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From left: Brothers Tito, Jackie, Marlon and Randy Jackson arrive at the 8th Annual BMI Urban Awards at the Wishire Theatre on September 4, 2008 in Los Angeles, California.
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New Documentary to Tell the Story of Founding Jackson 5 Members Brothers Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Tito Jackson
The 90-minute film will also be available as a three-part series.
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And upcoming documentary feature will tell the story of the Jackson brothers not named Michael. According to Variety, the as-yet-untitled feature will trace the path of the four founding members of the Jackson 5 — siblings Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Tito Jackson — in a 90-minute feature film that will also be available as a three-part series.
According to a description, the three-years-in-the-making film tells the story of “four brothers and their journey as part of one of the world’s earliest and most successful and influential boy bands of all time and the various roads each of their lives took.”
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Directed by Benjamin Hirsch (JANET., Bruno v Tyson) the movie will trace the “extraordinary rise, triumph, fractures and reunion,” of the siblings from Gary, Ind. who rose to global superstardom in 1964 from humble beginnings. The family band — including youngest brother, Michael — signed to Motown Records in 1968 and became the first group to debut with four consecutive No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” “The Love You Save” and “I’ll Be There.”
Variety reported that the project features the final interview with Tito Jackson before his death in 2024 at 70 and employs observational filming, rare archive footage, previously unseen material and recollections from the four siblings about how they were shaped by their domineering father/manager, Joe Jackson.
A description alludes to father Joe’s “uncompromising determination,” which turned family rehearsals into a “relentless training ground,” adding that, “the four remember those early rehearsals differently — the pressure, the competition, the laughter between takes and the sense that, even as children, something extraordinary might be happening. They also remember their mother Katherine at the heart of the family operation, as they began to venture out beyond Gary.”
The group left Motown in 1976 to sign with Epic Records, with Jermaine being replaced by younger brother Randy in the act rechristened The Jacksons. They continued to score hits, including 1978’s disco-fied “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)” and 1981’s “Can You Feel It,” with Michael famously exploding into international superstardom in 1979 with his breakout solo LP Off the Wall.
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Director Hirsch said that following his work on the four-part 2022 documentary series JANET., “having the opportunity to work with the Jackson brothers is a huge privilege. From listening to their untold and amazing stories, delving into their rare and often unseen archival footage and rediscovering their incredible back catalog of hits, this film has been a real treat to put together.”
The film is currently being shopped to international buyers at the Mipcom trade show in Cannes, France.
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