Johnny Depp Producing Michael Jackson Musical Told From MJ's Glove's Perspective

BYLynn S.1432 Views
Link Copied to Clipboard!
Tristan Fewings/Getty Images
Johnny Depp at Venice Film Festival
Yes, you read that right. From the glove's perspective.

Johnny Depp is one weird dude, that's for sure. In the midst of his ongoing $50 million lawsuit with ex-wife Amber Heard, which has been put on hold since he was late to deliver records on his drug and alcohol use, Depp has decided to produce an unauthorized musical about the King of Pop, but there's a twist. The musical, written by Julien Nitzberg, will be called “For the Love of a Glove: An Unauthorized Musical Fable About the Life of Michael Jackson, as told by his Glove." The novel-length title of the production should give you everything you need to know about the story, but Nitzberg offers up even more bizarre insight on how he concocted such an idea. When “A major TV network" asked him to write an MJ biopic, his suggestion on how to deal with the child-abuse allegations" was this: "everything MJ has been accused of has actually been caused by his glove, which is actually an alien from outer space [and] feeds on virgin boy blood." To say the concept is odd would be an understatement, but beyond it's unconventional nature, this perspective is almost guaranteed to receive major backlash for its handling of the topic of child molestation and abuse.

Kevork Djansezian-Pool/Getty Images

Nitzberg got funding from Depp's company Infinitum Nihil to turn the story into a musical after the TV network turned down his idea. Originally, Nitzberg was developing a biopic on 1960s one-hit wonder Tiny Tim with Infinitum Nihil, but it fell through, so the company decided to back the MJ musical instead, which will head to Broadway next year. The musical isn't the only upcoming project about MJ's life, although it certainly has taken the most liberties with the material. A different musical, called "MJ," will open on Broadway next summer, while a biopic about the late singer is in the works from Bohemian Rhapsody producer, Graham King, though a release date is not known as of yet. The sudden influx of projects set on telling the story of MJ is likely due to this year's controversial documentary, Leaving Neverlandwhich detailed the abuse endured by two young boys at the hands of Michael Jackson in the 1980s.


About The Author
<b>Staff Writer</b> <!--BR--> Originally from Vancouver, Lynn Sharpe is a Montreal-based writer for HNHH. She graduated from Concordia University where she contributed to her campus for two years, often producing pieces on music, film, television, and pop culture at large. She enjoys exploring and analyzing the complexities of music through the written word, particularly hip-hop. As a certified Barb since 2009, she has always had an inclination towards female rap.
...