Nelsan Ellis, best known for playing Lafayette Reynolds on HBO’s “True Blood,” has joined the cast of the upcoming James Brown biopic, Get on Up. Deadline reports that he’ll take on the role of Bobby Byrd, Brown’s lifelong friend.
In his follow-up to the four-time Academy Award-nominated blockbuster The Help, Tate Taylor is set to direct 42‘s Chadwick Boseman as Brown. Based on the incredible life story of the Godfather of Soul, Get on Up will give a fearless look inside the music, moves and moods of Brown, taking audiences on the journey from his impoverished childhood to his evolution into one of the most influential figures of the 20th century.
Academy Award winner Brian Grazer (A Beautiful Mind, 8 Mile) and Erica Huggins (Flightplan) produce for Imagine Entertainment, with Mick Jagger and Victoria Pearman (Shine a Light) producing under their Jagged Films banner. Under his Wyolah Films label, Taylor also serves as a producer on Get on Up, while Wyolah’s John Norris executive produces alongside Trish Hofmann and Peter Afterman.
