Celebrated director and infamous Knicks fan Spike Lee is at the helm of a new documentary that is focussing on Michael Jackson’s 1987 record Bad. The as-yet-untitled doco, which will be out later this year coinciding with the 25th anniversary of Bad, has given Lee access to material and footage that has never been made public.
“We have footage in this documentary that no one’s ever seen, stuff that Michael shot himself, behind-the-scenes stuff,” Lee said.
“We had complete access to the vaults of Michael Jackson … He wrote 60 demos for the Bad record. Only 11 made it. So we got to hear a lot of that stuff, too, so it was just a great experience,” he said.
Bad will be re-released later this year on September 18 with bonus tracks, an accompanying DVD and other special add-ons. Lee’s documentary has no official release date yet but will feature a rich mixture of personalities, including interviews with Sheryl Crow (MJ’s backing singer on the Bad Tour), Mariah Carey and Kanye West.
“We really divided it into two things: Artists today who were influenced by Michael, and then people who worked side by side — musicians, songwriters, technicians, engineers, people at the label, who were all committed to Michael, to the follow-up to the biggest record of all time, which still is Thriller,” Lee said.
Lee will also host his annual birthday tribute to Jackson later this year on August 25 in Brooklyn, New York. Lee has hosted the event ever since the passing of ‘The King of Pop’ in 2009.
“This year we’re going to focus on the Bad album, we’re going to focus on the 25th anniversary, but at the same time we’re going to play his full catalog, including the Jackson 5 and the Jacksons,” he said. “It’s going to be even bigger and better this year,” Lee said.
