‘The Wiz’ Crew Had to Force Michael Jackson to Take Off His Costume and Leave the Set

While Michael Jackson was primarily a singer, he did some acting, including a role in The Wiz. Jackson played the Scarecrow in the 1978 film. He said he loved getting into character, something that the film’s crew became well aware of. He reportedly never wanted to leave the set, forcing crew members to coax him to go home.

Michael Jackson didn’t want to leave the set of ‘The Wiz’

Jackson and the people who knew him well described him as painfully shy. When he got on stage to perform, though, a different version of himself took over. He said that the same thing happened when he acted.

“When it’s time to go off [stage], I don’t want to. I could stay up there forever,” he told Rolling Stone. “It’s the same thing with making a movie. What’s wonderful about a film is that you can become another person. I love to forget. And lots of times, you totally forget. It’s like automatic pilot. I mean – whew.”

He liked playing the Scarecrow so much that the crew had to force him to leave the set after a day of filming. When he recorded the audiobook for E.T., he said he felt similarly.

“That’s what I loved about doing E.T. I was actually there,” he said. “The next day, I missed him a lot. I wanted to go back to that spot I was at yesterday in the forest. I wanted to be there.”

While Jackson didn’t do much acting beyond The Wiz, he made several more small appearances in films.