Michael: How Dion Beebe, ASC, ACS Lit Four Eras of Michael Jackson Concerts on a Single Soundstage

Michael cinematographer Dion Beebe, ASC, ACS says that in preproduction meetings with director Antoine Fuqua and producer Graham King, one thing was at the forefront of the filmmakers' discussions: scale. "Michael [Jackson] only did stadiums," Beebe tells American Cinematographer. "He was all about that experience; he was doing things on a scale that very few artists had done before. So, we had to tackle that from a practical and creative standpoint."

Re-creating the singer's sprawling sold-out shows tasked the crew with solving a crucial problem: All four of the career-defining tours depicted in Michael would need to be shot on a single soundstage at Sony Pictures Studios. Hundreds of lighting fixtures were used to capture these four different eras, but before any of them were rigged on Stage 27, Beebe, chief lighting technician Mike Ambrose and lighting-desk operator Brian M. Fisher turned to Unreal Engine to design their varied looks and light the stage virtually. All of that data was exported directly to the lighting console, which gave the team a critical head start on a shoot whose first two weeks would be consumed by concert sequences.

The filmmakers aimed for their lighting design to adhere strictly to period accuracy, and this approach extended to the fixtures themselves. Two of AC's editors witnessed this firsthand during a visit to the Sony Stage, which is detailed in forthcoming coverage in our May/June '26 issue: Up close, they observed that the lighting rig used period fixture housings that were re-lamped with Fuse LED lamps, which had to look authentic because they would be visible on camera behind actor Jaafar Jackson. Replica stamped-aluminum gel frames were attached to the front of each unit to help sell the period look. The LEDs were combined with more than 500 tungsten PAR cans, with aluminum salad bowls mounted on them to mimic period scoop lamps. The rig took six weeks to construct; Ambrose and key grip Jim Kwiatkowski built a system of rolling, suspended rigs that could be shifted from the front of the stage to the back overnight, enabling massive changeovers between concert eras.

"Starting with these huge numbers certainly created additional pressure on the crew," Beebe says, "but the main reason for doing it was to get Jaafar onstage and help build his confidence. But when he stepped onstage during day one, he just blew us all away." He adds: "We had to be period-sensitive but innovative in bringing Michael's performances to a new audience. It takes a village, and this took the best of Hollywood."

Unit stills by Glen Wilson. Images courtesy of Lionsgate and the filmmakers.

Discover more on the making of Michael in American Cinematographer's May/June 2026 issue. Our in-depth coverage of the production, by Bill Desowitz, is one of this upcoming issue's four collectible cover stories.

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