Chadwick Boseman wowed audiences with his role as Jackie Robinson in the film 42 and is now set to play James Brown in an upcoming biopic. Brown is best known as the legendary artist that’s the “godfather of soul.”
The biopic will follow Brown’s “[incredible] rise from extreme poverty in Georgia to becoming a world famous and highly influential R&B musician with a string of hits in the 1960s and ’70s including “Please, Please, Please”, “I Got You (I Feel Good)”, “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”, and many others,” Variety reports.
Director Tate Taylor announced yesterday (August 26) that he would be taking on the project and the majority of the filming will be shot in Mississippi this fall. Imagine‘s Brian Grazer has been trying to make a Brown biopic for more than a decade, but it gained more momentum after director Taylor hopped on board the project.
One of the producers for the biopic is Rolling Stones member Mick Jagger, who owes most of his on-stage swagger to Brown. Taylor said, “James Brown, really, was the first real dancer that broke the ground of how people move. …And Mick Jagger has complimented that and tipped his hat to that forever.”
Eddie Murphy was originally eyeing the role of Brown back in 2012 with Jet Lee as the director, but nothing came of it.
You can look for Chadwick Boseman returning to the big screen in 2014 with his upcoming football film Draft Day, directed by Ivan Reitman, already in post-production. The film also stars Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, and Frank Langella with a special guest appearance by Houston Texans running back Arian Foster.
