Mick Jagger spoke recently about James Brown, who is the subject of a biopic that Jagger is producing, and said that being involved with the movie really helped him get through an emotionally difficult year.

Jagger’s girlfriend, L’Wren Scott, committed suicide in March but left no note giving a reason for her decision to end her life. Jagger has been fairly quiet about her death, although he did sing a Bob Dylan song at a memorial for her in May. However, in July he opened up a bit about his loss and said that his friends and family had been very supportive.

“I’m doing OK. It’s difficult. Very hard year, but I got back into it by working on touring with the Stones in Europe and doing other things, including doing this great movie,” he said on Today.

Jagger is extremely proud of the film, Get On Up, and has said he was very impressed with James Brown’s showmanship when he had the chance to see him perform in the ’60s.

“James was always very nice, very generous; but he talked about business a lot and I wasn’t that interested. I’d listened to Live At The Apollo intently – you can hear he’s a great performer, and I was picturing how he would dance. Then I went to see him at the Apollo and I was blown away. I was impressed by how hard he worked, and how he had the audience in the palm of his hand. That was a learning experience for me,” he said.

The Rolling Stones frontman issued a statement just after Scott’s death, calling her his “best friend” and saying he was struggling with the news that she had taken her own life. Scott had given a dinner party the night before she hanged herself, and friends said she seemed a bit down but that there was no indication that she was suicidal. Her death remains a mystery to those who knew her best.

Get On Up is in theaters now.

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