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 Actors Joaquin Phoenix, right, and Reese Witherspoon arrive at the gala premiere for the movie Walk The Line during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Tuesday Sept. 13, 2005.(CP PHOTO/Aaron Harris) |
When Johnny Cash heard writer-director James Mangold wanted to adapt his life story, the singer-songwriter had only one request: "Don’t let whoever plays me hold the guitar like it’s a baby." Everything else was up for grabs.
And after months of research, preparation and, finally, shooting, the creative team behind the anticipated Cash biopic, "Walk The Line," dropped by the Sutton Place Hotel to talk about the journey that brought the icon’s life to the big screen.
The film, which focuses on the artist’s early years, tells a fiery story. From Cash’s start in backwater Arkansas, to his first marriage to Vivian Liberto, to Cash’s breakthrough start with Sun Records, in Memphis, to his time on the road with the likes of Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, to his battles with drugs and alcohol, to his proposal onstage in London, Ontario to the woman, June Carter, who would be his redemption, Mangold and co-writer Gill Dennis capture a very exciting and turbulent time in the singer’s rise.
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"I didn’t want to make a movie about the Johnny we know," Mangold said. "Because June and Johnny were still with us when we started, we wanted to tell the story of the early part of their lives. There was something adventurous in those years."
"It’s the formative time of their lives," a black-clad Reese Witherspoon (who plays June Carter) said. "Those were exciting times."
"They have such rich lives," said Joaquin Phoenix, showing no leftover residue from his role as The Man in Black. "What’s difficult, is when you research June and John, you want to make a 20-hour movie."
"John was not just a singer, but a songwriter," Mangold opined. "He was always riding this river of shadows in his writing. He was singing about a kind of pain everyone lives through."
And so, to truly inhabit their roles, Phoenix and Whitherspoon had to live the parts. Understanding not only the music (the duo underwent half-a-year’s worth of rehearsal) but also the soul-enriching relationship the pair had was the glue holding Mangold and Dennis’ bittersweet love letter together.
"James told me," Phoenix recalled, "’If people want to hear Johnny Cash, they can go get the record.’ There was such soul to his music, it seems he was compelled to tell a story. John had something to say that really came from the heart."
"They had authentic country roots," Witherspoon said, with her slight southern drawl. "But I think they believe they were put on this earth to be together."
"June and John are the last generation who can sing about these things first hand," Mangold added. "The fact is, these people grew up in a field and they were singing about what they saw."
Seeing that singing would be a big part of the picture, one has to wonder whether Phoenix and Whitherspoon had some trepidation about taking the roles. After all, the pair does their own vocals.
"I was sure they were going to have LeAnn Rimes sing my part," Whitherspoon said with a disbelieving grin.
"The hope," Phoenix said a little more seriously, "was that we could sing."
For Mangold, the fact that they had to sing was a no-brainer.
"Our North Star," he said, "was us trying to be as authentic as possible. To play them, they had to be them. We had no choice. Anything else would have been this weird half-a-performance."
To hone the musical side, the pair rehearsed endlessly. Phoenix would finish long, 12-hour shoots and then return to his hotel to practice.
"I went out and bought every album I could," Phoenix said. "It was interesting to get his early music and hear how an artist develops. And I found the music was the gateway to Johnny. I found his speaking voice through his singing voice."
He also found meeting the couple while they were alive (both Cash and Carter passed away in 2003) inspirational.
"It was amazing meeting him," Phoenix recalled. "We were in L.A. at someone’s house, and June and John sang "River of Jordan," and even though I’m cynical about duets, I really got the sense this is what they’re like. It was amazing to see that love."
"We recorded for four hours a day for almost five months," Whitherspoon deadpanned.
"There was a point when they got into enough of a groove that when they played for the extras in Memphis we felt the love," Mangold said.
But since the film also deals quite unflinchingly with Cash’s drug and alcohol abuse, one wonders how fans will stomach seeing a side of the singer that isn’t always flattering.
"I think his fan base loves him for who he is," Mangold said contemplatively. "No one wants to see a greeting card. But someone who can turn that ship around, that’s a great story."
"Walk The Line" is in theatres November 18.