Liberian Girl It is the video clip in which Michael Jackson brought together multiple Hollywood stars on a film set. The production is the eighth of nine short films that make up the album Bad.
Directed by Jim Yukich, the project was recorded in the late 1980s and focuses on the presence of dozens of celebrities who interact on a recording set, where Michael appears until the end.
“Liberian Girl It is not a song that kills. I pitched Michael the idea of him recording the video while all these people are waiting to start the video, and they don’t realize until the end that he’s directing. He loved the idea“said the director in statements to international media.
Jackson immediately accepted the proposal and they began to call the participants and “simply ask friends for favors,” managing to gather renowned actors, musicians, presenters and film directorsincluding: Whoopi Goldberg, Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta, Steven Spielberg, Quincy Jones, Debbie Gibson, “Weird Al” Yankovic and many more.
Among the characters is Bubbles, Michael Jackson’s spoiled chimpanzeewho lived with him on his Neverland ranch in California.
The recording took place over two days, in a studio where The production team recorded conversations, improvised scenes of the participants, as well as some lines that the scriptwriters suggested to the guests..
“It’s just great to have all these stars in one room and you’re filming and They were like, ‘What are you supposed to do?’ and we said, ‘We’ll call you’and you just miked everyone and filmed things,” he said.
Among the most curious scenes that were recorded are those of Steven Spielberg, the famous film directorwho, accustomed to being behind the cameras, seemed nervous by having to interact in front of one of them.
“I was nervous. We did that push-pull motion for that take, and he was more nervous than I was, you know, being in front of the camera. I wanted to do this favor for Michael because I wanted him for a movie,” Yukich recounted.
Finally, Michael Jackson arrived on set, oversaw the development of the project and requested adjustments in the final edit. The video clip was released in Europe in July 1989.
“Features three dozen actors, musicians and celebrities in a humorous ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at the set of a Michael Jackson short film, as they all await Michael’s arrival. At the end of the short film, when everyone gathers on the set, it is revealed that Michael had actually been there the entire time.as he descends from a camera crane laughing and says: ‘Okay, everyone, that’s a wrap!’” details the description of the production available on YouTube.