Snipes 'would kill in Brown role'

Spike Lee wants Wesley Snipes to play James Brown should his biopic of the singer ever get off the ground.

The director told King magazine that he believes Snipes is a "phenomenal actor" and will bounce back from his current tax problems.

"If my James Brown picture ever gets made, he'll be playing James - and he'd kill in that, without a doubt. He still has chops," said the Malcolm X helmer.

Snipes was jailed for three years in April for tax evasion, a sentence he is currently appealing.