Mick Jagger: what James Brown taught me about appealing to girls The film, starring the little known 42-year-old actor Chadwick Boseman in a virtuoso turn as Brown, showcases the singer's astonishing talents while unflinchingly tackling his self-absorption and mean-mindedness to those around him, including his family and backing musicians. It also traces his remarkable career arc: Brown, born into poverty in America's semi-rural south, was separately abandoned by both parents before moving in to his aunt's brothel. Constantly in trouble, he went to reform school and jail before developing the sound that made him famous. The Stones have always been avid James Brown fans; Jagger admits adapting a few of his dance moves on stage, and witnessed his dynamic show in person at Harlem's Apollo Theatre in the 1960s. So when Peter Afterman, who places music in films and handles licensing rights (including those of the Stones), told him he had secured the rights to Brown's catalogue, Jagger was intrigued. "The Brown family would be approached for permission to use a song in a movie, they'd squabble between themselves, it wouldn't happen and they'd get no money," he recalls. Peter told them if they left it to him, he'd run it like a business. And he asked me if I'd be interested in producing a James Brown documentary. He was, and soon secured the services of director Alex Gibney (We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks, Taxi to the Dark Side), widely regarded as America's leading documentary maker. A music buff, Gibney also produced a TV documentary series, The Blues. He and Jagger set to work. But then, as Jagger tells it, "I woke up one morning and thought: "why not make a feature film about James Brown as well as a documentary?"" It was a crucial moment, one that brought Get On Up into being; clearly, Jagger has a keener eye for a business opportunity than he'll admit. He reflects on this in a suite at Claridge's, an opulent setting in which he looks consummately at ease. He wears a purple jacket over a crisp white shirt unbuttoned at the cuffs, skinny jeans and red designer sneakers. It's a look a less confident man would struggle to carry off; at 71, Jagger does it nonchalantly. Mick Jagger, left, on the set of Get On Up with producer Brian Grazer Having decided Brown's life could become a feature film too, Jagger began a search for previous attempts: "Of course, this being Hollywood, there was already a failed attempt at a feature. And there was a script, which I thought wouldn't be any good. I got hold of it. It was probably 10 years old and had been sitting in a drawer. What stunned him was the identity of the two screenwriters - the British brothers Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. The script skitters around, jumping back and forth between various periods of Brown's life. It starts with an uproarious, jaw-dropping scene, with a drug-addled Brown in 1988, wielding a firearm and disrupting a dentists" convention being held in a building he owned. That was just one scene to which Brown (who died in 2006) had strenuously objected, complaining it portrayed him in a bad light. Hollywood producer Brian Grazer, having tried to get the film off the ground, gave up the fight, and lost the rights to Brown's music. But he agreed to join Jagger in resuscitating the film. Thus it's fair to say Get On Up would not exist but for Jagger. Intriguingly, Jagger sees Brown as part of a tradition of bandleaders going back to the 1930s: "He admired Duke Ellington. And some of those guys back then were as tough as him with musicians. They fined them, gave them a hard time, didn't take any nonsense. He insisted on being called Mr. Brown. Jagger cheerfully admits Brown hugely influenced him: "It's not about: did I copy this (dance) move of his, or that one. It was the whole of his performance and his attitude to the audience, the way he draws them in, relates to them. The audience are part of the show, not just paid customers. That's what I took from him, and from Little Richard, a somewhat similar performer. They come from the same town (Augusta, Georgia) and the same tradition: it's to do with church, but it's also very sexy, all about appealing to the girls. Gibney's documentary Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown was recently broadcast on HBO in America; Jagger says it will eventually be seen on the BBC. Meanwhile in New York, Scorsese has been shooting the pilot episode for HBO of a drama he is producing with Jagger, known as The Rock "n" Roll Project, about a struggling 1970s record company owner. Jagger wrote an outline of the projected story: "We're hoping we'll get the green light for a series," he said. That's plenty for one man to have on his plate, and it's no surprise when Jagger name-checks a quality of James Brown's that he finds admirable. He shakes his head admiringly: "Amazing work ethic," he says. Get On Up opens on November 21