Estate Executor John Branca talks at Bad25 Venice film festival premiere

Executor Estate John Branca talked about his friendship with Michael Jackson at Bad25 Venice film festival premiere, media report.

Branca remembered the day he got married on December 11, 1987, and Bubbles the chimpanzee was a guest. “He was fully dressed in a tuxedo with a pocket square,” remembered Branca, Michael Jackson’s lawyer and friend, and now the Co-Executor and co-manager of his Estate.

John Branca was at the Venice Film Festival to promote “Bad 25” -- a vivid making-of documentary about the 1987 album, directed by Spike Lee. Branca is an executive producer.

He met the press on the seafront terrace of the Excelsior Hotel on Venice’s Lido Island, after Lee presided over a small media roundtable, memorably attired in a “Bad” T-shirt, a black beret, and a large crucifix composed of tiny skulls.

Lee would have preferred “Bad 25” to come out on the big screen instead of directly on TV. He fretted that, nowadays, youngsters watch movies on smartphones, even on first viewing, and pointed to his unamused teenage son, who listened quietly from behind a table of uneaten sandwiches.

Branca -- in a black suit and pocket square -- looked back to his time with Jackson, whom he represented in the 1980s and 1990s, all the way up to 2006. He rejoined the team the week before June 25, 2009.

When asked whether there were financial as well as creative motives behind the 25th-anniversary tribute, he said, "Yes: It’s been widely reported in the press that there was a substantial amount of debt,” Branca said. “So we felt we had to address that for the benefit of Michael’s children.” 

John Branca and John McClain have been appointed by Michael Jackson in his will to take care of his Estate, and although Michael Jackson had debts, he never failed to support his children and his mother, who are also the beneficiaries of his Estate.

Privately, Branca remembered Jackson as “always very respectful of people,” “very fun-loving” and “a bit of a prankster.” At the Jackson residence, the chimp was a great source of entertainment: He copied whoever he saw -- including the domestic help.

“Bubbles would have his cleaning rag out,” Branca said. “And Michael would joke with him: ‘Oh, Bubbles, there you are cleaning again!’”

Jackson was otherwise very close to Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees -- he was the godfather of one of Gibb’s children -- and to Marlon Brando, whose son worked with Jackson and still works for the Estate, according to Branca.

By contrast, Jackson’s relationship with Prince was frosty, and there was a “healthy competition” between them. Still, one day, Jackson asked Branca to set up a meeting between them to discuss collaborating on the song “Bad.”

“Michael’s vision was that he and Prince would sing this as a duet,” Branca said. “’Who’s bad?’ and they would sing back and forth.”

The meeting (which Branca didn’t attend) went badly, and the duet never happened. “Apparently Prince brought Michael a gift, and it was some sort of voodoo box, and Michael was convinced Prince was trying to place a spell on him.”

After the release of “Thriller” -- the best-selling album of all time -- Michael had “a significant amount of disposable income.”

Never keen on buildings or tax shelters, he started buying music catalogs, including Sly and the Family Stone’s. When the Beatles library came on the market, Jackson asked Branca to contact Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney.

Ono said, "she would be very pleased." McCartney’s attorney said he wasn’t bidding. After a year, Jackson forked out $47.5 million for the purchase. The songbook is now part of a conglomerate that Branca describes as the biggest music publisher in the world, of which Michael Jackson and now the Michael Jackson Estate owns 50%, while the other 50% is owned by Sony.

Branca was also asked which of the children look likely to follow in his footsteps, and he said, “They’re a little too young to predict that, Paris is very charismatic, and she’s expressed an interest in a film career. I could see her doing that,” he said of Michael Jackson’s 14- year-old daughter. 

Executive producer John Branca added: "We will be showing it to Prince, Paris and Blanket.

“Quite frankly the film was just completed just before Mr Lee came over, and so as soon as we get to Los Angeles we know that they are very excited to see it.“

"Bad 25" is showing out of competition at this year's festival, with no cinema release date set so far.