Just in: Michael Jackson’s Nephew Says He Slept on the Floor of Uncle’s Family Home to Prepare to Play Him in Biopic…see more

“To be able to live in those shoes, feel some of what he was feeling, see life through fresh eyes the way Michael did — it was important to feel all those things so I could come from a place of truth, rather than trying to imitate or copy the shape of the moves.

”Jaafar turned to Michael’s personal writings, including his journals, poems, mantras and affirmations. But to further his research, Jaafar says he even slept on the floor of Michael’s family home.

“You could have gotten an air mattress,” Teller suggests.“It’s funny because Graham said, ‘Are you sure you don’t want production to get a bed or anything?’ I got one of those thin Japanese-style mattresses,” Jaafar says.

He adds that in preparation for the film, he went back to Hayvenhurst — where he lived for 15 years — and set up a “research room.”