A movie about the legendary singer James Brown, who passed away on Christmas morning due to congestive heart failure, has been in the works for quite some time now. Paramount Pictures dealt with the singer in person for information for it, including complete access to his music rights and, now that the whole world is mourning his loss, the moment seems more than right to get moving on it.

There were several drafts for the script of the biopic, penned down by Steve Baigelman and, more recently, Jezz and John Henry Butterworth. But the newly assigned director, Spike Lee ('Malcolm X', 'Inside Man') will also handle the re-writing of the script, as 'Variety' reported yesterday.

A spokesperson for Paramount confirmed that Lee was the director named to make the biopic and, at the same time, that late James Brown was familiar with the project, having taken part in it for the last several years of his life. 'It's an unauthorized biography done with the cooperation of Mr. Brown before his passing', Nancy Kirkpatrick, the studio representative, explained.

Another name attached to the project, in addition to that of Spike Lee, is the producer Brian Grazer ('A Beautiful Mind'). He and Imagine Entertainment will handle the production and, according to Grazer's words, the outcome will be very real-like. 'Having known him well, and after spending lits of time with him and researching his life, it's somehow not surprising that he died on Christmas Day. He was the ultimate showman, all the way to the end', Grazer added.

The James Brown biopic will be the third project in line to focus on the life of a legendary singer. The previous ones, both of them smashing hits at the box-office, were 'Ray' (about blind soulman Ray Charles) and 'Walk the Line' (retelling the life of outlaw country crooner Johnny Cash). Production for the third biopic is said to start in late 2007.