It’s been six years since Leaving Neverland left an indelible impression on Michael Jackson’s legacy. The King of Pop was cleared of child abuse charges during his lifetime, but something about the Emmy-winning testimony of Wade Robson and James Safechuck stuck in the collective consciousness, despite consistent denials from Jackson’s family and those who manage his business empire.
Leaving Neverland 2 picks up the story where the first film left off in 2019, chronicling Robson and Safechuck’s legal battle with the Jackson estate as they seek to hold the singer’s enablers accountable for the abuse they claim to have suffered. “I want my day in court,” Robson says intensely. In this sense, the Leaving Neverland sequel feels like a prelude to the main event: a trial next year in which their allegations will be tested in front of a jury. Director Dan Reed calls it a “stepping stone” documentary. “The intention is to follow the stories until the end,” he tells Deadline.
Wade Robson
Leaving Neverland 2 sticks with the theme of Robson and Safechuck wrestling with their past, made all the more intimate by Reed filming in their homes. There are moments of resonance as Safechuck talks vulnerably about what he would have told his younger self, cut closely alongside images of him cradling his own child. The documentary also captures the passing of time in their protracted efforts to secure a trial, from mask-wearing in court during the pandemic, to child sexual abuse attorney Vince W. Finaldi declaring his plans to retire.
For Reed, the past six years strengthened his belief in Robson and Safechuck’s version of events. The BAFTA-winning director never doubted the duo were victims of Jackson, but he says the grind of the legal battle underlines the authenticity of their story. The charge against Robson and Safechuck has always been that they want to make a buck out of their trauma. Reed thinks the lengthy legal action shows the opposite is true.
“I wanted to show how difficult and unrewarding and exhausting it is to try and get justice in the court system,” he explains. “To people who say, ‘They’re just after money,’ I say: five more victims came out after Leaving Neverland and got paid $16-17M for their life rights. If James and Wade had wanted to make a quick buck, why didn’t they just go to the estate?”
While Reed has journeyed with Robson and Safechuck through their legal travails, HBO is no longer along for the ride after co-producing the original documentary. HBO informed Reed of its decision late last year, which he described as “disappointing” because the network was a “fantastic partner” on Leaving Neverland.
HBO has declined to comment on the matter. Its decision is thought to be related to Warner Bros. Discovery’s own legal battle with the Jackson estate, which resulted in an opaque arbitration process after Leaving Neverland breached a non-disparagement clause in a 1992 contract for HBO’s Dangerous Tour concert special. “I’ve not been made privy to the details of that and I’m not sure what happened,” Reed says.
James Safechuck
Reed does not rule out re-teaming with HBO on a future Leaving Neverland film and points out that the network has a 10-year license for the original documentary. “We look forward to one day renewing our collaboration on this theme,” he says cryptically. Leaving Neverland 2 will instead premiere in North America on Real Stories, the Little Dot Studios premium documentary channel on YouTube, and Reed is “genuinely excited” about it reaching as broad an audience as possible. The documentary will first premiere on Channel 4 in the UK on March 18.
One of the reasons Reed turned to YouTube is because he believes that major streamers (he namechecks Netflix and Apple) are becoming increasingly risk-averse in their documentary storytelling. Instead, Reed says streamers have sought sanctuary in true-crime docs and scripted series that embrace themes of sex and violence. “It feels as though maybe the world of streaming is more cautious [about] tricky subjects, political subjects, subjects that put people’s teeth on edge and make them upset,” he continues. “In order not to strike the wrong note with such a vast subscribership, you can’t really afford to do anything that isn’t absolutely safe.”
He’s not the only filmmaker to point out this chilling effect. Ezra Edelman, the director of the Prince documentary series canceled by Netflix, says audiences are being served up “slop” in the quest for sanitized access to high-profile subjects.
Reed has been withering about Lionsgate‘s Antoine Fuqua biopic about Jackson, which he has accused of whitewashing the singer’s alleged sins. Reed, who has read a version of the script, says it begins with blue lights and the arrest of Jackson at Neverland, and ends by discrediting Jordan Chandler’s child abuse accusations against the pop star. The story will change, however, after the estate discovered post-shoot that it had an agreement with Chandler not to dramatize his story. “What a massive f*** up,” Reed exclaims, questioning how the movie will hit its October release date amid re-shoots.
Dan Reed
It all leaves open the suggestion that Leaving Neverland may have been harder to produce in the current climate. Reed agrees, adding that there would likely have been “blowback” from the “manosphere” as society “swings towards” conspiracy and disinformation. “For long-form storytelling that tries to elucidate complex areas of danger in our society, the road is going to get rougher,” he says. The conditions make him grateful for public service broadcasters like Channel 4, which still have the “grit and the remit” to tackle the taboo.
On the day of our interview, Reed received his first abusive email about Leaving Neverland 2 and he suspects that worse is yet to come from Jackson superfans when the film premieres. The trolls ignore Reed’s efforts to offer the estate a platform to rebut Robson and Safechuck’s allegations. He shows his workings in the sequel, publishing an email he sent Jonathan Steinsapir, an attorney for the Jackson estate, “begging” him to appear in the documentary. The film then shows Steinsapir mocking Reed as the lawyer enters court. “Stil begging?” he asks the director.
For Reed, these moments are vital for establishing the authenticity of his work — and in turn lending credibility to the stories of his subjects. “This is the road we took to get to the place where I can confidently say, ‘I tried to make this film showing both sides,’” he explains. “Being transparent and establishing the credibility of our methods becomes absolutely vital if we’re going to survive as a place that people look to for truth.”
