<Li> Charles R. Rooney as President Lyndon B. Johnson </Li> <P> Imagine Entertainment listed a James Brown biopic in development in 2000, with a script titled Star Time written by Steven Baigelman . Mick Jagger joined on as a producer, and Jez and John - Henry Butterworth were brought on to rewrite the script, titled Superbad . Spike Lee was set to direct but development stalled in 2006 over music licensing and finance issues . It was revived in 2012 when Jagger read a recent draft by the Butterworth brothers . John - Henry Butterworth was fascinated by the period concept of celebrity in preparing to write . "When James was becoming famous, you had to hide where you came from and be squeaky clean . Whereas if he were an artist launching his career now his upbringing and what happened to him would be right there in the press release . Everyone knows how many times 50 Cent has been shot ." The script took some liberties and includes at least one scene involving fabricated incidents . Lee vacated the directors position and on October 22, 2012, it was announced that Tate Taylor (The Help) was set to direct the untitled biopic about James Brown, to be produced by Mick Jagger and Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer . On August 29, 2013, Universal Pictures set October 17, 2014, as a release date for the film, previously untitled . Later, on November 13, Universal shifted the release date of the biopic from October to August 1, 2014 . </P> <P> On August 26, 2013, Universal selected Chadwick Boseman to play the lead role of James Brown . Boseman did all of his own dancing and some singing . The soundtrack is live recordings of James Brown . On September 17, Universal announced an open casting call for actors, musicians, and extras for different roles in the biopic, which was held on September 21 . On September 30, Taylor cast Viola Davis to play Susie Brown and Octavia Spencer to play Aunt Honey . On October 21, Nelsan Ellis joined the cast of film to portray Bobby Byrd, Brown's long - time friend . Lennie James joined the cast on October 23, to play the role of Brown's father Joseph "Joe" James . Jill Scott and Dan Aykroyd were added on October 31; Scott played Brown's wife while Aykroyd played Ben Bart, the President of one of New York City's largest talent agencies Universal Attractions Agency . </P> <P> On November 3, Universal added Keith Robinson to the film to portray the role of Baby Roy, a member of Brown's band . On November 14, Tika Sumpter also joined the cast, to play singer Yvonne Fair . There was a rumor that Taraji P. Henson was to join the film to play Tammi Terrell . Nick Eversman joined the cast on November 19, to play Mick Jagger . On December 9, 2013, it became public that Brandon Mychal Smith was selected to portray Brown's musical idol, Little Richard . On December 20, Josh Hopkins joined the film to portray the role Ralph Bass, a music producer . After the shooting wrapped up in Natchez, Mississippi, the production was looking for extras to begin a shoot on January 6, 2014, filming a concert scene set in Paris in 1971 . There was another call on January 6, 2014 for extras to film some daytime scenes in Jackson on January 7, 2014 . </P>

Who did the vocals for get on up