Tate Taylor, the writer and director of 2011′s Oscar-worthy The Help, is reportedly in negotiations to helm an untitled biopic of soul-singer, James Brown.  The picture is a long-awaited realization for producer Brian Grazer (A Beautiful Mind) who has always harbored a desire to adapt the late singer’s life into a feature film.  Joining Grazer as producer will be another musical icon, Mick Jagger.  The film will be a co-production of Imagine Entertainment and Jagger’s Jagged Films and will be based off of the screenplay by Fair Game writers, Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. Producers are now turning to avenues of distribution and for an actor to portray Brown.  Hit the jump for more.

Another decade, another appearance for Mick Jagger on Saturday Night Live.  The Rolling Stones legend will return to SNL for the season finale on May 19th as both a host and a performer.  Jagger and the Stones have appeared on the show numerous times over the years but this will be the first solo perfomance and hosting double duty for the vocalist.  Apparently, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was originally expected to host, but has rescheduled to appear in the fall when SNL returns.  Count that as a win for the comedy show, as the fact that this is The Rolling Stones’ 50th anniversary and the rumor of a possible on-air reunion with Keith Richards should generate a good amount of viewership.  Hit the jump to take a look at some of Jagger’s skits from over the years.

During the recent Los Angeles press junket for The Hunger Games, I landed an exclusive interviews with the cast and director Gary Ross.   While I already posted my conversations with Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth, I decided to wait to post Lenny Kravitz figuring the movie would do well and fans would love to get some fresh content after the film had opened.  However, while I thought Hunger Games would do well, I never figured it would be one of the biggest openings of all time and make $155 million dollars in three days!  Needless to say, due to the box office, fans are definitely getting sequels.

Anyway, since Kravitz had been doing a lot of press before the film opened, I tried to ask some new questions like what’s his favorite movie, director and actor, how did he decide the look of Cinna, what made him want to play this role, what did his friends and family think when he got cast, how many takes does he like to do, and a lot more.  In addition, Kravitz tells a great story involving Mick Jagger and karaoke.  Hit the jump to either read or listen to the interview.

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Josh Olson (A History of Violence) is now working with an award-winning artist of a different sort.  Mick Jagger, of The Rolling Stones fame, has brought Olson on to write the script for Tabloid, the working title of an adult thriller that aims to star the aging rocker.  Jagger himself came up with the idea for Tabloid, which features a young journalist getting caught up in the immoral world of global media. At the top of that world is a mogul of questionable scruples who seduces said reporter.  Two guesses for which role Jagger is eyeing.

Jagger will produce through his Jagged Films banner with Victoria Pearman, as well as Steve Bing at Shangri-La Entertainment. Bing is also set to finance the Jagger star vehicle.  Olson, meanwhile, has just turned in his first draft of director Chris McQuarrie’s One Shot, the Tom Cruise-starring adaptation of the popular Jack Reacher novels by author Lee Child.  Hit the jump for more info on Olson’s projects.

When Martin Scorsese’s name becomes a part of a project you know heads are going to turn.  When you add The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire writer Terence Winter, people’s mouths begin to water.  And then throw in rock-and-roll icon Mick Jagger: there would be mayhem in the streets.  Deadline reports that all three of those names are in talks to produce a new show on HBO based on an idea of Jagger’s.  The show — tentatively titled History of Music — would center on two friends over the course of forty years in the music industry, from early R&B to modern day hip hop.

Music has been bouncing around Hollywood for some time.  Originally housed at Disney, Scorsese took it to Paramount where he was set to direct.  Scorsese still has first dibs to direct the pilot now that it’s at HBO, if he so chooses.  Scorsese and Winter teamed up before for the gangster series Boardwalk Empire, which debuts September 19th.  Jagger has worked with Scorsese several times, most recently on the concert documentary Shine A Light.

Taking on a role that’s sure to give her plenty of risque material to work with, Zooey Deschanel has signed on to star in an HBO pilot based on groupie extraordinaire Pamela Des Barres’ book I’m With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie, according to Deadline.

Des Barres’ adventures on the rock ‘n’ roll road included – according to her, at least – sexual exploits with Mick Jagger, Keith Moon, Jimmy Page and Gram Parsons, and the oddest of all, even Don Johnson, too.

When I first heard this news, I mistakenly thought she had already played a groupie in Almost Famous, but Deschanel was, of course, instead Anita Miller, brother to our hero, William.

No time frame has been given yet for production of the I’m With the Band pilot and series, but something this fun will surely be put together fast, and when you join it with Martin Scorsese and Michael Mann directing pilots for, respectively, Boardwalk Empire and Luck, it would certainly appear that HBO has a very strong lineup in the works.