Urban Myths — Trailer

source:   sky.com

added: Tue, Jan 10th '17

Check out the first peek at Joseph Fiennes as Michael Jackson in the newly released trailer for the upcoming tongue-in-cheek comedy, which is set to air on British television later this month.

Directed by "The Inbetweeners" director Ben Palmer, "Urban Myths" is an offbeat British comedy series that features a collection of "true...ish stories" about odd, strange (likely fictional) events involving iconic celebrities. (Think, 'Drunk History' meets 'E! True Hollywood Story.')

Fiennes plays the King of Pop in one of the show's comedy sketches, which reenacts a bizarre story of a cross-country road trip that Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor (Stockard Channing), and Marlon Brando (Brian Cox) supposedly took following the events of 9/11.

The casting of Fiennes as the late pop singer did draw some serious criticism last year. But the fact that the project is a sharp-edged satire intended to test the limits of bad taste could give some critics pause.

Update: Due to the recent backlash, which included members of Michael Jackson's own immediate family, Sky Arts has decided to not to broadcast the controversial Joseph Fiennes episode (via twitter.com).

"Urban Myths" also stars Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan) as Bob Dylan, Ben Chaplin (The Legend of Tarzan) as Cary Grant, Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones) as Dr. Leary, David Threlfall (Shameless) as Samuel Beckett, Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones) as Adolf Hitler and Rupert Grint (Harry Potter) as Hitler's Friend.

The series is set to premiere in the U.K. on Thursday, January 19th on the Sky Arts network. As of yet, there's no U.S. air date.