“Michael” actress Effie Spence applied for background work on an unspecified movie before she was cast as Liza Minnelli in the newly released Michael Jackson biopic.
“I saw a posting, and I assumed it was ‘Michael’ because everything was really, really hush-hush at the time,” the actress revealed during an exclusive interview with Page Six.
“I submitted, forgot, and then I was waiting for sushi while I was in the car, many weeks later, and I got a phone call.”
She continued, “They were like, ‘Hi, we were just looking to see what your availability is. The director saw you and would like to cast you as Liza Minnelli.’ And I was like: ‘For what!? What!?'”
But because details on the project were kept so secret, Spence didn’t learn she was playing Minnelli in “Michael” until pre-production began and she started doing the costume fittings.
“It was very exciting. It was the first time that I got a custom-made outfit for a role, so that was very cool. It was incredible,” she shared. “Being in Liza’s hair, makeup, costume, energy, the way the set encouraged me, excited me, accommodated me, they were amazing. Everybody’s like, ‘Liza, do you need anything?’ And it was a blast.”
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The “Michael” star also opened up about what she learned while playing the Oscar-winning actress and singer.
“With Liza, my shoulders went a little bit more back, and my hands went a little bit more jazzy,” she recalled. “With the way that she approaches work and stardom and her humor and elegance, I’m just very, very grateful that I have those pieces in me now.”
Spence studied Minnelli’s interviews, movies, Broadway performances and mannerisms before production.
“I was already a huge fan, so I’m very familiar with Liza Minnelli’s work,” Spence explained. “My process is very much to absorb, observe, and then set it and forget it.”
She continued, “So, I watched a million interviews with her, I watched ‘Cabaret’ numerous times. ‘Maybe This Time’ is also one of my go-to musical theater songs.”
Directed by Antoine Fuqua, “Michael” focuses on the King of Pop’s life from his time with the Jackson Five in the late 1960s through the release of his third solo album, “Bad,” in 1987.
Jermaine Jackson’s son and Michael’s real-life nephew, 29-year-old Jaafar Jackson, stars in the biopic as the “Billie Jean” legend.
Spence’s Minnelli shows up during a scene at the iconic New York City nightclub-turned-theater Studio 54, and showcases her and Michael’s lasting friendship.
The pair first became close while Michael was filming “The Wiz” in 1978. Minnelli’s mom, Judy Garland, famously played Dorothy in the original 1939 “The Wizard of Oz” movie.
Both thrust into the spotlight as children, Michael and Minnelli remained good friends through the 1980s and 1990s and were often photographed together out on the town in NYC and Los Angeles.
The “Thriller” hitmaker even served as a best man and ring bearer at Minnelli’s star-studded wedding to her fourth husband, David Gest, in March 2002 after introducing the pair one year earlier.
Minnelli later remembered Michael as a “dear, dear friend” following his shocking death in June 2009 at the age of 50.
“I’m devastated. He was a dear, dear friend. All I can tell you, and I’m so upset, is that he was a wonderful man, a really nice, wonderful man,” she said at the time, per the BBC. “He was a genius talent, and I will miss him until the day I go.”
The EGOT-winning triple threat, now 80, remembered the “Beat It” singer and their “friendship for the ages” again earlier this year.
“From the moment I met Michael Jackson, I knew he was one of the most special people on earth,” she wrote on Instagram in February. “We saw each other through it all. The dazzling highs, the somber lows and everything in between. He was so much more than the King of Pop.”
Spence shared her thoughts about the pair’s close bond while discussing her portrayal of Minnelli in “Michael.”
“They had a beautiful relationship throughout their lives,” she told Page Six. “If you think about it, they’re both kids who grew up in an industry that’s not kind to children, so I think that they really locked in on each other for support.”
After hinting at a possible “Michael” sequel and praising Jaafar’s performance as his King of Pop uncle, Spence said she hopes to portray Minnelli again in the future.
“I would love to be asked back,” she told us. “I would love to expand that world for her. I know that she’s in the zeitgeist again with her memoir. I love all her work.”
Spence added, “If she’s got a biopic coming out, let’s continue that world for her with me as Liza. I promise I will honor her.”
