James DuMont, one of the players on HBO’s hit New Orleans-based drama Treme, has joined the cast of the developing James Brown biopic Get On Up. The Wrap reports that the actor will play "a U.S. envoy named Corporal Dooley." At this time we have no idea what the size of the role will be, but he must consider it a demotion considering that he plays a captain on the HBO series.
DuMont has been extremely busy lately. In addition to his regular TV work – in addition to Treme, he has guest spots and recurring appearances on ABC’s Nashville and FX’s American Horror Story: Coven -- the character actor logged roles in both Lee Daniels’ The Butler and Dallas Buyers Club this year. In the former, DuMont appears as Sherman Adams, who was the White House Chief of Staff for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and in the latter he had a brief but memorably devastating scene as Jared Leto’s disappointed father.
The Help director Tate Taylor will helm Get On Up, with 42 star Chadwick Boseman in the lead role as James Brown. As was previously rumored, Taylor will also be bringing along two of his Help stars for the picture, as both Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer are signed on for roles. Truthfully, I would have asked Eddie Murphy to star, but I’m old school.
Musician biopics are a dangerous game. When handled properly, you can ride the coattails of a Ray or Walk the Line. But for every success story, there’s the example of Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire just waiting around the corner.
Taylor seems like an unexpected choice to helm a Brown biopic, but he’s assembling a choice cast to help him tell the singer’s story. Universal will release the film next year on October 17th, and in the meantime, you can enjoy more clips of Brown in action below… and puzzle over whom Corporal Dooley will be in the finished story.
