Matt Dillon playing Chess in music movie

By Leslie Simmons

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Matt Dillon has the blues.

The Oscar-nominated "Crash" star is in final negotiations to play Leonard Chess, the legendary co-founder of the Chicago blues label Chess Records, in "Cadillac Records."

Writer/director Darnell Martin ("Their Eyes Were Watching God") is shooting the project for Sony BMG Film, the studio behind the current Jennifer Lopez-produced release "Feel the Noise."

"Cadillac Records" follows the rise and fall of Chess Records, which launched the careers of such greats as Muddy Waters, Etta James and Chuck Berry. Chess, who co-founded the label with his brother Phil, was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Filming is set to begin in January in New Jersey and Chicago.

Dillon's other upcoming projects include "Nothing but the Truth," with Kate Beckinsale, Vera Farmiga and Angela Bassett, and "Old Dogs," with Robin Williams and John Travolta.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter