Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch Has Been Restored for a Biopic, Which Must Feel Like Sort of a Weird Thing to Do
TMZ - Michael Jackson's infamous Neverland theme park is dusting off the cobwebs to film scenes for a new biopic about the late singer's life.
As you can see in the aerial shots ... the film company behind the biopic has restored signature features from when Jackson owned the 2,700-acre ranch near Santa Barbara -- the Ferris wheel, merry-go-round and circus tent all got colorful makeovers.
Everything's buzzin' with life and fun at the revamped Neverland Ranch ... with a whole lineup of other fairground rides, such as a hot-air balloon ride and even a red train.
Filming was in full swing Friday with camera crews set up, and extras fully immersed in their roles as balloon sellers, ride operators, and food stall vendors.
I'll level with you guys here, when I started this blog I didn't realize Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch had been restored for a movie. I read "NEVERLAND RANCH RESTORED", and before I even finished the sentence my mind immediately went to, "Oh my stars they're turning Neverland Ranch into an amusement park." I was about to unleash a "Pros and Cons of turning Michael Jackson's Alleged Backyard Child Molestation Circus Into a Theme Park" blog the likes of which the world has never seen. The likes of which the would probably never would see actually because I inevitably would have made an exceedingly aggressive amount of child molestation/child molestation adjacent jokes that our editors never would have allowed to see the light of day. But by golly I would have given in the good old college try.
"Everybody who's in line for the Ferris Wheel listen up! If you bought the Exclusive Experience please step to the left and wait in line to sit in the same car in which Michael Jackson may or may not have violated children!"
Ok that's one. I'll try to stop now.
But alas that's not what is happening. Thank god (I think?). Even though it's for a movie, there's gotta be a weird aura around that place. How could you walk around that backyard and not just constantly think about child abuse. It's like, "Damn this would have been such a cool backyard for a kid. Well, except for... yeah I guess maybe not... But there was also a monkey that's pretty neat. Wow cool there's the pirate ship!!!.. Oh no... the pirate ship... OH MY GOD A HOT AIR BALLOON!!!"
Just kind of a weird back and forth in your brain of "this is kinda cool" followed by a "this is kinda the creepiest fucking thing I've ever been a part of"
Should be an interesting movie though. The writers and producers are going to have some bold ass decisions to make when it comes to which way they take this thing. That's a hell of a line to walk. A hell of a story to tell. I wonder how they'll do the "MJ beat the allegations celebration scene." People don't talk enough about how weird that was. Everyone talks about the reaction to the OJ verdict, but rarely do we bring up how Michael Jackson threw a full blown "I didn't get convicted of having sex with children" party. What a weird reaction for America to have. The whole country was gleeful. I guess those are the perks of being really good at moonwalking.