Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash! Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash? (1 Viewer)

Vickie_M · Mar 9, 2003

Witherspoon, Phoenix on Cash 'Line'

LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Joaquin Phoenix (news) and Reese Witherspoon (news) are teaming up to "Walk the Line," the Johnny Cash (news) biopic to be directed by James Mangold, with Phoenix set to star as the country music legend and Witherspoon toplining as his wife and bandmate June Carter.

The Fox 2000 project, for which deals are still being negotiated, is gearing up to start production in the fall with Mangold's wife, Columbia-based Cathy Konrad, producing along with James Keach. Co-written by Mangold and writing partner Gill Dennis, "Walk the Line" is described as a nontraditional biopic centering on a snapshot of Cash's life with a focus on his younger years shifting to Memphis when country started to heat up.

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Joaquin as Cash? "nontraditional biopic"?? I am SO THERE! Reese as June? Bizarre-o-rama, but she can act, so it'll be interesting.

James Mangold directed Identity (2003), Kate & Leopold (2001), Girl, Interrupted (1999), Cop Land (1997) and Heavy (1995). The only one of those I've seen is Cop Land, which I liked a lot. K&L? Well, everybody has to pay the rent.

Gill Dennis hasn't written much, but he did write one of my all-time favorite films, Return To Oz, so we know he can write dark and nontraditional.

Kim D · Mar 10, 2003

I grew up listening to Johnny Cash. Thanks for the info!

This lyric often gets stuck in my head:

"I fell into a burning ring of fire.
I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher.
And it burns, burns, burns.
The ring of fire. The ring of fire."

- kim

David Rogers · Mar 10, 2003

K&L is a cute and sweet romance. Not everything can be extremely weighty. I for one enjoy the "light" stuff in my collection immensely; because I'm not always in the mood for serious period drama or something deep like Matrix.

Craig W · Mar 10, 2003

Hopefully this movie concentrates on Cash and his music.

The country music he recorded is the real deal, not like the goddamn ClearChannelized, karoke'ized, marketized shit coming out of Nashville today.

Henry Gale · Mar 10, 2003

I'm optimistic.
What ever you may think of June now, back in the 50s when she and Johnny met she was oozing sexuality and was a very entertaining novelty song performer on the Opry.
Reese can do that.
BTW...June wrote Ring Of Fire.
If you haven't spent much time with early Cash music, pick up one of the recently released Sun Records (face Memphis and bow) collections.
My favorite is Hey Porter.

Vickie_M · Mar 10, 2003

I have no problem with June. She's an icon! I have a problem with a perky upper-class blonde playing her. I like Reese, know she can act (and sure, she can dye her hair), and have no desire to make Reese fans feel defensive, but the word "miscast" is flashing itself in bright red letters in my brain. I haven't seen anything in her resume so far that would make me think she'd make a believeable June.

Still, I'm going to be optimistic. There must be factors that I'm not aware of that would cause the filmmakers to choose her.

Sissy Spacek made a brilliant Loretta Lynn, and she wouldn't have been my first pick.

Mark Zimmer · Mar 11, 2003

I feel a heck of a lot more comfortable about Reese playing June than I do Joaquin playing Johnny.....this has "train wreck" written all over it.

MickeS · Mar 11, 2003

Since you haven't seen K&L maybe you should refrain from commenting on it.

It's actually a good movie, and it would have been even better had they kept some of the deleted scenes in it (they're on the DVD).

There was some discussion in the Music section recently about Cash's video for his cover of the NIN song "Hurt". It's a very beautiful and sad video, I hope the movie will be more uplifting...

Here's the video: http://launch.yahoo.com/artist/video...tistID=1004631

I think Phoenix is an excellent choice to play Cash, he's a great actor and he looks the part. Reese is a good actress and should be able to pull this off. Hopefully they'll have a good script to work with.

/Mike

ChrisMatson · Jul 28, 2005

The trailer is now available here.
I was pleasantly surprised at the performances, even the singing.
I am now looking forward to this one.

Found this:

John Spencer · Jul 28, 2005

Two of my friends were multi-scene extras for the movie, and they both really liked all the actors involved. And the director was really cool and let them hang out on the set to watch production even when they weren't involved in the scenes. According to my friends, Reese and Joaquin are very friendly. And Joaquin would even let people bum smokes form him.

ChrisMatson · Jul 28, 2005

Higher-res QT trailer:
Right click, save as...

Vickie_M · Jul 28, 2005

Since I started this thread over 2 years ago, I thought I should comment that I saw the trailer in the theater the other day and I CAN'T WAIT to see this! Everything looks perfect to me, right down to that great poster. I'm completely at ease with Reese's look and her depiction as seen in the trailer.

Btw, forgive my snipe to Kate & Leopold. The previews at the time looked terrible so I never saw it. I still haven't, but I'm open to it.

"Baby baby baby baby" Ha!

MikeySmith · Jul 29, 2005

I thread that lasted 3 years?? Amazing.. anyway, back on topic... It will be interesting how they portray Johnny.

Henry Gale · Jul 29, 2005

...thread that lasted 3 years?? Amazing...

There's an active SETI thread in After Hours that began in December of 2000....and it wasn't the first SETI thread.

Click to expand...

Kain_C · Jul 29, 2005

I feel a heck of a lot more comfortable about Reese playing June than I do Joaquin playing Johnny.....this has "train wreck" written all over it.

Why? Can you think of anyone else that could nail it? I couldn't. Joaquin is a seriously under utilized actor and it's good to see him finally able to stretch his legs.

Click to expand...

Dome Vongvises · Jul 29, 2005

I can see Joaquin playing Johnny, but I have no idea what the real June Carter Cash looks like.

Quentin · Jul 29, 2005

Not only do I think Joaquin looks great in the role, but the Oscar buzz is all over.

Unfortunately, I think following 'Ray' will not help his chances.

GuruAskew · Jul 29, 2005

Unfortunately, I think following 'Ray' will not help his chances.

I fear "Ray" comparisons may plague this film, and I also fear that people may think it was rushed into production to cash in (no pun intended) on Cash's death. In reality this film was in pre-production before Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash died (both of their roles were cast while they were still living) and that was before "Ray" was released.

Click to expand...

Haggai · Jul 30, 2005

In reality this film was in pre-production before Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash died (both of their roles were cast while they were still living) and that was before "Ray" was released.

Right, Bill, and the proof's right here on HTF! June Carter and Johnny died in May and September 2003, respectively, and as we can see, Vickie started this thread in March '03, with Joaquin and Reese already cast.

Click to expand...

Adam Lenhardt · Jul 30, 2005

I can see Joaquin playing Johnny, but I have no idea what the real June Carter Cash looks like.

They got Witherspoon to look closer than I ever thought they would, but she doesn't have the persona for the role.

Pheonix, on the other hand, appears from that trailer to be made for the road. Damn great casting.

Click to expand...

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