'Michael' producer reveals why he kept coming back to Jaafar Jackson after 200 auditions

Though it's been months since Michael's release, the producers are still gushing over Jaafar Jackson's remarkable performance in the Michael Jackson's biopic.

Michael's cast reunited for the screening of the movie at the Directors Guild on Saturday, 

At the QnA session, Jaafar received praise and standing ovation, including other cast members, Nia Long stars as Katherine Jackson, Colman Domingo plays Joseph Jackson, and Giuliano Valdi portrays young Michael also got a round of applause, via Gold Derby.

Graham King, who serves as the executive producer on the biopic, shared that he went through 200 candidates for the lead role but he'd circled back to Jaafar after seeing clips of him singing on YouTube.

"Jaafar and I met over lunch, and I kept asking him if he was auditioning, because you could feel Michael's spirit coming through him," Graham gushed.

The producer recalled, "He said, 'No, I don't want to be an actor. I'm not an actor. That's not what I want to do.'"

Jaafar eventually got the role and proved to be a successful selection.

"To see Jaafar walk onto a film set for the very first time — walk into hair and makeup, come out, get on that soundstage and do the 'Bad' performance — was unbelievable," Graham said.

Amid Jaafar's transformation into the King of Popstar, Graham recalled the choreographers had called him after about a month of rehearsals and said, "We're not sure we can get him there."

However, Jaafar proved them wrong, as the producer shared, and Jaafar took the challenge on himself and asked for "sometime."

Then one night, Jaafar called Grahan and invited over to watch him perform. "He had transformed himself on his own," King shared "It was incredible."

Michael hit theaters back in April 24 and has grossed a total of over $1 billion at the box office worldwide.