He made the blues his bitch in Black Snake Moan, now Sam Jackson is teaming up with Bernie Mac to sing a little soul. Variety says they’ve been cast as the co-leads in a new movie called Soul Men, and the title doesn’t refer to vague inner-emotions or some imaginary manifestation of the human spirit which people like to pretend survives after death so they never really have to face up to their own mortality.

In the film, Jackson and the Mac play two backup singers who were once part of a legendary soul group. They haven’t spoken in 20 years, but now they’re stuck traveling together in order to do a tribute performance in honor of their broken-up band’s lead singer. Sam and Bernie will both sing and dance in the movie. We already know Sam can croon and since he’s a jedi dancing should be no problem. Can Bernie Mac belt out a tune? If he’s shown any evidence of it, I must have missed it, but even if his voice sucks teaming Mac and Jackson up in a movie like this is a brilliant stroke.

Soul Men doesn’t have a director, but Dimension Films is looking and plans to announce a hiring in the next two weeks. The script, written by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone, is being billed as a comedy. They’re probably best known for writing Intolerable Cruelty, which was tolerable enough that they deserve another shot.