The Michael Jackson biopic, “Michael,” crossed $1 billion in global ticket sales nearly four months after its debut, the first biopic to ever reach that achievement.
Following its April release, many fans raved about Jaafar Jackson’s breakout role portraying his beloved uncle.
But he wasn’t the only star whose performance left viewers floored.
“Euphoria” actor Colman Domingo brought out the rage, and sometimes, fear in fans during his embodiment of Michael’s strict and controlling father, Joe Jackson, who died in 2018 at age 89.
In his natural form, Domingo has no resemblance to Joe. He’s several inches taller than Jackson’s father. So it was shocking for some to see how he was able to shrink himself in the role.
During an Aug. 5 sitdown on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Domingo revealed exactly what it took to transform into the Jackson patriarch.
Fallon told Domingo that he looked nothing like Joe while sitting next to him on stage. He then pulled a snapshot of Domingo as Jackson in character to show he looks “exactly” like him.
According to Domingo, it was all thanks to the magic of film makeup.
“Dude, that’s 2.5 hours of prosthetics and I had a great time with that role. And really, it just meant everything,” he told Fallon.
As far as preparing to play Joe, he had to dig deep into research to become Joe Jackson.
“You’re watching video, you’re doing any research you can on the character – the years around it, you name it. I take in everything,” Domingo explained.
The 56-year-old says he spent about 40 hours a week doing the research to really get into the “soul” of the character, so it doesn’t come off as just mimicry.
“You want to find the soul of a person and advocate for that,” he added.
Coleman also confirmed the news about the upcoming biopic on singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. He will not only play Cole, but he also co-wrote the script and is producing.
“It’s interesting because I love the idea of playing people that are known,” he said. “But for me, the challenge is to find how they live in my body.”
Colman Domingo talking about getting into the role of Joe Jackson pic.twitter.com/muXvk1Otme
— Emi (@rememberthebite) August 5, 2026
Fans reacted to his reveal of how he transformed to Joe online. One person said, “He did such a good job that I don’t like him anymore!”
Another who agreed typed, “He was amazing in this! Totally believable and frightening. Joe Jackson was a mean and egotistical man.”
A third person typed, “He REALLY got in that damn role! I thought I was gonna get the belt at times LOL.”
Two others said, “Joe’s soul literally possessed Colman,” and “He looked exactly like Joe; that’s crazy.”
Academy Award-winning makeup artist Bill Corso led the prosthetic and makeup work on the film.
In a June 9 interview, he explained his strategy to tackle transforming Domingo into a believable Joe.
“I came up with an idea and a look. And I preface it by saying, ‘It’s not about covering you up. It’s about trying to get you closer to Joe.’ And [Domingo] audibly screamed. He was so thrilled,” he shared.
Corso also had a challenge turning Jaafar into a nearly spitting image of his uncle Michael.
@imbeejamz #joejackson #michaelmovie #fyp ♬ original sound – Beejamz
“Jaafar has a healthy nose from his profile. You know, he has a bit of an arc to his nose. So, we knew that we could never get rid of that,” Corso stated.
Michael famously received plastic surgery for multiple nose jobs in his career, and Corso knew it may be difficult to use only prosthetics to show that.
So they used a combination of makeup and digital effects. Corso made two noses, and the others were made by technology.
It’s not clear how long Jaafar’s makeup process took, but many would say it paid off since Jaafar really resembled Michael at times.
