Mick Jagger was a producer for the highly anticipated James Brown biopic Get On Up and the legendary frontman for the Rolling Stones has a long history and affection for the Godfather of Soul. Jagger spoke about how he became involved with the film and why he wanted to tell the story of the icon.
“I was asked by a business associate and a friend if I would make a documentary about James Brown and I said ‘Let me think about that,’ ” Jagger explained. “But I woke up one day and said ‘Let’s do a feature!'”
Jagger acknowledged how influential Brown was on him as a young performer. Though Jagger’s trademark strut isn’t exactly reminiscent of Brown’s legendary moves, the Stone explained that it was Brown’s approach that left the deepest impression.
“He influenced me a lot — amongst other people. I could never do the dance routines like James Brown and I never spent the time and effort,” Jagger says with a laugh. “I didn’t want to be an imitator. [But] it was how to interact with an audience — that was the most important thing. James was all about interacting with the audience. It’s not just about your performance, it’s about their performance, too. The interplay is what it’s all about.
“The whole Live At the Apollo album was my real introduction to James Brown,” he added. “I loved every tune on it — I knew them all backwards and the instrumental segues and stuff. I’d never actually seen James perform, but I imagined the whole thing in my head.”
“I think this is a bit more than a generic biopic, really,” Jagger explained. “It stands out a bit more. A movie is a good movie. Either you’re compelled by a movie or you’re not. I find telling this story of adversity [and] of how he’s almost obsessed with making himself into somebody–that’s the story of the movie. And the price he has to pay for that. There’s always a price to pay for this single-minded drive to be somebody. You pay for that in some way and I think this movie shows the price you pay for it.”
One of the most infamous moments in ’60s music is the legendary James Brown performance from “The T.AM.I. Show” in 1964. Brown was livid that he wasn’t closing the show — the producers had decided that the Rolling Stones would be the final act. Jagger spoke about his memories of that show.
“It was a very exciting show,” Jagger recalled. “There were so many people on the show that I was meeting for the first time — I’d never met Marvin Gaye before. I’d seen James Brown before at the Apollo. And the experience [on ‘The T.A.M.I. Show’] was that James was a bit annoyed about not being last on the show. As I was the only one that had met him before, the producers of the show [made] me the fall guy! I was 20 or something and they’re all telling me ‘You go talk to him!’ and you go ‘Sure.’ But it played out and it was what it was. He did this amazing performance and we went on after. In the end, we had to work harder and he worked harder and it was a better show because of it.”
