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"Home of the Angels" (Cancelled Film Project)

Date range confirmed in “Rolling Stone” (archived) (“Jackson brought the project to Stoller’s attention during a screening for Stoller’s film “Undercover Angels”... at Neverland Ranch a year and a half ago”); “Undercover Angels” was released on May 16, 1999 and “a year and a half ago” would be May 1999.

Bryan Michael Stoller, filmmaker, “Rolling Stone” (November 13, 2001) (archived)

With his new album, Invincible, on top of the charts, Michael Jackson is lining up his next challenge: conquering the feature film world.

Jackson will co-direct a new movie called Home of the Angels with his friend Bryan Michael Stoller. Shooting is scheduled to begin next May in Stoller’s native Canada.

“It’s about a young boy about eight-years-old,” Stoller says. “He finds himself in and out of orphanages. It’s kind of Stand By Me with a little bit of Oliver. It’s a dramatic piece, not a musical. It’s a pretty serious piece too. And it’s sort of all about growing up, and who to trust, and him being afraid of trusting people because the people he cares about tend to go away. It’s a pretty emotional piece.”

Jackson brought the project to Stoller’s attention during a screening for Stoller’s film Undercover Angels (Yasmine Bleeth, James Earl Jones) at Neverland Ranch a year and a half ago.

“After he saw the movie, he turned to me and said there’s a book he read a few years ago that he wants to direct,” Stoller says. “Our sensibilities are very similar, and he asked if I would like to co-direct and produce it with him, and then he gave me the book and we bought the rights to it.”

The duo hopes to use Jackson’s connections to attract big-name actors for the project, which is based on a true story. “We feel we can get people like the Nicolas Cages and the Julia Roberts,” Stoller says. “The movie pretty much stars the child, but there’s adults he comes into contact with throughout the film. So the name actors, we would probably only use them for a week or two each.”

Jackson will also help score the film. “The songs he writes will probably be the opening title, closing credits,” Stoller says. “It will be probably more ballads, because of the material. We haven’t really talked about this, but he may also write just instrumental music for the actual picture in certain places.”

Currently the duo is in talks with major studios that have expressed interest in funding the project. “We haven’t decided what studio we’re going to go with,” Stoller says. “We’re just talking with people now. When you say ‘a Michael Jackson film,’ there tends to be a lot of interest and curiosity.”

“The Canadian Press” (November 15, 2001) (archived)

Filmmaker Bryan Michael Stoller plans to return to Canada next year to help pop star Michael Jackson make his debut as a film director. "Michael has for a long time wanted to direct feature films," Stoller, 41, said from his Los Angeles home, adding that the two have a lot in common. "We really hit it off. We're both introverts. We both are big kids, definitely, and we both were child stars."

Stoller and Jackson, 43, will share directing credit on “Home of The Angels”, to shoot in Toronto and Ottawa probably next summer. Stoller wrote the script for the drama set in New York that he describes as "like Stand By Me with a little bit of Oliver," about an eight-year-old orphaned boy.

“Michael can relate to this because I think he feels that he kind of grew up as an orphan. Some of his favorite movies are 'Boys Town' and 'Oliver.’”, he says.

Jackson won't appear in the film, but is financing its modest $12-million production and will write a song or two for the soundtrack. Stoller, who grew up in Ottawa, by age 12 had spun his talent for making short films into hosting the CBC series Film Fun. As an adult, he's directed the TV series Tales From The Darkside and written and produced the documentary “The Making of Slapstick”. He’s made three features, Undercover Angels, The Random Factor and Turn Of The Blade.

He and Jackson first met 15 or so years ago, when Jackson inquired about a young actor Stoller had featured in an HBO short. Jackson cast Brandon Adams in Badder, his spoof of his music video “Bad”.

Stoller heard from Jackson again 18 months ago, this time with a request to screen Undercover Angel and an invitation to Neverland Ranch.

“It’s like going to Disneyland and there’s nobody there except him,” Stoller says of the spread with private zoo, movie theatre, and railroad. But he’s quick to defend his eccentric friend from public perceptions that he’s a weirdo. "See, people get it wrong. There’s a difference. You can be childlike, but not childish," he said. “Even people in their 70s and 80s can be childlike and it’s very endearing.”