Mick Jagger will join Brian Grazer to produce a long-awaited James Brown biopic that The Help writer and director Tate Taylor is in talks to direct, Deadline reports. 

"It's a great honor to be involved with a project as rich as the story of the legendary James Brown," said Jagger. "He was a mesmerizing performer with a fascinating life." 

Jagger's Jagged Films and Grazer's Imagine Entertainment will co-produce the movie, based on a screenplay written by Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth, who most recently co-wrote the 2010 movie Fair Game. Jagged and Imagine are now seeking distribution for the movie, and an actor who can portray Brown. 

Grazer has spent years working on the biopic, which traces Brown's rise from the abject poverty of his youth to becoming the Hardest Working Man in Show Business. The singer himself was involved in the project before his death in 2006.

"I am deeply honored that Mick Jagger and Brian Grazer, two of my husband James Brown's favorite people, have entered into a partnership to bring his inspirational story to the big screen," said Brown’s widow, Tommie Rae Brown.

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