We’ve had one for Mozart, we’ve had one for Beethoven. Now, continuing the long, proud tradition of bringing the life stories of the greatest musicians of our time to the screen in 120 minutes or less, there are now firm plans to bring us a biopic of none other than Rick James, and yes, it’s tentatively titled Super Freak.
Producer Jennifer Klein has given screenwriter Sheldon Turner (who gave us The Longest Yard, and is also developing X-Men spin-off Magneto) the go-ahead to pen a script on the life and times of the talented but at times barmy funkaholic. It’ll be based on an as yet unreleased memoir.
There have been a few previous attempts to bring the singer-songwriter’s turbulent tale to the screen, including one that attracted interest from Dave Chappelle (his impersonation of James on the comedian’s own sketch show is legendary – look it up on YouTube), but Turner’s take on events is the first to receive the blessing of the James estate.
Despite his subject’s notorious cocaine fuelled antics which led to many legal visits to the magistrate, Turner has said, according to Variety, that he’s not interested in telling the “typical rags-to-riches-to-drugs music biopic.” Forgive us for sounding callous, but in James’ case, what does this leave? We look forward to finding out, and hope that Chappelle won’t be ruled out of the casting process.