Jill Scott Cast As James Brown’s Wife In ‘Get On Up’
Jill Scott has been cast as one of James Brown’s three wives in the upcoming biopic Get On Up.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the part was written specifically for Scott.
Dan Akroyd was also recently cast in the biopic. He will play Ben Bart, the president of Universal Attractions, the agency that represented James Brown for over 40 years.
42 star Chadwick Boseman will play James Brown, who died at age 73 in 2006. Brown’s cause of death was congestive heart failure resulting from complications of pneumonia. The Walking Dead actor Lennie James will play Brown’s father, Joseph.
The Help stars Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer will reunite with director Tate Taylor, and have been cast as Susie Brown and Aunt Honey, respectively.
Taylor will produce the film, along with Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer and Erica Huggins. Mick Jagger and Victoria Pearman will also produce the film under their Jagged Films banner.
Get On Up begins when James Brown was about five years old, and will detail his rise from poverty and violence to becoming the Godfather of Soul. The film will shoot in Mississippi, with production beginning this fall.
James Brown married his first wife, Velma Warren, in 1953. The couple separated over a decade later, and their divorce was finalized by 1969. Brown married his second wife, Deidre “Deedee” Jenkins in 1970, and they divorced in 1981. Brown wed his third wife, Adrienne Lois Rodriguez, in 1984, and they remained married until her death in 1996.
Jill Scott recently starred in David E. Talbert’s Baggage Claim, which was released on September 27. Scott also starred in Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married and Why Did I Get Married Too as Sheila.
Scott’s most recent album, The Light of the Sun, was released on June 21, 2011. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, and sold 135,000 copies in its first week. The album also topped the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It was her first US number one album and received positive reviews from most critics.
Get On Up is scheduled for an October 17, 2014 release.
[Photo credit: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com]
