Johnny Depp producing Michael Jackson musical 'as told by his glove'
Johnny Depp is producing a musical about the life of Michael Jackson that will be told from the perspective of the late singer’s famous sequin glove.
Playwright Julien Nitzberg wrote For the Love of a Glove: An Unauthorised Musical Fable About the Life of Michael Jackson, As Told By His Glove, which is described as “a fresh, revisionist look at the strange forces that shaped Jackson and the scandals that bedevilled him”.
Nitzberg told Page Six that a major TV network had asked him to write a film about Jackson, but it pulled out after Nitberg and the network couldn’t agree about how to cover allegations of child abuse against the singer.
Nitzberg proposed a solution: “I said, how’s this? Everything MJ has been accused of has actually been caused by his glove, which is actually an alien from outer space [and] feeds on virgin boy blood. They laughed and said, ‘Can you do the normal version?’”
The playwright turned down the TV network’s offer and decided to write the idea for the stage. Nitzberg began working with Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil, on a biopic of 1960s one-hit wonder Tiny Tim.
It is the latest project about the late pop star to enter production. Earlier this week, it was reported that Bohemian Rhapsody producer Graham King had acquired the rights to make a film about Jackson, which is said to span his life from child star to death.
For the Love of a Glove opens on 25 January at the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan theatre in Los Angeles.