Jaafar Jackson is opening up about how he prepared himself to portray his late popstar uncle Michael Jackson in his biopic,Michael.
On February 10, a behind-the-scenes look from the set of the film was released, featuring Jaafar's transformation into the king of pop.
"I never dreamed to be an actor or even thought of playing him. But I knew it was a calling," Jaafar, who is MJ's older brother Jermaine's son, confessed in the video.
"Embodying Michael, I really had to earn the role and prove to the filmmakers that I was capable of becoming Michael. Essentially it was starting at the roots and finding the authenticity."
Jaafar shared that he "felt that love for Michael every day on set from the crew and the cast. Everybody had that love and wanted to put their heart and soul into it."
Graham King, the film's producer, commented, "Going through this process of who can play Michael, how do you even start with that? And then, of course, I meet Jaafar Jackson."
While director of the biopic, Antoine Fuqua, articulated his thoughts, "Day one, all I could think of was, 'Can Jaafar really pull this off?' Man, when the music started and he hit those first few moves, I mean, this guy killed it. I looked at Graham and Graham looked at me, I was like, 'Who is this guy?!' "
He also remarked that Jaafar "has the desire — like Michael — to be the best."