Having already refused to lose as Jackie Robinson, Chadwick Boseman is on board to play Mr. Dynamite, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, Mr. Please, Please, Please, Soul Brother #1, the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. Producer Brian Grazer has been trying to make a movie about Brown for a decade, but didn't get a green light until The Help director Tate Taylor signed on. Noted Brown aficionado Mick Jagger is also on board as a co-producer.
The film will presumably chart Brown's rise from an impoverished childhood, through a brief jail stint, to the pinnacle of success as arguably the most influential American musician of the 20th century. Less certain is whether the film will trace Brown's fall, as the notoriously controlling bandleader gradually lost control of his own personal life and endured later years marred by problems with drug abuse and domestic violence.
Also no word yet as to whether Boseman can sing—much less do a split. He'll certainly have his work cut out for him trying to recapture one of the most electric performers of the past century. Before he does, he'll stay on more familiar ground in another sports movie, by starring alongside sports-movie perennial Kevin Costner in next year's Draft Day.