Giving the role of American country music legend Hank Williams to English actor Tom Hiddleston is pretty much the antithesis of typecasting.
Hiddleston is a Royal Academy-trained thespian who won the Laurence Olivier Award for his turn in a 2007 stage production of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. He’s best known to North American audiences as Loki, the eloquent villain of Marvel’s cinematic universe.
Williams, on the other hand, is the twangy Alabama country icon who produced the classics “Hey, Good Lookin’,” “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Yet there’s Hiddleston southern-drawling his way through classic Hank Williams tunes in director Marc Abraham’s bio-pic I Saw the Light.
How did he transform?
“It actually all started here in Toronto,” recalls Hiddleston during an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival where I Saw the Light had its world premiere.
Hiddleston is a Royal Academy-trained thespian who won the Laurence Olivier Award for his turn in a 2007 stage production of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. He’s best known to North American audiences as Loki, the eloquent villain of Marvel’s cinematic universe.
Williams, on the other hand, is the twangy Alabama country icon who produced the classics “Hey, Good Lookin’,” “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Yet there’s Hiddleston southern-drawling his way through classic Hank Williams tunes in director Marc Abraham’s bio-pic I Saw the Light.
How did he transform?
“It actually all started here in Toronto,” recalls Hiddleston during an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival where I Saw the Light had its world premiere.
- 3/24/2016
- by Marni Weisz - Editor, Cineplex Magazine
- Cineplex
I Saw the Light may have been pushed back to March of 2016, but it didn’t change the premiere plans, or dampen anyone’s spirits. The premiere, which was on the 17th at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville, saw writer/director Marc Abraham and the film’s cast enjoying the scene during the red carpet and an after party, which included music by Tom Hiddleston.
In attendance: writer/director Marc Abraham, Tom Hiddleston (“Hank Williams”), Elizabeth Olsen (“Audrey Williams”), Bradley Whitford (“Fred Rose”), Maddie Hasson (“Billie Jean Jones”), and Wrenn Schmidt(“Bobbi Jett”). Also joining them on the carpet was Hank Williams’ Daughter Jett Williams, Fred Parker Jr. (“Faron Young”) and the members of the film’s musical talent known as the ‘Drifting Cowboys,’ Josh Brady, Wes Langolis, Casey Bond, Michael Rinne.
I Saw The Light Opens in New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville on March 25th, 2016 (followed by nationwide...
In attendance: writer/director Marc Abraham, Tom Hiddleston (“Hank Williams”), Elizabeth Olsen (“Audrey Williams”), Bradley Whitford (“Fred Rose”), Maddie Hasson (“Billie Jean Jones”), and Wrenn Schmidt(“Bobbi Jett”). Also joining them on the carpet was Hank Williams’ Daughter Jett Williams, Fred Parker Jr. (“Faron Young”) and the members of the film’s musical talent known as the ‘Drifting Cowboys,’ Josh Brady, Wes Langolis, Casey Bond, Michael Rinne.
I Saw The Light Opens in New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville on March 25th, 2016 (followed by nationwide...
- 10/20/2015
- by Marc Eastman
- AreYouScreening.com
Tinseltown took over Music City this past weekend, with the glitzy premiere of the highly anticipated Hank Williams biopic, I Saw the Light. Stars of the big-screen adaptation of the book, Hank Williams: The Biography by Colin Escott, George Merritt and William Macewen, walked the red carpet (which, for the record, was actually green), as invited guests filled the twin theaters at Nashville's historic Belcourt theater. British actor Tom Hiddleston turns in a career-defining role as the troubled singer-songwriter, whose influence is seen not only in nearly every country artist who came after him,...
- 10/19/2015
- Rollingstone.com
Toronto – We’re not going to beat around the bush here. Despite the worthy efforts of stars Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen, the Hank Williams biopic “I Saw The Light” is a shockingly bad movie. It’s such a disappointment we’re not even sure where to begin. Well, perhaps a quick history lesson is in order first. Hank Williams (Tom Hiddleston) was a legendary Country music singer and songwriter who had 11 no. 1 singles on the Billboard Country and Western Charts during a career that lasted only six years. The Alabama native first hit the charts in 1947 and actually had one of his biggest hits, “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” following his untimely death in 1953. He was just 29-years-old. In the decades since his music has influenced icons such as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Keith Richards, among others. Let's continue, shall we? He was married twice, first to Audrey Williams (Elizabeth Olsen...
- 9/12/2015
- by Gregory Ellwood
- Hitfix
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