The overriding purpose of Leaving Neverland is simple. Accordingly, many have propounded the notion of Jackson as a Peter Pan-type character, his development arrested in his early teens.įor many this afforded, at the very least, a means of understanding behaviour that would not be tolerated outside of the celebrity status, privilege and wealth that MJ enjoyed. He was physically and mentally abused by his father and robbed of his own childhood after swapping the playground for the music studio.
There's previously been a very consistent narrative surrounding Jackson's psychology. But, with the privacy and intimacy that a bedroom allows, it's one man's word against a handful of others. When confronted with this during his lifetime, Jackson always maintained that these nighttime encounters were innocent. They were each, at different times, invited to tour with him (parents in tow) and eventually came the now-famous sleepover parties at the Neverland Ranch.
With the not-guilty verdict of his highly publicised 2005 child molestation trial providing further clout, it was all too easy for the abuse claims to be sidelined and for everyone to carry on, business as usual.ĭespite what many internet sleuths might believe, Leaving Neverland can't just be written off as an attempt to bring down the world's biggest star following other recent revelations about powerful and influential men.ĭirector Dan Reed has said that he "wouldn't get behind a campaign to ban his music", moreover he has made a film that encourages people "to acknowledge the man was" while focusing intently on the families at the very heart of the story.įar from the "tabloid character assassination" that the Jackson estate claim it to be, Leaving Neverland is a forward-thinking, sensitive and yet desperately tragic documentation of the way in which childhood trauma infects every area of a survivor's life.Īccording to their separate accounts, before long both Robson and Safechuck were spending one-on-one time with Jackson.
Fans rushed to his defence and his lawyers presented the all-too-familiar narrative that his accusers were simply money-grabbing exploiters. "I just hope there are people out there, who have had a similar experience to the guys in my film, who feel more at ease with themselves having watched it, and have a way to articulate what happened to them," Reed added.Allegations of child abuse followed the superstar around for the latter half of his career. It's been a journey into the heart of the world media." "It's been a tsunami of love, of hatred, of attention and noise, of thoughtful critical reaction and unthinking reaction. "We thought it would make some noise, but we kind of thought people would go, 'Oh yeah, it's another film about the allegations against Michael Jackson.' But this has been taking us completely unawares," Reed admitted. The 54-year-old British director admitted that he and his producing partners never expected the film to have such a big cultural impact and to divide people so sharply between the film's supporters and vehement detractors. "It does help to validate the film, been so controversial," Reed said, adding that increased awareness of the doc "confronts people with a crime that they don't really want to know about, and wish didn't exist." Meanwhile, director Dan Reed - who thanked Safechuck and Robson during his acceptance speech on Saturday - spoke with ET's Denny Directo on the red carpet ahead of the show and opened up about what getting recognized by the Emmys with five nominations meant to him and to the documentary.