First Look At Chadwick Boseman As James Brown In Get On Up

After breaking out with his role as Jackie Robinson in last year’s well-received 42, Chadwick Boseman is looking to step into the shoes of another icon as he’ll be starring in Tate Taylor’s James Brown biopic, Get On Up. Currently shooting in Mississippi, the project will follow the artist’s rise from poverty to becoming one of the most influential musicians of all time. Co-starring are Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, making for a pretty impressive cast.

Today, we finally have our first look at Boseman in the film, thanks to EW, and it can be seen above. It depicts our star alongside Craig Robinson playing the saxophone. It’s not terribly revealing but it’s nice to get our first look at how Boseman will appear in the film. So far, I think that they’ve done a pretty good job making him look like the iconic singer. Of course, we won’t know until we see the first trailer whether or not he can sing and dance like Brown, but at least they have the look nailed down.

Get On Up will arrive theaters on August 1st, 2014 – just in time to go up against Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Check out the photo above and let us know what you think in the comments section.