JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot is now attached to adapt Tavis Smiley’s upcoming book Before You Judge Me: The Triumph And Tragedy Of Michael Jackson’s Last Days for Warner Bros Television. Smiley and Abrams’ Bad Robot both have TV deals with Warner Bros, and the announcement of the upcoming collaboration comes just one day prior to Smiley’s book being published by Little, Brown and Company.
Before You Judge Me will give audiences a glimpse into the final days of the life of modern pop music icon Michael Jackson. Deadline reports “the book examines the soaring highs and deep lows faced by the late pop star – his constant hunt for privacy in a life that was more public than almost any other, and the pressures he endured as someone whose fame made him socially fragile and almost unable to live.”
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Smiley set up this project for development back in October under a multi-year deal in addition to an adaptation of Smiley’s book My Journey With Maya, “a memoir of the author’s nearly 30-year friendship with the renowned poet Maya Angelou.”
This new venture will be the second time Smiley and Bad Robot have worked together with WBTV. They previously collaborated on Smiley’s book Death Of A King: The Real Story Of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Final Year.
Smiley, Abrams, and David Brewington will take on executive producer duties on Before You Judge Me, which will be produced by Bad Robot Productions with Tavis Smiley TV & Film in association with WBTV.
