Joseph Fiennes Shocked to Get Michael Jackson Role

White and British actor Joseph Fiennes was recently cast as Michael Jackson in an upcoming TV movie about the King of Pop, and the decision has been met with claims of whitewashing. Finally, Ralph Fiennes' brother steps out to talk about the casting choice to different outlets, and it seems he's as surprised and shocked as everyone else.

According to The Guardian, Fiennes spoke to AFPTV last Thursday about the decision to cast him in the role, saying he was "shocked" that the producers at Sky Arts came to him to play the King of Pop. Still, the Shakespeare in Love actor suggested the focus shouldn't be on him playing the singer but rather the story.

"It's a satire, it's just a 20-minute satire," said Fiennes, defending the upcoming project. "It's a sketch about a story that could have been a legend or could have been true. So we'll see what the audience make of it."

Fiennes also spoke to Entertainment Tonight about playing Jackson, saying that the pop star definitely had a "pigmentation issue" later in life that would explain his own casting in the role, as he was "closer to my color than his original color" in 2001, the moment in which the movie is set.

The short, entitled Elizabeth, Michael and Marlon, will tell the story of a trip that supposedly took place in the aftermath 9/11, when Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando were stuck in New York City when all air travel was suspended, so they decided to drive to Los Angeles. It's still unclear whether this event actually happened, but Fiennes will be joined by Stockard Channing in the role of Taylor and Brian Cox as Brando.

The news of Fiennes playing Jackson came at a tense moment in Hollywood: for the second year in a row, the Academy Award nominations feature only white actors, which has prompted figures like Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee to call for a boycott of the ceremony. Understandably, in these days of criticism towards the film industry, the choice to have such an icon of black culture being portrayed by a white person stirred the pot even further.

The made-for-TV short film will be based on an urban legend that appeared on a 2011 Vanity Fair article, claiming the three megastars took a road trip to get back home to L.A. on that fateful day. Supposedly, they "got as far as Ohio," but reports on the subject vary.