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"Spike Lee has spoken about his upcoming Michael Jackson documentary. The filmmaker has been working on a new project about the making of Jackson&amp;#039;s classic album Bad, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.   Lee explained that the he agreed to take on the film because Bad highlights an important era in Jackson&amp;#039;s career. &amp;quot;Why Bad? Why not the story of Thriller?&amp;quot; he told BBC News. &amp;quot;Well, I think Bad is right up there with the great albums of all time and also it&amp;#039;s a much more interesting story. Don&amp;#039;t forget, there were four or five years between the releases of the two albums, and some thought Michael&amp;#039;s star might wane. &amp;quot;Of course he didn&amp;#039;t think that - it&amp;#039;s well documented that he wanted to sell even more copies of Bad. He was aiming to sell 100 million. &amp;quot;That was never going to happen, but in Bad we see the first album that was made for stadium pop. And, unlike Thriller, this album spawned five number one singles. It was a sensation.&amp;quot;  Lee&amp;#039;s film will tell the story behind each track on the album, and he agreed to take part as it documents Jackson&amp;#039;s talents rather than his personal life. &amp;quot;I was approached by both Sony Music and the Michael Jackson estate to make this, and one of the reasons I was so glad to do it was because it was going to focus on the music of Michael Jackson, and not so much of the celebrity. &amp;quot;There have been too many years when we all, myself included, concentrated on stuff about Michael Jackson that has nothing to do with the music. &amp;quot;Yes, he was eccentric, but this isn&amp;#039;t the point of the film. This is the time to look at the man&amp;#039;s genius. I see this as my love letter to him.&amp;quot; Spike Lee previously worked with Michael Jackson on the video for 1996&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;They Don&amp;#039;t Care About Us&amp;#039;. Talking about their time working together, he added: &amp;quot;[Michael was the] the politest man I will ever meet in my life... he was so considerate, he was almost saintly. &amp;quot;He took the video, and made it into an art form. &amp;#039;Beat It&amp;#039;, &amp;#039;Billie Jean&amp;#039;, &amp;#039;Thriller&amp;#039;, &amp;#039;Bad&amp;#039; - those videos will stand forever.&amp;quot; Bad 25 - a special 25th anniversary edition of the classic album - was released in the UK on Monday (September 17) and a day later in the US. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a406811/michael-jackson-bad-film-is-love-letter-to-star-says-spike-lee/>