Rick James, brother are topic of new project by filmmaker Addison Henderson

Tentatively titled “My Brother’s Keeper,” the project was announced at a news conference Friday evening before a screening of Henderson’s new Buffalo-made feature film, “G.O.D.” (“Givers of Death”).

“It’s about their lives and how tragedy and triumph set them apart. It's also about how tragedy brought them together and made them more than they could ever be alone,” Henderson said.

The project has special significance for Henderson since his family and the Johnsons – James was born James Ambrose Johnson Jr. – have known each since the 1940s through his father, Bishop William Henderson. It was important to Johnson as well.

“There is a strong connection between myself and Addison that goes back to his father and my grandfather which makes this right,” Johnson said. “I’ve been feeding him history on what went on with myself and my brother and he would come back after he wrote something and we would work it. The main thing is that everything has to be real and true to life."

Johnson, who has turned down a number of Hollywood producers who wanted to tell his brother's story, said he wanted to present the full picture in a way only he could.

“There is no one out there, period, who knows my brother’s story like I do. People know pieces, but no one knows the full story,” said Johnson, an attorney and  artist who was his brother’s manager. “I think people ought to see what’s behind the scenes and what’s behind a superstar. They see the superstar, but they don’t see his interaction with his family, his interaction with friends. Since I ran the business and am his brother, I can tell that story."

Henderson has wanted to do this project for 15 years, although it has changed over time to now focus on the brothers after long talks with Johnson during the editing of “G.O.D.” – Johnson is executive producer on the film – over the past year.

“He talked about his brother and their lives. We would talk in his law office, we would go out for coffee, we would sit for three or four hours and talk,” said Henderson who hopes to start production on what is currently structured as a seven-episode miniseries in Buffalo within the year.

James is credited with creating the music fusion called “punk funk” heard in his hits like “Super Freak,” “Give It to Me Baby” and “Bustin’ Out.” But the star had a troubled life including cocaine and drug problems, arrests, a two-year prison sentence on assault convictions, and health concerns including a stroke in 1996. James died of heart failure in 2004 at age 56 and is buried in Forest Lawn.

Henderson said he will not “shy away from the truth” in “My Brother’s Keeper.”

“We’re gonna tell the story in a holistic way to tell the truth and also tell the things people haven’t seen – the musical genius that was Rick, LeRoi going to Georgetown University Law School. I feel I have to do it. Not because it’s Rick James, but LeRoi Johnson and his story, too. LeRoi’s story and his brother’s story create something compelling. I can’t wait to get the ball rolling.”

Henderson’s new film, “G.O.D.,” will have its official local premiere at 7:45 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Transit Drive-In in Lockport. Tickets are $10 adults, $6 children (via https://rb.gy/fj1oge).

Henderson wrote, directed and stars in the film shot in its entirety in the Buffalo area in 2019 at such locations as the Central Terminal, Duke’s Bohemian Grove Bar in Allentown and Woodlawn Beach. He earned the Best Screenplay award at the prestigious American Black Film Festival in August. The film stars Louis Lombardi (“24”), J.J. Alfieri, Josie Divincenzo, Richard Lambert, Frank Rossi, Pamela Rose Mangus, Aleks Malejs and Peter Johnson.

The timely apocalyptic thriller is about people trying to find their version of peace during a time when a virus has wiped out one-third of the earth’s population. Without a cure for the deadly plague, victims are hiring hit men know as Givers to give them that peace.