Ya know... Michael Jackson and Edgar Allan Poe just really really don't seem to fit together, except that I happen to like both of them.

I discovered both Michael Jackson and Edgar Allan Poe at the exact same period of my life. As a THRILLER-kid... watching that early MTV documentary... Watching how much joy Michael seemed to be having being transformed by Rick Baker into... whatever Rick wanted... To me... It just seemed to be the most perfectly natural thing in the world.

So while I was going around trying to do my best 10 year old impression of Vincent Price going, "Though you fight to stay alive, your body starts to quiver, for no mere mortal may resist, the terror of the THRILLER" (from memory... may be wrong... it's been awhile) my father became annoyed at me and said (and I do remember this) "Harry, if you liked that song and that guy at the end, I have something to show you."

So I found myself entranced by all the Vincent Price: Edgar Allan Poe films. Then I began reading Poe. Then at school we had to begin reciting Poems from memory for the class and each and every year I recited a poem from the quill of Poe.

HOWEVER, I never ever in a billion zillion quadrillion years wanted or felt the desire to see the two meet.

Until... now.

For the past months... I've heard about this project. Refusing to believe it. It just didn't sound.... humanly possible or likely. It was obviously the concoction of a diseased mind. Then I found out it was really happening, and that it was Jackson himself responsible, so all those thoughts about 'a diseased mind' just went out the window.

I'm dying to read this script... I don't think you understand what this project has done to me. I'm trying to imagine a Michael Jackson... Poe film, and I can't. I keep seeing Tim Burton and Johnny Depp doing it, but I can not... for the life of me picture Michael Jackson and that soft voice of his playing Edgar Allan Poe.

So... I await it. It's like we have all been given the timeline for the Hindenburg or the Titanic. A disaster that you have to witness in person to believe it. And... somewhere beneath all of this Harry that I am today, is that 10 year old that would hum and sing THRILLER, BEAT IT, BILLIE JEAN, BAD, etc etc etc... As hard as it is to imagine what this is going to turn out to be... imagine trying to imagine it being a great movie? Scary huh?

After reading about 7 hours of talk backs below... I had the following response about all this that I was set to post to Talk Back, and decided to instead post here.... Here ya go...

Alright... I just had a particularly scary conversation, where... for the sake of argument I decided to ARGUE FOR THIS MOVIE.... under the pretense that it could.... NOT SUCK, BUT RULE. Ok ok ok ok ok... Here we go.... A long time ago, when Fred Astaire was still alive, in his last interview he was asked... "Who is the most talented showman of tomorrow?" And Astaire said... "Michael Jackson" Folks... Somewhere behind all of that weird ass shit that has been going on inside of Jackson for decades now is someone that Astaire saw as being... potentially the most talented showman of the future. And in that, he was talking about acting, singing, dancing and performing in general. Can Michael Jackson act? I don't know. Neither... do you... SO far every performance he has given has been MICHAEL JACKSON, scary guy, superhero, hunky dude, auto-erotic fella, etc... But... this is the first time EVER... that Michael Jackson will have to... Not dance... Not Sing... Not do any of the things we know as being Michael Jackson. This would be a new direction for his career... is it possible? A long time ago... Everyone thought it was ludicrous that Frank Sinatra was being cast in Academy Award style movies... Until they saw him. Hell... A producer had to have a dead horse head in his fucking bed before he'd cast Sinatra. The truth is... Jackson is one of the STRANGEST BIRDS in this world. He has weird exotic pets, the Elephant Man's carcass, a Robby The Robot lifesize... It has been alleged that he cavorts with younger types... Ya know... So did Poe. Folks, all I know was at the time... Poe was EXTREMELY WEIRD, MISUNDERSTOOD, AND PUBLICLY DISGRACED... He became a shadow of a man, burying himself in alcohol... tortured by visions.... What does Michael Jackson see in the mirror... Why does he change himself. He's got some strange internal things going on inside of him. Folks.... I'm not saying this is going to be a remarkable career turn around. I'm not going to say it's going to work.... BUt I do leave room in my mind for the possiblity that it could if the stars and planets and moons align. The guy not-so-secretly is very much enamored with transformation.... in changing. Can he do it? I don't know... but that part of me that begged and groveled for Jackson tickets on the night my dad took me to see THE BEACH BOYS instead of the Jackson 5... well.... I believed in Jacko once. I don't anymore... but damn if I don't love an underdog.... And ya know... You don't get much weirder or rooted against than Michael Jackson.