Published: 18:00 BST, 15 August 2026 | Updated: 21:10 BST, 15 August 2026
Guiding us round the original Jackson family home in Gary, Indiana, flicking nostalgically through family photo albums, fooling around with assistants in his personal limousine… these never-before-seen videos show a pop superstar at the peak of his fame.
In 2001, defying lingering allegations of child molestation, Michael Jackson decided to make a fly-on-the-wall-style documentary which would show him chatting to celebrities, meeting 'real' fans and travelling back into his past.
There's certainly no shortage of confidence as Jackson gives words of reassurance to a 19-year-old Beyonce, then emerging as a star in her own right. He even laughingly tells cameras he's glad that 'dirty pictures' have been removed from the bedroom he once shared with his brothers and fellow performers in the Jackson Five.
In November 2003, with the new documentary still filming, officers from the Santa Barbara Sheriff's department raided the star's Neverland ranch in California, part of a criminal investigation into sex abuse.
It was a shattering blow. Two years later, he would be acquitted but for Jackson – who fled the US for Bahrain in the wake of the verdict – the doors were slamming shut.
TV networks lost interest in the documentary, leaving Jackson's friend and producer Marc Schaffel with a mountain of unused footage.
Yet that might soon change. For, while his reputation has been battered in the 15 years since his death, the King of Pop is having a posthumous renaissance.
In 2001, defying lingering allegations of child molestation, Michael Jackson decided to make a fly-on-the-wall-style documentary
Included in the footage shot as part of the film, Jackson was seen meeting with a 19-year-old Beyonce (pictured here sitting on producer Marc Schaffel's knee)
Filmmaker Marc Schaffel helped interpret a bizarre episode in another of the clips, in which Jackson is sprayed with perfume in his limousine
The new biopic, Michael, has been a huge success and, grossing more than $1billion, has created a new generation of fans. A sequel is already in production.
Now Mr Schaffel believes that his own footage – one of the last sustained portraits ever made of Jackson – is relevant once again and plans to release a new film portrait of his own, tentatively titled The Real Michael.
Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, the producer said: 'During the time these clips were shot Michael was about at the pinnacle of his second half of his career. The 1993 allegations made by Jordan Chandler had passed. He was in a great mood and the fans were very welcoming to him.
'The material was originally shot to be a reality show I was making about Michael.