Film Courage: How much of a perfectionist was Michael Jackson?
Courtney Miller, Filmmaker/Producer/Author/Editor: How much of a perfectionist was Michael Jackson? Michael was the ultimate perfectionist. In fact I learned so much from him because of that. Michael knew the dance steps (obviously his singing) but he knew the background singers, what they should be doing, when the lights should be coming on, the costumes, he knew everybody else’s jobs. There’s video you can watch it when Michael’s performing live and sometimes the music is not quite right. He’ll be performing but he’ll point to the music director, it’s like You better fix it because it’s not sounding right, something is off. Either it’s too slow, it’s too fast, the music is on the wrong pitch or whatever the situation is, he’s on it. He was very much a perfectionist and I learned a lot from him because he doesn’t quit until it’s perfect. He doesn’t quit rehearsals until it’s right. He keeps going and going and going and that’s something that I’ve picked up from him a lot of is we would do back when we were choreographing it together as a team and we would choreograph something and we thought it was the most amazingly hot thing. Okay, we are going to show Mike, showcase this to Michael and we do it and it’s like Is that the best that it can be? You begin to doubt yourself Could it be better? Maybe we can go back to the lab and start working on some more dance steps. That was a question that I have in my mind from time to time Is this the best that it can be? Whether it’s the writing of a script, how the scene is done. When I’m directing it or staging it Is this the best that it can be? Sometimes the answer is It’s the best that it needs to be right now because we don’t have a lot of time to make it perfect. Not everyone is given David Fincher time and David Fincher money to do 100 takes. 99 takes, he did 99 takes for the opening of the Social Network which is insane. 99 takes of that opening scene where they’re in the bar back and forth and he’s talking about…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
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BIO:
Courtney Miller is a 5-time award winning director who has worked with the biggest names in entertainment including Michael Jackson, Usher, and Britney Spears. His award winning short film REPAIRations! – The Musical, has garnered him meetings with top studios and networks including Lionsgate, TBS, and Viola Davis’ company, Juvee Productions. He has directed commercials for Nike & Apple, and has written several television and film screenplays in the Drama, Comedy, Musical, and Horror genres’.
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