Two takes on a blues icon

Back in the day, you weren't anyone in the blues world unless you were signed to Chess Records, the label that made stars out of a generation of rough-and-tumble musicians, notably Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Willie Dixon and Howlin' Wolf.

So when I was at the recent Toronto Film Festival, I made a point of seeing "Who Do You Love," which stars Alessandro Nivola and Jon Abrahams as Leonard and Phil Chess.

The two immigrant entrepreneurs created Chess Records, the 1950s record label that popularized urban blues.

Later, with the arrival of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, Chess Records ushered in a brash form of rock 'n' roll that was adopted by the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and thousands of young, white rock artists.

And what are the odds? There's a second Chess film on its way.

Made by Sony BMG Films, it is "Cadillac Records," due for release Dec. 5. The film features Beyoncé Knowles as Chess' top songstress, Etta James; Adrien Brody as Leonard Chess; Mos Def as Chuck Berry; and Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters.

The two pictures aren't exactly rivals. "Who Do You Love," despite earning some good notices in Toronto, remains a long shot to land a theatrical release.

"Cadillac Records" will be out in 800 theaters, with a Beyoncé single and a soundtrack to help attract attention.

Whence the inspiration?

The question remains: Why would two 1950s blues movies be made at the same time?

The answer, as always, is that making a movie isn't a rational decision: Passion trumps pragmatism.

Neither film came out of the increasingly timid studio system, which wouldn't dream of risking any loot on such obscure subject matter.

"Cadillac Records" was championed by Andrew Lack, a Sony executive whose family is from the Mississippi Delta. "Who Do You Love" was financed by Jonathan Mitchell, a real estate developer with a love for the blues, and directed by Jerry Zaks, who loved R&B records as a boy.

"I was always drawn to black music," recalls Zaks, a four-time Tony Award-winning Broadway theater director.

"I think that music had a powerful impact on a whole generation."

"But those kids are all nearing retirement age and are not especially regular moviegoers. So who is going to turn out for these films?"

When I asked co-producer Sofia Sondervan what made her think a blues movie could make a dent in today's marketplace, she said, "I don't really know.

"All I know is that Beyoncé has a huge young following, and a lot of people will come see the movie just because she's in it."

She said Beyoncé designed a line of dresses inspired by the film that is to be launched this fall at Bloomingdales.

The true-life challenge

The challenge for a film that re-creates the lives of real characters is: How true to life is it? Sony hasn't screened "Cadillac Records" yet, but the person who knows the story best -- Leonard Chess' son, Marshall -- says both movies took some dramatic liberties.

Marshall Chess knows the story intimately. He spent hours behind the bar at his father's nightclub when he was a boy, watched his father hustle disc jockeys on road tours and worked at Chess Records as a teenager.

Both films depict Leonard Chess giving his top artists a Cadillac after they had chart-topping hits. It's a way for the films to capture the backdoor way business was handled in the early days of the record industry.

Marshall Chess says it was a pragmatic way to reward a top artist, noting that few bluesmen had bank accounts at the time.

"Getting a Cadillac in those days was a top-of-the-line thing to have," he said. "My father bought a new Cadillac every year, too, because he was just like his artists -- he wanted people to know he was a successful man."

Marshall laughs. "I guess he'd be happy to see two movies coming out about him at the same time. He'd definitely consider that a symbol of success, too."