USA TODAY International Edition
Paris Jackson makes most of ‘Gringo’ cameo
Camera loves daughter of the ‘King of Pop’
“Hey, stranger,” Paris Jackson purrs, kicking off her movie debut in the dark comedy Gringo.
But the 19-year-old “It” girl, the second child and only daughter of Michael Jackson, hasn’t been off our radar. The IMG model with 2.6 million Instagram followers has already been on Fox’s music drama Star as social-media wizard and music promoter Rachel Wells.
Gringo (in theaters now) marks Jackson’s big-screen breakthrough alongside an impressive cast that includes Charlize Theron, Joel Edgerton, Amanda Seyfried and David Oyelowo.
Even in that company, Jackson pops with her performance. But don’t sneak out for popcorn. The cameo is so brief, you could miss her.
Even in small doses, Jackson radiates a star quality as Nelly, a teasing wild child who sets chaos in motion by dropping into a guitar shop to convince Miles (Harry Treadaway) to smuggle pills from Mexico into the U.S.
They clearly have a flirty history, and Nelly sees Miles as pliable for the illegal task.
“So are you in, or out?” Nelly asks. “You can do this, it’s really not that hard.”
Jackson reads her lines slightly overearnestly, and flickers of self-awareness come through in her debut. But she’s irresistibly fun, especially when Nelly ups the payment for Miles’ services from $10,000 to $20,000 while casually walking away. It’s impossible to take your eyes off her.
And when Nelly takes a dig at Miles’ shopkeeper girlfriend, Sunny (Seyfried), Jackson’s unleashed snarkiness will speak directly to her Millennial fans.
“Oh, and you can bring Guitar Shop Barbie with you,” Nelly says.
When director Nash Edgerton (Joel’s brother) viewed her video audition, “I was like, ‘I should cast her.’ Whether her name is Paris Jackson or Joe Smith,” he tells USA TODAY. “I know there’s attention on her because of her dad and also herself. That to me doesn’t mean anything. What matters is, can she do what I needed for the movie?”
Jackson did just that in a single day of filming, picking out Nelly’s ’80s-esque punk-rock look with the movie’s costume designer.
It’s fascinating to watch what Jackson brings to the small role. Her highwattage presence at Tuesday’s Gringo premiere in Los Angeles generated a crush of headlines and social-media response wildly disproportionate to her brief screen time.
Will there be more films to come? Variety says Jackson brings the “sex appeal of a young Cameron Diaz” and Gringo’s director points to the most obvious future acting indicator.
“Paris is really talented,” says Edgerton. “And the camera loves her.”