Abby Normal

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"[Michael] Jackson's body is still missing his brain, which coroners are temporarily keeping for testing." -- from a 7.10 N.Y. Post story about the temporary parking of Jackson's coffin in Berry Gordy's Forest Lawn crypt.

Jackson's brain, Donovan's Brain with Lew Ayres, The Man With Two Brains, the brain of Dr. Hans Delbar in Young Frankenstein. I feel an idea coming on. A struggling Broadway musical performer in his mid 20s comes to Vegas to find work. During a visit with an L.A. friend he's hit by an SUV on the Hollywood freeway. He's taken to USC and declared brain-dead. A brilliant irreverent L.A. surgeon somehow gets hold of Jackson's brain, reanimates it with Dr. Victor Frankenstein-styled lightning bolts and transplants it into the dancer's head. The kid survives and prospers as a kind of reincarnation of Michael Jackson -- a dancing genius with a gentle little voice and a thing for young lads.

And then what? At the very least it's a short film.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 10, 2009 at 9:19 AM

comment #1

BurmaShave says ...

When do the killer chickens come in?

Posted by BurmaShave at July 10, 2009 9:57 AM

comment #2

Stringer Bell says ...

Abby Normal, to say the least.

Posted by Stringer Bell at July 10, 2009 9:57 AM

comment #3

Rich S. says ...

Don't forget Bruce Campbell's directorial debut, The Man with the Screaming Brain. In fact, in light of his work on Bubba Ho-Tep, Bruce might be absolutely perfect for this gig.

Posted by Rich S. at July 10, 2009 10:01 AM

comment #4

Rich S. says ...

On a related note (sorry, I was out of the country last week), in all the Jackson-mania, has anyone else taken note of Corey Feldman's weird Single White Female-esque career suicide, when he started copying everything Michael Jackson did, right down to the jeri-curled hair?

He'd probably knock people over to play the part of the brain-dead musical performer. It's the role he was born to play.

Posted by Rich S. at July 10, 2009 10:06 AM

comment #5

Josh Massey says ...

And Feldman was at the Staples Center, dressed in all of his Michael-worshipping, Dream a Little Dream-era glory.

Posted by Josh Massey at July 10, 2009 11:02 AM

comment #6

George Prager says ...

Nice to see that Meredith Salenger, the chick from DREAM A LITTLE DREAM is still working.

Posted by George Prager at July 10, 2009 11:37 AM

comment #7

Mark Redfield says ...

Well, that's THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE, isn't it? With a man in the pan, instead of Jan.

Posted by Mark Redfield at July 10, 2009 1:42 PM

comment #8

DeeZee says ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWHNA_j7h5A

Posted by DeeZee at July 10, 2009 5:33 PM

comment #9

corey3rd says ...

Jeff - you're missing the cinematic irony - Michael Jackson played the Scarecrow in the Wiz and yet at the end of his life story, it's Michael Jackson who no longer has a brain.

Posted by corey3rd at July 10, 2009 6:06 PM

comment #10

DeeZee says ...

BTW, the New Beverly is screening The Wiz as a double with Return to Oz.

Posted by DeeZee at July 10, 2009 6:55 PM

comment #11

nemo says ...

This sounds like it's in the territory of They Saved Hitler's Brain.

The brilliant Henning Mankell, a Swedish crime writer, published few years ago called Kennedy's Brain. One of the characters is obsessed with stories that JFK's brain went missing after his autopsy, which again is beginning to sound a little like your story.

Posted by nemo at July 11, 2009 9:26 AM

comment #12