George Michael performs on stage during his 'Faith' tour at Earls Court Arena in London, England, June 15, 1988. Redferns WME hosted a screening of the upcoming concert film, “George Michael: The Faith Tour,” at IMAX’s LA HQ on Friday night… just for fun.
“We have nothing to do with this movie,” announced WME co-chairman Richard Weitz at the screening, urging attendees to just have a great time and even get up and dance in the aisles. “This is for fun, which means… you are allowed to stand up and dance,” said the super-agent. “It’s a concert.”
WME’s Brandt Joel wore a vintage Michael T-shirt and told the audience inside IMAX’s David Keighley Theater that he’d attended the 1988 concert recorded for the documentary at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy.
“I was in San Diego in 1988 when this was happening, and some friends called me from school and said, ‘We’re living in France, and he’s playing Paris. You should come!'” he recalled of attending the gigs. (The agent graduated from Duke, then joined the Navy for four years. He was, “a naval officer, but loved George Michael,” he recounted.)
Also in the crowd was photographer Chris Cuffaro, who was documenting the iconic ’88 “Faith” tour on the scene at the time. He shot the photo of the pop icon that appears on the film’s poster.
“George was the best of the best,” said the photographer, who was in his mid-20s when he attended about 20 dates on the “Faith” tour. (He also recalled a wild tale of trying Ecstasy when Elton John joined the tour for a couple of tunes in Hawaii.)
Cuffaro said he’d cried 10 times during the screening, seeing the late Michael, who was just 24 at the time, on stage.
Before the screening, guests gathered on an outdoor patio at IMAX and dined on doughy delicacies by Olive Wood Pizza. “It’s just a movie everyone wanted to see,” said an attendee of the event between bites. The crowd included Netflix execs Ori Marmur and Jason Young, president of Disney Television Group Craig Erwich, Aero CEO Ben Klein, NBC’s EVP of live events and specials Jen Neal as well as the network’s EVP of entertainment casting Grace Wu, WME’s Ari Greenburg and Elyse Scherz, and Aidan Weitz and Taylor Mercur of the newly launched hospitality social media app Revisit.
The footage of the Paris shows — Michael’s first solo gigs after leaving the toothy pop duo Wham! — was previously thought to be lost, and has been restored for a Dec. 11 domestic release via Bleecker Street’s Crosswalk label.
Michael performs songs in the doc including “I Want Your Sex,” “Father Figure,” “Everything She Wants,” “Careless Whisper,” “Faith,” “I’m Your Man” and many more.
