If pop icon Michael Jackson had gotten his way, he’d have played X-Men mentor Professor X in Fox’s initial 2000s outing.
The making of X-Men is one of the most important moments in the legacy of comic movies. After the success of Blade but before Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man landed on the big screen, X-Men was the do-or-die moment for an industry that was still recovering from Batman & Robin.
Just getting to the point of filming was a trial itself. The original Wolverine, Dougray Scott, infamously pulled out as filming on Mission: Impossible II ran long, leading to the rise of Hugh Jackman. The script underwent multiple revisions. That a film manifested at all may have been a miracle.
The story of making X-Men doesn’t end without a few oddities. And one of them lies in a mega-famous pop star who lobbied to play one of the film’s leading roles.
Michael Jackson wanted to play Professor X in Fox’s X-Men
Patrick Stewart being cast as Professor X wasn’t too much of an out-there casting. Fans had lobbied for the Star Trek: The Next Generation star to play Xavier for years, and he was often at the top of the list for fan casts. Not appearing on those fan casting lists: pop icon Michael Jackson.
The new book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios recounts that Jackson had actually lobbied to play Professor X in the film despite being told he was a bad fit for the role.
“The cast also included Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, and Patrick Stewart—but not Michael Jackson, who had lobbied the production team for the role of Professor Charles Xavier. When Shuler Donner reminded the pop star that Professor X was an old white guy, Jackson replied, ‘I can wear makeup.’”
While his acting career would hardly be called prolific, Michael Jackson did have a few notable acting roles to his name, including 1978’s The Wiz and the lead of the Disney World 3D show Captain EO.
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But Jackson had tried to expand his acting career throughout the ‘90s. Famously, Jackson lobbied George Lucas for the role of Jar Jar Binks before being told his star power would detract from the film.
Earlier in the ‘90s, he attempted to play Spider-Man by buying the rights from Stan Lee, a move which nearly culminated in Jackson outright buying Marvel.
Jackson never made his way into a comic book movie in the traditional sense, though he did appear as a version of himself in 2002’s Men in Black II.
Meanwhile, Patrick Stewart finally retired from the role of Professor X after 2017’s Logan, though he did cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. He’s also rumored to be one of the many cameos in Deadpool 3.
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