“I can relate to you, because you’re an artist.”
Michael Jackson to Philip Levens, as told to The New York Times Magazine
“The Rise and Fall and Rise of Michael Jackson”
By Mark Binelli · April 14, 2026
When Michael Jackson wanted to play Edgar Allan Poe
In the late ’90s, Jackson pursued a film about Poe’s last days and mysterious death—and that he meant to disappear into the role with heavy makeup and prosthetics. Philip was the screenwriter. The movie was never made, but the meetings at Neverland were real: conversations about “Annabel Lee,” a formal dinner with silver-domed trays, and a private performance in Jackson’s home studio. Binelli’s report on Jackson’s estate and the biopic Michael puts Philip’s memories on the record.