Get On Up is a 2014 American biographical musical film about the life of singer James Brown and is directed by Tate Taylor and written by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth.

Produced by Brian Grazer, Mick Jagger, Taylor and Victoria Pearman, the film stars an ensemble cast featuring Chadwick Boseman as Brown, Nelsan Ellis as Bobby Byrd, Dan Aykroyd as Ben Bart, Viola Davis as Susie Brown, Craig Robinson as Maceo Parker, and Octavia Spencer as Aunt Honey.

[4] Principal photography began that November and took place in Mississippi, where the entire film was shot on location in 49 days.

[5] Get On Up was released on August 1, 2014 in the United States and received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise directed at the performances of the cast (particularly those of Boseman and Ellis), and grossed $33 million worldwide at the box office.

The film uses a nonlinear narrative, following James Brown's stream of consciousness as he recalls events from his life in an asynchronous manner, occasionally breaking the fourth wall to address the audience.

He leads them to jump onstage at a Little Richard show, introduces them as "the Famous Flames", and they perform a rousing rendition of "Caldonia".

Ben Bart becomes James' manager; he and label executive Syd Nathan relegate the rest of the band to salaried employee status, and they quit.

Tensions are high between the police and the black audience, but James calms the crowd and issues a plea for togetherness.

He records "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" and pitches President Lyndon B. Johnson his idea to perform a series of USO shows for American troops in Vietnam.

In Augusta in 1988, James gets high on marijuana and PCP and visits one of his businesses, finding that someone from a neighboring seminar has used his private restroom.

Imagine Entertainment listed a James Brown biopic in development in 2000, with a script titled Star Time written by Steven Baigelman.

[19] Mick Jagger joined on as a producer, and Jez and John-Henry Butterworth were brought on to rewrite the script, titled Superbad.

[24] Lee vacated the directors position,[25] and on October 22, 2012, it was announced that Tate Taylor was set to direct the untitled biopic about James Brown, to be produced by Mick Jagger and Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer.

[10] On October 21, Nelsan Ellis joined the cast of film to portray Bobby Byrd, Brown's long-time friend.

[9] On November 3, Universal added Keith Robinson to the film to portray the role of Baby Roy, a member of Brown's band.

[16] On December 9, 2013, it became public that Brandon Mychal Smith was selected to portray Brown's musical idol, Little Richard.

[32] On December 20, Josh Hopkins joined the film to portray the role Ralph Bass, a music producer.

The site's consensus reads: "With an unforgettable Chadwick Boseman in the starring role, Get On Up offers the Godfather of Soul a fittingly dynamic homage.

"[44] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 44 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

"[50] Less favorable reviews include "Get On Up is a cagey, shapeless James Brown biopic" by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, who rated the film D+ at The A.V.