'Captain EO' Was A Bizarre Fever Dream With Michael Jackson As The Main Character

Although Jackson's signature, provocative dance moves had been part of his choreography for years, Disney deemed them too inappropriate for a family film. The film editors could work around the pop star's offensive dancing, but management still had reservations about Jackson.

Cinematographer Peter Anderson remembers that Jackson made the editing process difficult because of how often he would dance inappropriately. He recalls that it was "part of his routine. So it wasn’t like [he was only] occasionally doing it. It was on his beat."

Michael Eisner, former chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, came up with the idea for Capitan EO. His goal was to create an exclusive movie that would only be shown at Disney parks with a big enough star to bring in visitors worldwide.

Disney was losing steam in what Yahoo refers to as the "post-Star Wars blockbuster era." They knew they needed something big, so they hired George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola to produce and direct an extravagant music video that would resonate with fans and contribute to Michael Jackson's superstar status. Although Lucas did add to the film, Rusty Lemorande was hired to oversee the project due to Lucas's busy schedule.

According to Eisner, Jackson would visit Disney parks frequently, sometimes in full disguise. Given his success just a few years prior with Thriller and his adoration for Disney, Jackson became the perfect star with the worldwide appeal Disney needed.

Eisner noted that Disney initially sought Jackson because he "appealed to teenagers, but also young kids, and even their parents." Frank Wells, Disney COO at the time, alleged that the studio began workshopping when they learned that Jackson was a Disney fan. 

The film's final budget exceeded the original estimate by millions. At the start of the film, the budget was about $11 million, but due to "nearly 150 effects shots, and the countless revisions and additions," more money was required to complete the film properly.

In the end, the project cost between $17 million and $30 million in total - with many reports settling on the figure of $23.7 million - making it one of the most expensive short features ever created.

According to both Lemorande and Disney puppeteer Terri Hardin, Shelley Duvall was initially selected to play the Supreme Leader (often called the evil queen) because Jackson wanted the character to be as scary as possible, and Duvall had proved her horror chops in The Shining.

But Duvall was uncomfortable when she found out the queen's costume required "a three-quarter-to-full makeup" for the role. The process to become the queen meant being encased with layers of makeup and fake prosthetics and Duvall's claustrophobia prompted her to back out. Anjelica Huston took over.

Jackson wanted Steven Spielberg to direct the film, but since he was unavailable, Lucas called in his friend and mentor Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola's friendship with Lucas was not his only motivator to take the job, however. His previous films, Rumble Fish, The Cotton Club, and One From the Heart had failed at the box office, and he found himself in a "pseudo-bankruptcy situation."

He reportedly needed to take what he could get to pay the bank, which he managed by taking on projects like Captain EO.