Article written by: Keith Veronese
Spike Lee is directing a 90-minute documentary celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Michael Jackson’s BAD, BAD25, with the documentary airing Thanksgiving Night on ABC. You can check out a new trailer for the documentary below.
In the documentary, Spike Lee uses archival footage to focus on the creation of the album and the massive 123-date BAD tour. BAD, Jackson’s seventh solo album, sold over 45 million copies and spawned five #1 singles.
Lee’s documentary also includes a number of never-before-seen interviews which Michael Jackson made during the tour as well as sit-down interviews with Sheryl Crow (back-up vocalist on BAD), Kanye West, Usher, Chris Brown, and Mariah Carey about the impact of the album on their careers.
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Michael Jackson and Spike Lee enjoyed a friendship and a working relationship, with Lee directing two videos for “They Don’t Care About Us” in 1995. Spike Lee directed BAD 25 in the hopes of cementing the legacy of Jackson at the height of his career.
To accompany the original release of BAD in 1987, Jackson created an 18-minute short film to accompany the title single, which is shown in its entirety below. In the film, Jackson plays Daryl, a student on scholarship at a boarding school returning to his home in a poor neighborhood.
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On the way home, Daryl is confronted by a Mini-Max (played by a young Wesley Snipes), who verbally abuses Daryl for forgetting how to be “bad,” leading into the video. Richard Price (Ransom, The Wire) collaborated with Jackson to write the script for the short film, while Martin Scorsese directed the video for BAD, which was integrated into the story of the film.
Michael Jackson: BAD 25 will air Thanksgiving night, November 22 on ABC. Spike Lee is currently screening Bad 25 in New York City until the 26th, with the documentary getting a week-long run in Los Angeles beginning the 26th.
If you are unable to wait until Thanksgiving to get your taste of Bad 25, pick up the 4-disc BAD: 25 Anniversary Album Deluxe Edition released in September 2012. Two of the discs in the set spotlight Jackson’s Live At Wembley (July 16, 1988) concert, with A DVD of the entire Michael Jackson: Live at Wembley July 16, 1988 concert included in the Deluxe Edition and available as a standalone DVD.
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