Michael Jackson

OF THRILLER 40 ON SHOWTIME/PARAMOUNT+

Q: I saw that the documentary about the 40th anniversary of “Thriller” had a lot of footage of Michael Jackson recording other songs as well for that album. How was that material acquired?

A: As one of music’s ultimate superstars at the time, Jackson clearly was worth following for the filmmakers who decided to capture every element of the process that they could, leading to much footage that hadn’t been seen before director Nelson George incorporated it into the project. Among the highly notable portions of the program is Paul McCartney’s in-studio participation in “The Girl Is Mine,” which Jackson wrote, and which was the first single released from “Thriller.”

Of course, there was plenty of detail on the title tune, which yielded one of the most popular music videos ever. John Landis directed it as a mini-movie at Jackson’s behest, since the singer had appreciated the filmmaker’s work on “An American Werewolf in London” … which the style of the “Thriller” video emulates.

As much archival footage as there is in “Thriller 40” — which became available on both Showtime and Paramount+ at the start of December — director Nelson George also included contemporary interviews with such personalities as Landis, Usher, Mary J. Blige, Will.I.Am, Misty Copeland and Mark Ronson. As hard as it might be to conceive that some of today’s younger generation might not know who Michael Jackson was, such comments help to contextualize what a major piece of pop culture “Thriller” (the top-selling album of all time globally) was and is.