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Michael Jackson · S8 E5
The Rehearsals
Kenny Ortega, AEG, and the last performances caught on camera
June 24, 2009. Michael Jackson runs through 'Earth Song' at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and it is the last time he will ever perform.
Michael Jackson's This Is It, official movie trailer (2009, Sony Pictures). Assembled from over a hundred hours of rehearsal footage, the trailer shows Michael at fifty: directing, dancing, singing, refining every detail of a show the world will never see.
Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009)
Kenny Ortega assembled the film from over a hundred hours of raw rehearsal footage shot at the Staples Center and the Forum in Inglewood during April, May, and June 2009. The footage was captured by multiple cameras for production reference, never intended for public release. After Michael's death, Sony Pictures acquired the rights for a reported $60 million and Ortega edited the material into a theatrical film. What emerges is the closest thing to a final concert anyone will ever see: Michael at fifty, still dancing, still directing, still refining every detail.
Sources
Michael Jackson's This Is It production notes, Sony Pictures, 2009
Billboard reporting on Sony acquisition deal, 2009
The Vision
The This Is It production is the most ambitious concert staging Michael has ever attempted. The show features custom 3D film sequences, a massive LED screen system, pyrotechnics, and a stage with multiple levels and hydraulic lifts. Kenny Ortega, who directed the Dangerous and HIStory world tours, returns as director with hundreds of crew members working under him.
Sources
Michael Jackson's This Is It, directed by Kenny Ortega, Sony Pictures, 2009
TAP TO REVEAL: What did Kenny Ortega write to AEG five days before the end?
The Last Night
On June 24, Michael arrives at the Staples Center for what will be his final rehearsal. Crew members who were there that night later described a mixed performance: he is tired but focused, running through several numbers including 'Earth Song.' He tells the crew he loves them. It is the last time anyone outside his inner circle will see him alive.
Sources
Michael Jackson's This Is It, Sony Pictures, 2009
People v. Conrad Murray, trial testimony, Los Angeles Superior Court, 2011
The Rehearsals in Numbers
Staples Center (now Crypto.com Arena), 1111 S Figueroa Street, Los Angeles
The arena where Michael spent his final weeks rehearsing for shows he would never perform. The footage captured inside these walls became the highest-grossing concert film of its era.
Speechless, Michael Jackson (2001)
A nearly a cappella performance where Michael layers his own voice into a choir of one. No drums, no bass, no spectacle. Just the voice that built an empire, stripped of everything except the melody. In the context of the rehearsals, where Michael is pushing his body to its limit for a show of staggering scale, this track is a reminder of what existed at the center of all the machinery: one human voice.
Speechless, Michael Jackson (2001)
The lyrics are about being so moved by someone's presence that words fail entirely. Michael insisted on recording the track with minimal production, and the multi-tracked vocals create a cathedral of sound from a single voice. It is one of the few recordings where his artistry is completely undisguised.
How much did Sony Pictures reportedly pay for the rights to the This Is It rehearsal footage?
Michael leaves the Staples Center after midnight on June 25, 2009. By the afternoon, paramedics are at his rented mansion on Carolwood Drive, and the world is about to lose the biggest star it ever made.
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