When Country Gold Hits the Silver Screen

Country music has a habit of inspiring cinematic magic, combining the bright lights of Hollywood with the footlights of Nashville. These five Oscar-nominated films have storylines inspired by country music greats.

Coal Miner's Daughter | Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn | 1981 Academy Award Win for Best Actress

From the moment Loretta Lynn found Sissy Spacek’s headshot in a pile of 8-by-10 glossies, the country superstar had her heart set on casting the young actress in her autobiographical, rags-to-riches film Coal Miner’s Daughter. Before Spacek could even consider the role, Lynn was sharing with audiences nationwide that Spacek would star in the film. Once Spacek accepted the part, she spent a year studying Lynn’s mannerisms both on and off stage. During an appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, Lynn and Spacek traded verses of the Kentucky songstress’ well-known hits. Spacek matched Lynn’s voice so closely that even fellow Opry members had a hard time telling the two apart. When Spacek won the 1981 Academy Award for Best Actress, Lynn was sitting in the audience and “cheered as loud as my own mother would have when I walked out onto that stage,” Spacek wrote in her autobiography.

Sweet Dreams | Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline  | 1986 Academy Award Nomination for Best Actress

Four years after the release of Coal Miner’s Daughter, the film’s producer, Bernard Schwartz, announced the production of Sweet Dreams, which chronicles the last eight years of country legend Patsy Cline’s life leading up to her tragic death in 1963. The film revolves heavily around the relationship between Cline and husband Charlie Dick. Jessica Lange, who would go on to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in 1986, beat out the likes of Meryl Streep for the role of the avant-garde Cline. At one point in the film, Cline is asked if she wants to be Kitty Wells to which the trailblazer responds, “I want to be Hank Williams.” Although Lange lip-synched to Cline’s recordings, she did work with Owen Bradley, the film’s soundtrack composer and the producer responsible for Cline’s catalog of timeless pieces, to learn how to imitate Cline’s vocal patterns.

Walk the Line | Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash | 2006 Academy Award Win for Best Actress

Reese Witherspoon, who grew up in Nashville, is no stranger to the history of country music. While she once played Mother Maybelle Carter in a fourth-grade production, the role Witherspoon truly coveted was that of Mother Maybelle’s daughter June Carter Cash. For the opportunity to play Johnny Cash’s wife in the film Walk the Line, Witherspoon said she “would have crawled on hands and knees halfway to Memphis.” The actress received Carter’s approval before her death and spent a challenging six months alongside co-star Joaquin Phoenix learning how to sing and play instruments just as the famous pair did. Witherspoon’s dedication to capturing the role of the multifaceted wife, mother, and entertainer earned her the 2006 Academy Award for Best Actress.

Walk the Line | Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash | 2006 Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor

Joaquin Phoenix, who portrayed the other half of country music’s most iconic couple, also earned an Academy Award nomination for his work. Aside from training with Witherspoon to hone Cash’s vocal and instrumental styles, Phoenix also learned from Cash’s early footage, unedited transcripts, and acquaintances to get a better idea of who the “Man in Black” really was. The two men did have the opportunity to meet at a dinner party six months before Phoenix had even heard about Walk the Line. Phoenix discovered that he and his country counterpart shared more than just a similar appearance. Like Cash, Phoenix also endured the loss of his older brother and had experienced addiction. While on the Memphis set, Phoenix asked the production team to refer to him by Cash’s birth name, “J.R.”

Crazy Heart | Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake | 2010 Academy Award Win for Best Actor

While the burned-out country artist he played in Crazy Heart earned Jeff Bridges the 2010 Academy Award for Best Actor, the character was not based on one specific person but was instead inspired by a number of well-known country outlaws. The basis for Crazy Heart comes from Thomas Cobb’s novel by the same name, and the character Bad Blake was modeled after the life of Country Music Hall of Fame member Hank Thompson. Director Scott Cooper told Bridges to think of Blake as a fifth addition to “The Highwaymen,” an established quartet that comprised Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings. No stranger to the music scene himself, Bridges’ character captures the feelings of many country acts who’ve fallen from grace, singing, “I used to be somebody. Now I am somebody else.”

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