Joseph Fiennes Will Play Michael Jackson in a 9/11 Movie

The British TV movie titled Elizabeth, Michael, and Marlon stems from a story reported in Vanity Fair, where Jackson, who had a storied friendship with Taylor, invited her and Brando to a concert of his at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

While it’s good that Ralph Fiennes’ brother is getting a bit of the spotlight, a few eyebrows will surely be raised at him being cast as Michael Jackson (in a road trip movie… about 9/11).

Joseph Fiennes, in case you’d forgotten, is the white British actor who rose to fame playing William Shakespeare in the Oscar-winning film Shakespeare in Love opposite Gwyneth Paltrow.

A 9/11 comedy drama seems weird enough when it involves Michael Jackson, Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor on a fabled road trip following the attack on the twin towers. With flights grounded, they were apparently attempting to get home to California by driving themselves.

“So the three of them got in a vehicle and drove 500 miles to Los Angeles”. One of Jackson’s former employees claims that they got as far as OH, noting that Brando asked to stop off at multiple fast food restaurants on the way.

After being originally announced in December, Fiennes has now described the script as “a challenge”, adding: “It’s a fun, lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek road trip of what celebrity of that kind is like”.

However, one of Taylor’s assistants disputed the story, saying his boss stayed in NY and visited Ground Zero and a church. He goes on to say it’s also “rather lovely and poignant about their relationships as well”.