Joseph Fiennes as Michael Jackson, Stockard Channing as Liz Taylor in 9/11 Road Trip Movie

[Photos: Tumblr/Wiki]

Buckle your seatbelts, kids, 'cause this one's a doozy. So Joseph Fiennes, Stockard Channing and Brian Cox will play Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando in a British TV movie about their 9/11 road trip from New York to California.

What a time to be alive! And thank god none of them are to see this.

According to a 2011 Vanity Fair article, the three late superstars escaped from New York during the 9/11 terrorist attacks in a car, getting as far as Ohio, thanks in part to Brando insisting on the trio stopping at nearly every fast food restaurant along the way:

Michael Jackson was in New York, where he'd just given two concerts, on the 7th and 10th of September, at Madison Square Garden, to which he had brought two of his closest friends and idols: Marlon Brando and Elizabeth.

[...]

All three found themselves trapped in the city after the Twin Towers fell. Michael had gotten a call from friends in Saudi Arabia who warned that America was under attack. He hollered down the hallway of his hotel for everyone in his entourage, and for Brando, to leave immediately. Elizabeth was staying at another hotel, the St. Regis, a few blocks away.

[...]

In one version, these three towering icons of American pop culture planned their escape...Unable to fly, they drove out of the city.

Taylor's assistant claimed that Liz stayed in New York, went to church to pray and visited Ground Zero, but that's not the version Neil Forsyth is going with--he's writing the script for a one-off special for Sky Arts.

"It's a challenge. It's a comedy. It doesn't poke mean fun," Fiennes told WENN. "It's a lovely thing about Michael's relationship with Liz Taylor and Marlon Brando. It's a fun, light-hearted tongue in cheek road trip of what celebrity of that kind is like. But also it's rather beautiful and poignant about their relationships as well."

This is either going to be a shitshow or amazing, either way--count me in. As for Fiennes being cast as Michael Jackson, the Internet had some thoughts on the matter. If this were a serious biopic about the pop legend, I might be inclined to care more, but considering how insane this movie sounds, Fiennes as the King of Pop sounds like the least of its problems.