British Actor Joseph Fiennes

"I was shocked that they would come to me for the casting. You have to ask them as to why they would want to cast me. It's a sketch about a story that could have been a legend or could have been true. So we'll see what the audience make of it," said Joseph Fiennes

Now, a version of what so horrified Michael Jackson - who, if anyone needs to be reminded, died in 2009 - has come to pass. The very white actor Joseph Fiennes, perhaps best known for playing the Bard in Shakespeare in Love, has been cast as Jackson in a film for British television

The white British star of Shakespeare in Love plays the black King of Pop in Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon, alongside Stockard Channing as Elizabeth Taylor and Brian Cox as Marlon Brando. The casting news comes amid a debate about lack of diversity in Hollywood

"I was shocked that they would come to me for the casting. You have to ask them as to why they would want to cast me. It's a sketch about a story that could have been a legend or could have been true. So we'll see what the audience make of it," said Joseph Fiennes

Now, a version of what so horrified Michael Jackson - who, if anyone needs to be reminded, died in 2009 - has come to pass. The very white actor Joseph Fiennes, perhaps best known for playing the Bard in Shakespeare in Love, has been cast as Jackson in a film for British television

The white British star of Shakespeare in Love plays the black King of Pop in Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon, alongside Stockard Channing as Elizabeth Taylor and Brian Cox as Marlon Brando. The casting news comes amid a debate about lack of diversity in Hollywood