Posts Tagged ‘Kenny Ortega’

This Is It director Kenny Ortega has revealed what Michael Jackson last said to the crew as he told them

Posted by Sam on 2nd November 2009 in Michael Jackson

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This Is It director Kenny Ortega has revealed what Michael Jackson last said to the crew as he told them “this is the dream”.

The 59-year-old director was working with Jacko on his 50 London shows when he passed away in June and he has since created the movie This Is It out of 80 hours of footage from working on the shows.

Talking about their last meeting, he said to MTV News: “Michael stood out in front of the stage that night with me and looked up at the rehearsal and said: ‘This is the dream. We did it good, Kenny, We did it. Very good’.

“There was this anticipation of tomorrow, this anticipation of London and this great feeling about what we’d accomplished over the past couple of nights.

“He told me he was happy. He had nothing creatively or critically to say to anyone other than: ‘I love you, thank you, everyone’s doing a great job and I’ll see you tomorrow’.”

Michael Jackson had grand plans for world tour

Posted by Sam on 30th October 2009 in Concerts Tour, Michael Jackson, WORLD TOUR

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson’s final This Is It tour encompassed much more than 50 concerts in London.

Choreographer Kenny Ortega said Jackson had plans to take the O2 Arena tour of the UK around the world over a period of three years.

Ortega’s documentary of the same name has brought high acclaim in just 24 hours since opening, earning more than US$2.2 million on its first day in the US.

Ortega said Jackson talked a lot about a world tour that would have included Australia.

“We would just be hanging out on a rest break and sitting in the dressing room and he would say ‘Kenny, have you ever been to India?’ I would say, ‘No, I really want to go to India so badly. I haven’t been.’ He’d say, ‘You must. You must. When I take the show to India whatever you are doing you have to stop and come back and join the tour.’ He’d say, ‘What about Japan?’ I’d say, ‘Yes of course. I love Japan. I want to go to Japan.’ He’d say, ‘What about Africa?’ I’d say, ‘Yes, Africa’.”

Ortega said: “I realised he wanted the world. He wanted to take this all over the world.”

Michael Jackson’s fighting weight

Posted by Sam on 22nd October 2009 in Michael Jackson

The choreographer of the late pop legend’s final concerts and the man behind the soon to be hit movie “This is It!”, Kenny Ortega, recently told the story of how he was helping Michael Jackson fight weight soon before he died. Kenny Ortega said: “He was thin, but he was at what he liked to call his ‘fighting weight.’ He didn’t like to eat, but we were always watching him and making sure he had plenty of protein drinks and fluids. We were there sliding chicken salads in front of him and making sure he was OK. But he was strong and he was getting stronger.” So, let’s try and clarify this: Michael Jackson was at the ideal weight for fighting or what exactly is Kenny Ortega trying to say here? Oh well, at least they were there with the chicken salads every now and again… that must’ve been a real help.