United Kingdom, April 28 -- Michael director Antoine Fuqua mistook a picture of Jafaar Jackson for an old photo of Michael Jackson.

The 60-year-old filmmaker has recalled how he was "blown away" when Director of Photography Bob Richardson showed him a picture of the 26-year-old star before he had signed up to work on the biopic of the late King of Pop - who died in 2009 aged 50 - and it helped convince him to sign on.

Antoine told Deadline: "Bob Richardson, the DP, we were working on Equalizer 3 together, and he showed me a photo of Michael Jackson and him on the set.

"And I said 'Bob, how do you look exactly the same with long grey hair with Michael? He said, 'That isn't Michael, it's Jaafar, his nephew, they did a test.' And it blew ...