Chadwick Boseman admits there was no easy part to playing funk music legend James Brown in the biopic Get On Up.
"The entire thing was a challenge," the 37-year-old actor said at a recent New York press conference.
"When I looked at the role... I was scared of it. There was no part of it that was just straightforward and easy and you've done that before," he explained.
"A lot of people will say, 'Well, you're from South Carolina.' But he's from the Lowcountry of South Carolina. I mean, it's different. It's not the same thing and I've spent quite a bit of time out of South Carolina, so it was important to me... We went down to Augusta to meet [Brown's] family and I just stayed because Augusta is pretty much on the border between Georgia and South Carolina. I stayed down there a little bit longer and I just drove around, saw family and just soaked up as much of it as I could. This was like, right, before we started. So, there was no part that was easy.
The dance part -- 60 percent of my fear was from the dancing, 30 percent of it was just the caricatures that have been projected of him and trying to get past what people think they know. But I don't think there was any easy part."
Directed by Tate Taylor and produced by Mick Jagger and Brian Grazer, the film co-stars Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis and Allison Janney. The three actresses also appeared in Taylor's 2011 Best Picture Oscar nominee The Help.
Boseman is best known for his portrayal of baseball great Jackie Robinson in 42.