Shadowing Practice: Michael (2026) - The Making Of A Michael Jackson Movie | Behind The Scenes - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

B2
I remember
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I remember
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the very first time when I had a call with Graham King, the producer.
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He spoke to me about it.
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It was so early on, it was a lot to take in.
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I'd never acted before, I'd never wanted to act,
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so I had a lot of conflict with it because I wasn't sure if I could really do it or not.
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So then I got with an acting coach and I really want to learn what is acting, you know, and start there before trying to embody Michael.
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So I did that for about a year and then I started to really study Michael's videos, his lyrics, everything about him.
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And that's when I started to embody him.
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I just felt that the world needed to see him up the side of Michael that they can't see on YouTube.
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And, you know, he's not been with us for a while now.
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So it felt like this bringing him back and bringing his music back and celebrating him.
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I could not imagine anyone else playing the part.
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When I met Jafar, he's such a sweet spirit.
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I could tell he had the same sort of spirit as Michael.
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But when he started to perform, that kind of blew my mind because he's never done it before.
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It all started with the set list of songs because we can start anywhere.
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But I think when we got the script
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and we had a breakdown of each song that was being presented in the film, we sort of, that was our starting point.
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From that point, you know, it was just about figuring out how to start, which was with the foundation, and just knowing how to build from there.
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And then also a lot of studying, a lot of homework, a lot of research, and we studied, you know, us three, me, my brother,
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and Jafar would just sit at a computer and just watch Michael Jackson performances
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all day and then we would pause and just we would just have conversations
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and to see how he would articulate what he's watching because Michael would learn by watching the television.
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That's right.
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He never went to a dance studio so we wanted to make sure Jafar was
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fully equipped with knowing how to pick up with learning from his watching.
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I collected a large archival of footage I gather from YouTube
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and any other websites of all the dancing and even just off camera.
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He didn't realize he was on camera, like just in a conversational setting.
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And I used that to really immerse myself and dissect everything in that way.
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And then just allowed that to kind of channel through me.
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I spent a year just researching and going into the archives and reading his private notes to himself, interviewing his brothers and his family, trying to get some insights.
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And also, I was a huge fan.
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I mean, Thriller came out the year I graduated from college, and in Chicago, it, like, changed the world.
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So, you know, I never got tired of that.
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It came out of nowhere, really.
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When Graham King called me about directing it, I wasn't thinking about directing a Michael movie.
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I'm excited that he did.
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But, yeah, it's important to me.
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I think Michael's legacy is important to keep alive.
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I think any great artist like that that's given us so much, we should try to learn a little bit more about it.
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And this is an opportunity to do that.
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Watching Jafar stepping into the loafers.
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Well, you know what?
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That's something that we used against him a lot.
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It was part of our secret weapon.
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It was like, OK, do you think it's good enough?
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Do you think it's good enough?
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But what do you think your uncle think is good enough?
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Do you think Michael think it's good enough?
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You know what I mean?
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And then it got quiet.
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And then it got quiet.
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And you know what I'm saying?
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But like, it's just surreal to see him.
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You know, he's a Jackson, obviously.
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And what amazing family to come from, to be a part of that bloodline, the Jackson bloodline.
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That's excellence, that's black excellence of America.
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All we wanted to do was to honor and celebrate Michael.
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You're going to see the process in which he took from becoming a young child star to becoming an adult star.
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And I think, you know, the difference between us and him is that he had millions and millions of people watching him
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as he was trying to go through the process of self-discovery, which is difficult for everyone.
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And so the story is told from his point of view.
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You really are inside of his mind watching the film, and I think that that's super important and amazing, and something new.
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And that's the story that Graham King and Antoine Foucault set out to tell.
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I think it's a blessing that I still will figure out later in my life
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about exactly what I've been experiencing with Jafar.
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He is divine.
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He is love.
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He is spirit.
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He is dance.
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He is truly the only one that could have played Michael in this film.
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It's interesting.
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I think the young generation are going to see a side of Michael they've never seen before.
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They know him from the bad era on.
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And we're going back to the roots into Gary, Indiana.
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And I think the young generation are going to learn a lot about Michael that they didn't know.
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You know, it was the performances, it was, you know, Motown 25 when he did Billie Jean, and suddenly you saw the moonwalk for the first time.
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You know, and also just his personal story, because I think that's what's so rewarding for audiences, is they've seen great performances,
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but they get to find out who Michael Jackson actually was and what his struggles were.
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The concert scenes alone are incredible.
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Like, if you never got a chance to see Mike in concert, this is as close as you're gonna get.
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Jafar is out of this world, and Giuliano as well.
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And those moments in between, you know, those little quiet moments in between, you get sort of a peek behind the veil and see the man, the humanity behind the icon.
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I had a research book, over 800 pages, of just Michael's looks and the Jackson 5.
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It was very important for me to replicate what was available to me in current day, as far as fabric, but even down to the rhinestones,
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even the socks and the gloves.
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And so I like to say his spirit kind of guided me through LA to find certain things
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that allowed me to recreate his look almost to a T.
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It's a spectacle.
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It is an epic story with, you know, as loud as you could play it on the widest possible screen to see those performances
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and to see him explode the way he exploded in life.
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That's the way Michael would want you to see it, so you can feel that magic and I think it's important to get immersed in it through the big screen,
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through the big sound and especially with the performances but also those little moments where you want to see that, the emotion in the eyes so you can only get that on the big screen.

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Why practice speaking with this video?

This behind-the-scenes look at the making of a Michael Jackson movie provides a unique opportunity for English learners to practice speaking. The speaker shares personal experiences and insights, allowing your shadowing practice to feel authentic and engaging. By imitating the tone and emotion conveyed in the interview, you can enhance your speaking skills and better understand conversational English. Using this shadowspeak technique, learners can improve their pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation, which are essential for effective communication.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Within the video transcript, several key structures and expressions stand out that can greatly benefit English learners:

  • “I remember the very first time” – This phrase highlights the use of past simple to recount memories, which is a fundamental aspect of storytelling in English.
  • “It felt like this bringing him back” – The gerund form used here allows learners to understand the concept of using verbs in a noun form, which can enhance their fluency in conversation.
  • “I could not imagine anyone else” – This phrase demonstrates the conditional "could" to express ability or imagination, a useful structure for everyday conversation.
  • “We studied, you know, us three” – The informal tone of including “you know” reflects common English conversational fillers that provide a more relaxed and friendly speech pattern.

These structures not only help learners construct sentences but also encourage them to express their own thoughts more naturally in English.

Common Pronunciation Traps

As you listen and practice shadowing this video, pay close attention to the following tricky words and phrases that may pose challenges:

  • "embody" – The 'b' and 'd' sounds can be easily confused; practice emphasizing them to avoid mispronunciation.
  • "articulate" – The stress on the second syllable can be tricky; make sure to pronounce it as ar-TIC-u-late.
  • "legacy" – Be aware of the 'g' sound and practice saying it clearly to prevent it from sounding like 'lechacy' when speaking quickly.

By focusing on these pronunciation traps while using this shadow speech method, learners can improve their overall communication skills and ensure they sound more fluent and natural in English. Utilizing resources like this shadowing site can add variety to your practice, providing engaging content to help you learn English with YouTube effectively.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

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