Jaafar Jackson joins Will Smith in Amazon MGM action thriller Supermax

Jaafar Jackson has joined Will Smith and AnnaSophia Robb in Supermax, an upcoming action thriller from Amazon MGM Studios and Miramax.

Jaafar Jackson, Will Smith to star in Amazon's next thriller film

The casting marks Jackson’s next major project following his breakout performance as his late uncle, Michael Jackson, in the biographical drama Michael. The film became a major commercial success and crossed the $1 billion mark at the global box office, establishing Jackson as one of Hollywood’s emerging young actors.

Details about Jackson’s role in Supermax are being kept under wraps. However, the character is said to be pivotal to the film’s central plot, which follows two FBI agents investigating an apparently impossible murder inside a maximum-security prison.

Smith and Robb are set to play the two FBI agents at the centre of the investigation. The case unfolds within the heavily secured walls of the prison, where the circumstances surrounding the killing are expected to form the basis of the thriller’s mystery.

The film will be directed by David Gordon Green, whose previous work includes Halloween, Halloween Kills and The Exorcist: Believer. The screenplay has been written by David Weil and David J Rosen.

Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman of The Picture Company will produce the project alongside Smith and Adam Fishbach through Westbrook Studios. Amazon MGM is finalising a deal for worldwide distribution rights, with the film expected to stream on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories.

Jackson’s casting comes after his performance in Michael drew significant attention for the physical and vocal resemblance he brought to the role of the King of Pop. As Michael Jackson’s nephew and the son of Jermaine Jackson, Jaafar carried the challenge of portraying one of the most recognisable performers in music history.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, Michael chronicles the singer’s rise from his early years with the Jackson 5 to his emergence as a global solo star. Jackson’s performance involved recreating several of his uncle’s distinctive dance movements, stage performances and musical mannerisms.

The biopic opened strongly and went on to become the highest-grossing biographical film of all time, with its worldwide earnings surpassing the $1 billion milestone.

While Michael placed Jackson at the centre of a large-scale musical biopic, Supermax will see him move into the action-thriller genre alongside Smith. The new project is expected to offer the actor a substantially different screen role as he builds on the attention generated by his debut performance.

Further details about Jackson’s character and the film’s production schedule have not yet been announced.