It's a well-known story that Michael Jackson once tried to buy Marvel and wanted to play Spider-Man in a movie. Now, it turns out that Spider-Man wasn't Michael Jackson's only brush with geek culture movie stardom.

According to Charles Norton's new book Now On The Big Screen: The Unofficial And Unauthorised Guide To Doctor Who At The Cinema (via The Times), Paramount Pictures was interested in making a Doctor Who movie back in the eighties. Of course, Michael Jackson had scored a big success with his Moonwalker movie, so Paramount wanted him to play the lead role in a Doctor Who movie.

If Michael Jackson didn't go for the role, then Paramount's back-up plan was to try to land Bill Cosby for the role. Of course, Bill Cosby was the king of television back in the eighties, as The Cosby Show was pulling in huge ratings.

In another Jackson connection to Doctor Who, Michael Jackson's daughter Paris tweeted about her own interest in the Doctor Who role, when it was revealed that a new Doctor Who was going to be cast in the BBC TV series. Some news outlets even reported that Paris Jackson was up for the role, even though being interested in a role is much different than being up for it.