Dan Aykroyd and Jill Scott join Mick Jagger's James Brown biopic

November 2, 2013 12:52

Chadwick Boseman will play Brown in the forthcoming film produced by Jagger

Dan Aykroyd and Jill Scott have joined the cast of Get On Up, the forthcoming film about James Brown that Mick Jagger is producing.

The film was given a green light in August of this year (2013) and Chadwick Boseman (42, Fringe - pictured right) was cast as the late soul legend.

Scott will co-star as Brown's wife Susie, The Hollywood Reporter now reports, and Aykroyd will play Ben Bart, the president of the talent agency that represented him for over 40 years.

The Help's Tate Taylor is on board as director and two of that film's stars, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, will appear in supporting roles as Brown's mother (Davis) and aunt (Spencer) respectively. Shooting is due to start this month (November) for an October 2014 release date.

The film will chart Brown's rise from an impoverished upbringing in small-town South Carolina to become the iconic recording artist known as the "The Godfather Of Soul" - while also documenting his financial difficulties, brushes with the law and battles with drug addiction. Brown died of congestive heart failure on Christmas Day 2006 at the age of 73.

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Mick Jagger's SuperHeavy group to drop album in fall

By Phil Gallo

Fri Jun 24, 2011 7:01pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Universal Music will release the album from SuperHeavy, a group featuring Mick Jagger, Eurythmics founder Dave Stewart, singer Joss Stone, composer A.R. Rahman and reggae artist Damian Marley. No exact release date is set, but Universal Republic will handle the United States and A&M will handle the rest of the world.

An official release said the album will be unveiled in September; the first single is titled "Miracle Worker" and the five stars will be recording a video for the track. Jagger and Stewart co-produced the album.

Recording in various studios around the world -- France, Cyprus, Miami, India -- the majority of the tracks laid down over three weeks in Los Angeles earlier this year. The quintet wrote 22 songs in their first six days together. The term "SuperHeavy" was inspired by Muhammad Ali.

Jagger and Stewart had worked together on the 2004 soundtrack to the film "Alfie," and Stewart produced Stone's last album. Both wanted to bring in a Jamaican musician and Damian Marley entered the picture with his rhythm section, bassist and composer Shiah Coore and drummer Courtney Diedrick. They met Rahman while recording in Los Angeles.

According to the band's bio, SuperHeavy came together after Jagger and Stewart wondered what a band of musicians from different genres would sound like. Jagger had his doubts it would come together.

One of the first on the album is Jagger singing in Urdu. He takes lead on Rahman's song "Satyameva Jayate," which translates to "the truth alone triumphs."

(Editing by Zorianna Kit)

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