Flush with success from starring as baseball player Jackie Robinson in biopic 42, Chadwick Boseman has signed with Universal and Imagine to play another, very different African-American icon – James Brown. The as-yet-untitled story will be directed by The Help‘s Tate Taylor, who will produce alongside Imagine’s Brian Grazer and Erica Huggins.
The project has been around since 2001, with such names as Eddie Murphy and Wesley Snipes attached to portray the Godfather of Soul, with Spike Lee also pegged to direct at one point. Mick Jagger and Victoria Pearman are going to be producing as well, making this one of the most high-profile projects for their company Jagged Films. This unique team should be able to finally get the project up-and-running – it’s unbelievable that such an iconic figure in musical history has never received the big budget biopic treatment.
The producers are no doubt hoping that Tate Taylor can turn his hand to musical biopic and make this film the success that The Help became, both at home and overseas – maybe then they could finally “Feel Good”.
Ahem.
More news on this one as and when it comes, as details are a bit thin on the ground right now. In the meantime, tell us, what do you think of Chadwick Boseman playing James Brown?