Dan Aykroyd and Jill Scott have been added to the cast of Get on Up, the new James Brown biopic from Universal and Imagine, reports Hollywood Reporter. Aykroyd will star as Ben Bart, the president of Universal Attractions, the agency that represented Brown for over four decades. Scott will play Brown’s wife, a part that was written specifically for her.

The cast will also include megastars Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Lennie James. Chadwick Boseman, the star of the highly acclaimed Jackie Robinson flick 42, will be starring as the Godfather of Soul. The film will follow Brown from his early life to his time at the height of his stardom to his troubled times facing drug addiction, financial ruin and other difficulties.

Tate Taylor, who is known for his work on The Help, is directing, and Mick Jagger is serving as one of the film’s producers under his Jagged Films banner. This film has been a long time coming. Jagger’s co-producer Brian Grazer has been trying to make this biopic since the late ʼ90s. Brown himself even helped out the development of the biopic before he died in 2006. The producers secured the rights to Brown’s songs, and now it looks like the film is finally set. Get on Up is scheduled to be released on Oct. 17, 2014.