Joseph Fiennes playing Michael Jackson in 9/11 film you won't believe is a true story

Road trip movie? Michael Jackson? 9/11.

If there’s one element more surprising than the casting of Joseph Fiennes as the king of pop for a new Sky Arts production, it’s the plot, based on a supposed road trip Michael Jackson took when fleeing New York in the wake of the landmark attack.

Legend has it that with the airports shut down, as the towers burnt a panicked Jackson picked up his close friends Marlon Brando and Liz Taylor in a hire car, moved them to a safe spot in New Jersey and then drove on to Hollywood, only getting as far as Ohio before catching a plane.

Fascinatingly, it is also said that with MJ behind the wheel (the man in the rear view mirror, if you will), Taylor called shotgun, resigning poor Brando to the backseat. There was no exact word on who had control of the stereo, but king of pop or not, we wouldn’t get in the way of Taylor.

Although Taylor’s former assistant later told Vanity Fair that the actress wasn’t present for the ride along at all, claiming she stayed behind to help first responders at Ground Zero and eventually left the city once the airports reopened, we’re holding out hope there's still truth in it. 

Along with the surprise casting of Fiennes, Stockard Channing plays Taylor and Brian Cox is superbly cast as Brando, rounding off quite the trio for the upcoming one-off half hour comedy.

A larger than life tale of A-list hermits fleeing a terrorist attack in a battered Hertz rental? You just can’t beat it. 

[Via: Uproxx]