Despite years of rumors to the contrary, film director Wayne Isham claims that Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson had a real romance — and real chemistry.
Isham, 64, directed Jackson’s 1995 video, “You Are Not Alone” in which Presley was featured. The couple was married the year before.
“They had [an] innocent, playful relationship that I felt was a real relationship,” Isham told People magazine. “So it all came off fine. It came off really well. I think she looks great in it.”
“There are so many different cuts of the versions of the song,” he added. “You could see her laughing, him and her laughing, and her swimming around and coming up to the edge of the pool. It was a fun shoot. She was game for it, and she had a great spirit, and the two of them had a great time in it.”
Isham acknowledged that many people felt Jackson and Presley’s marriage was suspect, but he thought it was the real deal.
“It was in that newlywed fun and humor and laughter and smiles that you can see. So it was all very positive,” he told the outlet. “People have asked me this before, it’s like, ‘Is there a reality to their relationship, and what was going on there?’ It was all very fun. They had a great time and great relationship on the set, so the best I can reflect off of is that.”
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Isham said the couple showed “genuine affection” and a shared “genuine sense of humor.”
“There was a lot of laughter between the two of them, smiles, so I thought that was good,” he added.
Isham also pointed out their repartee wasn’t just for the cameras but off-screen as well. Some of the outtakes from candid footage of the two made it into the actual video.
“I was saying, ‘We don’t have time for you to leave, so just stay on the set right there, and I’m just going to shoot.’ In a lot of that stuff, in a lot of those shots, you see literally off the cuff because he’s not singing during the piece out there on the set with her. It was literally just us. That’s the real reaction, the real inner change of smiles and laughter. That was me just picking those shots off.”
Presley died Thursday of cardiac arrest at the age of 54. Jackson died in August 2009, also from cardiac arrest, which was attributed to a lethal combination of sedatives and propofol, an anesthetic.