Odds and ends from Friday:

• The James Brown rumor mill is definitely heating up (and, personally, I'm on fire with anticipation) -- first came word that Usher was interested in the role, and now we're hearing Samuel L. Jackson's name passed around. Sam Jackson as James Brown? What's next, Spike Lee steps from behind the camera for a little diddy action? Hey, I love Jackson just as much as the next Star Wars prequel mega-fan, but you really expect me to believe the man has that many moves? Seriously now, how about we start throwing some real talent in this already rocky wave pool.
• Brad Pitt? His career in trouble? Say it ain't so, David Thompson. Oh, he says plenty: "But Pitt is utterly exposed. He hasn't had a release since Mr & Mrs Smith, and Babel in 10 weeks has earned about $20m (£10.2m) and is playing at 250 theatres across the nation. The way he's fading away at the age of 43, he could be an actress." Ouch. While Thompson does make some good points (Damon and DiCaprio are hitting their strides, while Pitt is too lost saving the world alongside his wife), I am of the opinion the man still has some juice left ... and if we have to wait another year (and for another David Fincher film) to witness the re-birth of Pitt 2.0, so be it.
• The LA Times recently asked a number of online film folks to give us the 411 on 2007 and -- whaddya know -- Cinematical's Kim Voynar and Erik Davis (wait, that's me!) managed to throw in our four cents on the new year and the Hollywood dreck that lies ahead. Nah, not all of it looks bad (we think, and hope) -- Kim said Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has tremendous "flop potential," while I went ahead and gave Evan Almighty the award for "The Biggest Disappointment We Saw Coming From a Mile Away." Hey, but there's always another Pixar film to look forward to ...

[First two stories came via Hollywood Wiretapp]

It's only been two days since Spike Lee was announced as the director of an upcoming James Brown biopic for Paramount Pictures and Imagine Entertainment, but already the internet is buzzing with rumors as to who will play the legendary performer. Unfortunately, Starpulse News reports via Page Six (extremely reliable source, I know) that Usher is very much interested in the role. For those who don't know Usher, he's the cocky 28-year-old R&B singer/performer who's kind of like a young Michael Jackson rip-off rolled up into that annoying "cool" kid from high school -- ya know, the one you just wanted to snap in two as he sashayed down the hall, but were too afraid of being sued. Yeah, him.

Another name being tossed into the rumor pile is Fergie (aka Stacy Ferguson) from the Black Eyed Peas -- she'd like to land a part as one of Brown's wives. Unlike Usher (who has yet to make a real name for himself on the big screen, save for, ahem, In the Mix), Ferguson has appeared in Be Cool, Poseidon and has a part in the upcoming Grindhouse. Now, I don't mean to enrage you Usher fanatics out there, but c'mon -- do you really think he's cool enough to play James Brown? Seriously. Maybe -- just maybe -- I'd accept him in the role of a young Brown if, say, they got Eddie Murphy (for example) to step in after the first half hour to play an older version.

What do you think of Usher as James Brown? Do you dig that choice, or do you throw up a little bit in your mouth just thinking about the possibility of Usher in the main role?

[via Filmstalker]

Every year the Library of Congress announces that it will shelter 25 films for posterity and here's the list for this year, from Variety. Joining the 450 films currently in the vaults are a range of pictures from features to documentaries. This year's pack includes the 1913 protest film Traffic in Souls, a very early American feature film with a then-stunning budget of $25,000. A film "so fast-moving and so packed with direct and veiled references to the vice trade that it's a wonder audiences could keep pace with it," comments ace silent film historian Kevin Brownlow.

More familiar inductees include recent hits like Blazing Saddles, sex, lies and videotape, Rocky and Halloween. Then you have classics like Notorious, and key works like The Big Trail by Raoul Walsh, The Last Command by Josef von Sternberg, the debut of Rouben Mamoulian, and the first Garbo-Gilbert picture Flesh and the Devil. The rarities are perhaps even more interesting: the early Chinese-American film The Curse of Quon Gwon and long-time experimental filmmaker and critic Jonas Mekas' Reminiscence of a Journey to Lithuania. A couple of the entries are performance films: St. Louis Blues (1929), a two-reeler that is the only existing film of Bessie Smith, seen singling the W. C. Handy song. And for more current relevance, the documentary The T.A.M.I. Show. with the late lamented James Brown performing "Night Train" and the Supremes doing "Where Did Our Love Go?" for purpose of comparison with The Dreams in Dreamgirls.

Only a couple days after his death, the wheels in Hollywood were turning and Spike Lee has been brought on to direct a biopic based on the life of James Brown. Now, it's important to keep in mind that this project has been in development for quite some time -- Jezz and John Henry Butterworth recently turned in a rewrite of Steve Baigelman's original draft, and all three have either met with Brown before he passed away or spent time with his "people." I do feel, however, that they could have waited -- I don't know -- a bit longer than 48 hours to announce the decision. Ya know, that would have been the "normal" thing to do, I suppose.

Nevertheless, Lee will once again team up with Paramount and Imagine Entertainment (who have already tapped the man to direct a feature based on the L.A. Riots, as well as a sequel to Inside Man) and are looking to swing into production sometime during the latter part of 2007. Seeing as the L.A. Riots pic is the main priority, that will come first and will either be followed by Inside Man 2 (I really hope they don't call it that) or the Brown biopic. Since I assume Paramount will want to deliver the Brown biopic will a little bow around it that reads 'Oscar Potential," it's pretty safe to say it will debut in the fall or late summer of 2008.

Spike Lee directing a biopic based on a legendary performer? What do you think about that? Oh, and who do they get to play James Brown?

His main legacy is his music, sure, and few will be remembering him today for his contributions to cinema, but James Brown was a big part of the movies. And he will continue to be a big part of the movies for years to come despite his death from pneumonia early Christmas morning.

Aside from the two blaxploitation films he scored (Black Caesar and Slaughter's Big Rip-Off), there are over 100 movies that Brown's music has been heard in. Many of the songs used for these soundtracks seem in retrospect to have been created solely for the benefit of being licensed to Hollywood. How many movies can you think of that featured "I Got You (I Feel Good)" or "It's a Man's Man's Man's World"? I think one of the first CDs I ever owned as a kid was the soundtrack to Rocky IV, which featured "Living in America", so Brown's film legacy is something that I'm always conscious of.

The "Godfather of Soul" didn't only lend a song to Rocky IV, he even appeared in the movie, as himself. He also showed up in Doctor Detroit, The Tuxedo, The Hire: Beat the Devil (one of those BMW shorts/ads), Undercover Brother, Holy Man and Ski Party. And that isn't even including documentaries. As far as getting to play roles that aren't technically himself, there is of course his character Reverend Cleophus James in The Blues Brothers, which he reprised for Blues Brothers 2000.

A new documentary called Life on the Road with Mr. and Mrs. Brown, which is about James Brown and his fourth wife, singer Tommy Rae Brown, is currently in post-production and set for release next year.