to prepare was long enough for him if these concerts were planned. Thanks for your thoughts.

@mjssoulmate
I think I did read that somewhere. Hmm. Tried to find it again but I can't.
Even so, it is weird how their stories are always changing on certain things pertaining to the movie etc. Like when Kenny said "...there was nobody in the arena while we were shooting it." and "11 dancers and a few crew members that were privileged to witness it."
Yet every week someone else is saying they witnessed one of MJ's "last"
rehearsals. A fan or special guest associated with entertainment etc. So either KO lied, couldn't remember that there WAS someone
else, or there really was no one else there when they were "shooting
it." Which would make me feel even more that this was meant to be a film. Get it?

@neverlandprincess
Yeah, some fans were really upset when we first found out.

Thanks for all your comments. Love you all!! <3

Bearden continuously says this was never meant to be a film and then Kenny states towards the end that he still expects his phone to ring and it be Michael to talk about the movies that they were planning. So which is it? Looks to me like they need to get their story straight before they do an interview.

Also, if the band had to learn "every song from his albums" and be prepared then how did they do this in such a short time? If Michael called Kenny in March before the announcement and then they started in April that was only 10 - 12 weeks to get a show of this magnitude planned, rehearsed and ready to be performed on stage. I can not see how the dancers or the band could have learned that much that fast and absorbed it all in that short of a time frame. I would think that a show like this would have needed a good 6 - 8 months to prepare for.

IMO if this is the only amount of time that they had spent preparing then they were taking a huge risk that the show would be sloppy and that is something that Michael NEVER would have shown his fans because he was a perfectionist.

For me this is just another reason to believe in the hoax!!!

I am new here but all of you are not new to me. I have been reading your forum for a long time! I just figured I would read and learn and keep my sanity through you folks. Then I decided that I needed to talk. All of you have the same questions and the reasoning that this can't possibly be what they are saying.
Too many conflicting statements, reports, secret sources. the list is endless.
The following link told me that TII possibly never was to happen. I thought about a long journey to the UK to see the concerts but before plans were made it sold out. I live in Oregon,USA.

http://www.seekingthetruthmjfans.com/this-is-it.php

"........If the O2 is the "world's busiest arena" do they set up and
tear down stage sets on this kind of schedule all the time? Does anyone
who lives in London know about this?


Does this just add to the idea that there was never going to be a concert "tour", it was all just about the movie??"-------------------------------------

Rehearsal footage shot in HD and Imax for viewing to see if scenes worked...hmmm yes it worked all right. Now tell us what really happened. TII is the most amazing film I have ever seen.
Our world has been exploded since 6-25, it would be a great X-mas gift to have some truth for a change.I LOVE you Michael Jackson!!Hugs to all of you for keeping the faith.

I'm so sorry guys but I lost my positivity about the situation. Kenny doesn't tweet no more I guess he's trying to have his free time. You know K.O said: "Woo! You know, I gotta take a minute. I really have to take a minute. I haven't had a chance to really fully just have some
personal time with the idea that Michael is no longer here."

I think that's the reason why he's not online lately. And I don't know but they talked so certain that he's gone I don't know but I can not say that I'm very hopeful today. I'm so sorry if I make you sad by writing these

@LiberianGirl, you do not make me sad by writing how you feel. You need to do what you feel is best. Just because you are having a hopeless day does not mean that you are ready to throw in the towel. Take a minute to regroup and you will know what you need to do.

It will get better...promise

like one of them said was it travis that yes the fans would have gone to the 02 but this way the whole world will see him thats the point of the movie he just basically said it was better to be a movie so every fan could see him remember he hated to tour cos of time difference etc so never to be a tour but his fans around the world would still get to see him this way.