Universal and Imagine Entertainment have greenlit the long-gestating James Brown biopic after tapping “42″ star Chadwick Boseman to play the legendary artist known as the “godfather of soul.” The Help” director Tate Taylor is helming the pic with Imagine’s Brian Grazer and Erica Huggins are producing along with Mick Jagger and Victoria Pearman under their Jagged Films banner. Trish Hofmann and Peter Afterman will exec produce.
Jez and John Henry Butterworth penned the script.
The movie follows Brown’s 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. Brown died in 2006 at age 73.