Jaafar Jackson vs. Young MJ: The Photo That Broke the Internet – dw

There is a photograph that broke the internet. On the left, Michael Jackson in 1978, a 19-year-old kid with an afro and a wide smile, standing in a recording studio before the surgeries before the fame consumed him, before the world turned his face into a headline. On the right, Jaffer Jackson, his nephew, in the same pose, the same softness in the eyes, the same Jackson jawline.

The resemblance wasn’t just uncanny, it was unsettling. It was as if time had folded in on itself. As if Michael had been given another chance. Sensation love. The Washington Examiner described it perfectly. We are held spellbound by the degree to which Jaffer is almost exactly like Michael. The look, the voice, the countenance.

Something is slightly off that corrupts the perfection of the imitation. But then, isn’t that true of actual AI too? Jaffer comes by his otherworldly resemblance naturally. He is the son of Michael’s brother, Germaine Jackson. The filmmakers cast him strictly on the basis of familiar resemblance, and that resemblance became the foundation for everything the film attempted to achieve.

I’m telling you, Jafar lost himself as Michael to me. I couldn’t tell Jafar from Michael. Michael from then there was he was in a STRIPED BLACK AND WHITE BAND. When the first photo of Jaffer in character was released in February 2024, the world did a double take. Photographer Kevin Masour, who had shot Michael Jackson on tour, was the first to capture Jaffer in full costume and makeup.

When I walked onto the set, Maer said, “I felt like I’d gone back in time and I was walking into the stadium to shoot the tour.” Seeing Jaffer perform, I thought, “Wow, it is Michael. The way he looks and acts, his mannerisms, everything, he’s Michael Jackson.” Even the man who knew Michael’s face better than almost anyone was fooled. Director Antoine Fugqua didn’t hold back.

“It’s Jaffer who embodies Michael.” He said, “It goes beyond the physical resemblance. It’s Michael’s spirit that comes through in a magical way. You have to experience it to believe it.” Those words carry weight. Fa had worked with Denzel Washington. He had directed Training Day. He knew what a transformative performance looked like.

And he was saying that Jaffer wasn’t just mimicking his uncle. He was channeling something deeper, something that couldn’t be explained by makeup or prosthetics alone, something spiritual. That one of the films we’re working on in Italy showed it to me and I thought, “When did you work with Michael Jackson, man? Like this looks recent.

” And he goes, “That’s not that’s not Michael, that’s Jafar.” And I was like, “Oh, I got to meet Graham. Who is this guy?” You know, and then when you meet him in person, as Graham said, you felt the spirit. You felt the the the energy. The makeup artist behind the transformation was Bill Corso, an Oscar winner who had worked on everything from Star Wars to Deadpool.

Corso revealed that Jaffer required roughly 30 distinct looks throughout the film. Each one demanding its own combination of makeup, hair styling, and costume work to authentically capture a different era of Michael’s evolving image. Corso admitted he was occasionally caught off guard by how convincing the transformation became.

The process was full of small, meticulous details layered together look by look. That precision helped the film move fluidly between Michael’s earliest years and his later more iconic eras. But we we really, you know, did so many little things to him to for each look, you know? I mean, he’s got like 30 looks in the movie and it’s it’s crazy.

But I was surprised how much he looks like him sometimes. For Jaffer, seeing himself transformed was a spiritual experience. Speaking on the Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, he described the first time he looked in the mirror and saw his uncle staring back. It was really a surreal spiritual moment at the same time.

He said, “Spending all those hours in the makeup chair, just that process of seeing me slowly transform into Michael was emotional.” Jimmy Fallon showed sidebyside photos of the original thriller video shoot and the recreation. That’s the kind of Michael Jackson magic, Fallon said, unable to stop smiling.

This is Michael Jackson in the Thriller video in 1983. This is Jafar as Michael. Uh, and this was you you you film this in the same location where Michael did the thriller video? the same exact location. But the resemblance goes deeper than makeup. It’s in the DNA. Jaffer was born in July 1996, the son of Germaine Jackson and Alejandra Genevivo Aiza.

He grew up surrounded by music royalty, playing at Neverland Ranch, running through the same halls Michael had built for children. He remembers hideand seek rides, movies, getting as much candy as possible. Those memories became the emotional foundation for his performance. He wasn’t just studying Michael. He was remembering him.

The uncle who played with him. The uncle who loved him. The uncle the world never truly knew. Michael and he come over to Haven where I grew up and have family day. And it was just so fun. We’d play board games. We just play hide and go seek have candy, watch movies. So, it was always a lot of levity and fun.

The sideby-side comparisons have become a viral phenomenon. Fans have placed Jaffer’s rehearsal footage next to Michael’s original performances, frame by frame, looking for differences, the snap of the head, the rhythm in the shoulders. The way Michael held his hands, Jaffer captured it all. One fan wrote, “A sidebyside comparison of Jaffer Jackson and Michael Jackson’s voices gave me actual chills.

” Another said, “There were several moments where I saw MJ for seconds, movements so perfect that I’m sure his uncle was there helping. The resemblance wasn’t just physical. It was spiritual. The young Michael Jackson, the one from the 1970s, the one before the surgeries, before the tabloids, before the world decided he was strange, looked like an ordinary kid from Gary, Indiana.

large dark eyes, a broad nose, warm brown skin, a smile that took up most of his face. Jaffer carries that face. He carries those eyes. He carries that smile. And when he stepped onto the set in full costume, even his own family was speechless. His grandmother Catherine said he embodied her son. His uncles Marlin and Jackie cried when they saw him because for a moment they were seeing Michael again.

I got so emotional cuz He became Michael on that screen. It brought tears to my eyes. I couldn’t believe it. He’s He’s incredible. Wait till you see it. The film’s reviews were mixed. Some critics called it a white wash. Others said it was too safe. But there was one thing almost everyone agreed on. Jaffer Jackson.

CBR said simply to Jaffer Jackson’s credit. He does a great job playing his uncle. The Hindu praised how he eerily brings his uncle to life. Even the Washington Examiner, which was critical of the film’s overall approach, admitted that Jaffer is almost exactly like Michael. The resemblance wasn’t just the point of the film.

It was the film’s only undeniable triumph. This is an Oscar worthy performance from him. I think he is so so good in this. Heat. HEAT. The process of becoming Michael consumed Jaffer for 3 years. He kept the role a secret for a full year until he was comfortable enough to share the news. He created a research room in Michael’s old bedroom at Havenhurst, filling the walls with quotes, mantras, personal handwritings, and a complete timeline of Michael’s life.

He studied what Michael ate, what he watched, what he listened to when he fell asleep. He wasn’t just playing a role. He was living in his uncle’s universe. And when he finally emerged on screen, the world understood why the filmmakers had waited so long for him. keep it a secret uh from my family for up to a year I would say.

And uh the main reason for that is because I really wanted to see for myself how well I could do in in the beginning and I wanted to make sure that it was something I knew for sure that I had it before I spoke too soon. If this story moved you, hit subscribe so you never miss the next chapter of Legends who shaped our world.

There are so many untold stories, so many moments the world never saw. And we are committed to bringing them to you one story at a time, one memory at a time. Because the resemblance between Jaffer Jackson and his uncle wasn’t just about the face. It was about the spirit, the love, the legacy. And when you watch that sidebyside comparison, you will understand why the world stopped and stared. [cheering and music]