Brody, Wright join musical Chess club

By Leslie Simmons

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Adrien Brody will play Chess Records founder Leonard Chess in "Cadillac Records," a musical biopic that follows the turbulent lives of such bluesmen as Muddy Waters, Little Walter, and Howlin' Wolf.

Additionally, Jeffrey Wright will play Waters in the tale of sex, violence, race and rock 'n' roll in 1950s Chicago.

Writer/director Darnell Martin will start shooting the Sony BMG Film project in early March in New Jersey and Mississippi. Matt Dillon had been attached to play Chess, but had to drop out because of a scheduling conflict.

The Chess Records roster included not only Waters, Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf, but also the likes of Chuck Berry, Willie Dixon and Etta James. It proved hugely influential on such acts as the Rolling Stones, who recorded at the Chicago studio in the early '60s and even recorded an instrumental named after its street address.

Also newly cast in the film are Columbus Short, Cedric the Entertainer, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Tammy Blanchard.

Brody recently wrapped the indie film "The Brothers Bloom," while Wright is filming the new James Bond movie in London.

Cedric the Entertainment co-stars in the comedy "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins," which opens February 8. Short is filming the thriller "Armored" with Dillon and recently wrapped the horror film "Quarantined." Chriqui's credits include HBO's "Entourage" and the indie film "Tortured." Blanchard recently finished production on the independent romance comedy "The Ramen Girl."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter