You can smell the sweat, the sex, the cheap fabric and pomade in the James Brown biopic “Get on Up,” out Aug. 1.
To get into the spirit, Chadwick Boseman had to work almost as hard as the Hardest Working Man in Show Business himself. The 31-year-old actor, who last year played Jackie Robinson in “42,” took a weeklong crash course with choreographer Aakomon Jones just to try out.
“[There’s] this thing that James Brown [did] when he’s like driving the beat, he’s clicking both heels, one into the other — right-left, right-left, right-left,” Jones told Hitfix. “I worked with Chad on that…maybe two days straight.”
Once Boseman got the role, he spent six months learning Brown’s songs and dance moves. He even nailed Brown’s famous splits.
“To me, the hardest part is not going down, it’s getting back up,” he joked to Ellen DeGeneres.
On one particular day, Boseman estimates he performed 90 to 100 splits. Never mind standing up: He’s lucky to still have his manhood after that.