SHADES OF BLACK JOHNNY CASH, IN THE EYES OF 'WALK THE LINE' STARS, DIRECTOR.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film writer Johnny Cash Noun 1. Johnny Cash - United States country music singer and songwriter (1932-2003) John Cash, Cash sold millions of copies of greatest-hits compilations during his lifetime, so the fact that a new collection recently debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 album chart speaks to the continuing power and relevance of his music. ``He says so much with so little,'' says Joaquin Phoenix Joaquín Rafael Phoenix (pronounced IPA: [hwakiːn / ra.fa.ˈe̞l / fiːnɪks]; born October 28, 1974), formerly credited as Leaf Phoenix , who plays Cash in the big-screen biopic bi·o·pic n. A film or television biography, often with fictionalized episodes. biopic Noun Informal a film based on the life of a famous person [bio(graphical) + pic(ture)] ``Walk the Line.'' ``I'm not surprised younger people are listening to his music, because it has an inherent power and honesty that is timeless. And the things he sang about, giving voice to people who have no voice, will always be relevant.'' We spoke to Phoenix, other ``Walk the Line'' cast members and filmmaker James Mangold about music and memories of the Man in Black. JOAQUIN PHOENIX Role: Johnny Cash Cash connection: Met Cash at a dinner party shortly after Phoenix's movie, ``Gladiator gladiator (Latin; swordsman) Professional combatant in ancient Rome who engaged in fights to the death as sport. Gladiators originally performed at Etruscan funerals, the intent being to give the dead man armed attendants in the next world. .'' Paid Phoenix his favorite career comment: ``I really loved that 'Gladiator,' '' Cash told him. ``I really liked the way you said, 'Your wife moaned like a whore as they ravaged rav·age v. rav·aged, rav·ag·ing, rav·ages v.tr. 1. To bring heavy destruction on; devastate: A tornado ravaged the town. 2. her again and again and again.' '' Thoughts on Cash's music: ``There's a fierce honesty about John's music that can't be denied. There's no artifice, no pretension Pretension See also Hypocrisy. Prey (See QUARRY.) Pride (See BOASTFULNESS, EGOTISM, VANITY.) Absolon vain, officious parish clerk. [Br. Lit. . It's so bare and raw and feels so intimate. He's like John Lennon Noun 1. John Lennon - English rock star and guitarist and songwriter who with Paul McCartney wrote most of the music for the Beatles (1940-1980) Lennon . There's something just so beautiful about somebody being so honest.'' Favorite Cash songs: ``I love 'Home of the Blues.' The lyric `I cry and walk while my heartbeat keeps time with the drag of my shoes' is fantastic. And 'Folsom Prison Blues.' How do you not like 'Folsom'? 'Cocaine Blues' is a (bleeping bleep n. A brief high-pitched sound, as from an electronic device. v. bleeped, bleep·ing, bleeps v.intr. To emit a bleep or bleeps. v.tr. ) great song to play. 'I Still Miss Someone' is beautiful. They're all extraordinary for different reasons.'' SHOOTER JENNINGS Waylon Albright ("Shooter") Jennings (born May 19, 1979) is an American country music singer, and the only child of Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. His middle name comes from his father's drummer, Richie Albright. Role: Waylon Jennings Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15 1937 – February 13 2002) was a respected and influential American country music singer and musician. A self-taught guitar player, he rose to prominence as a bass player for Buddy Holly following the break-up of The Crickets. (Shooter's dad) Cash connection: His father's friendship with Cash meant that Jennings knew the Man in Black from birth. June Carter Cash threw Waylon's sobriety party. Shooter's mother, singer Jessi Colter, hosted a similar event when Cash stopped boozing and doping doping, in electronics: see semiconductor. Altering the electrical conductivity of a semiconductor material, such as silicon, by chemically combining it with foreign elements. . ``He once told me if there were only two pieces of literature you read in your life, they should be the Book of Corinthians and the Gettysburg Address,'' Jennings recalls. Thoughts on Cash's music: ``There's an unbelievable spirituality to it. He never stopped battling his demons Demons See also devil; evil; ghosts; hell; spirits and spiritualism. ademonist one who denies the existence of the devil or demons. bogyism, bogeyism recognition of the existence of demons and goblins. , and you feel that struggle coursing through all of his songs.'' Favorite Cash songs: `` 'Big River' is probably my favorite song. 'The tears that I cried for that woman are gonna flood you Big River.' Fantastic. Then 'Man In Black' for the philosophy behind it and the lyrics. And 'Cocaine Blues,' just for the power, man.'' SHELBY LYNNE Role: Carrie Cash, Johnny Cash's mother Cash connection: Wrote the elegiac el·e·gi·ac adj. 1. Of, relating to, or involving elegy or mourning or expressing sorrow for that which is irrecoverably past: an elegiac lament for youthful ideals. 2. ``Johnny Met June'' for her own latest album, ``Suit Yourself,'' on the day that Johnny Cash died. Thoughts on Cash's music: ``I loved his individuality more than anything. I'm a big fan of people who aren't like anyone else, and Johnny Cash was one of a kind.'' Favorite Cash songs: ``I recorded 'I Walk the Line' for one of my early Nashville albums. It's one of the best songs ever written. Then, from the later albums, the version he did of Trent Reznor's 'Hurt.' But then, I loved everything from those albums. The song choices were so amazing, and every vocal sounded really great, like Johnny Cash singing from his age, from his lifetime of experience.'' WAYLON MALLOY PAYNE Role: Jerry Lee Lewis Noun 1. Jerry Lee Lewis - United States rock star singer and pianist (born in 1935) Lewis Cash connection: Payne, the son of singer Sammi Smith and Willie Nelson sideman side·man n. A member of a jazz band who is not the leader or a featured soloist. Jody Payne, knew Cash well. ``Everything he sang was cool. Everything he did was cool. There will never be another Johnny Cash.'' Thoughts on Cash's music: ``Wanna wan·na Informal 1. Contraction of want to: You wanna go now? 2. Contraction of want a: You wanna slice of pie? know about life? Just listen to 'Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down.' It's all there. Kris (Kristofferson) wrote it. But Johnny lived it. That's what I recognize John Cash for.'' Favorite Cash songs: ``I loved it when he did 'Hurt.' What a swan song. And that video he did of that song with June almost foreshadowed what was coming around the bend. Friends of mine, we used to have parties that would center around us getting hammered enough to get through one viewing of that video. It was that intense. It just wrecked everybody.'' TYLER HILTON Role: Elvis Presley Cash connection: ``If you want to know how big Johnny Cash and all those guys were, go to Memphis. Him and Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison, that's Mount Rushmore right there. If you're playing one of those guys in a movie, you've got a table in any restaurant at any time.'' Thoughts on Cash's music: ``I didn't really know his music. Then, after I got the script, I went out and bought the 'Folsom Prison' album. Holy (cow)! I was blown away.'' Favorite Cash songs: Hilton, 21, stars on the WB series ``One Tree Hill'' and released his first full-length CD last year. ``I started playing 'Busted' at some of my shows. It's a great song. I sing 'Jackson' whenever I do a show with a girl. And I like 'Get Rhythm' and 'I Still Miss Someone.' '' JAMES MANGOLD Role: Director, co-writer of ``Walk the Line'' Cash connection: Mangold first met Cash in 1999. They spent many days together through the years and, after June died in May 2003, Mangold phoned him every Saturday to talk. ``One of the last times I spoke to him, I asked him what his favorite movies were,'' Mangold says. ``He said, ' ``Frankenstein.'' He's someone who's made up of all these bad parts that bad people put together, yet he's very gentle.' He spoke very quietly. And he added, 'Oh, there's another thing I liked about that movie.' 'What's that?' And he was very quiet for a moment and then the phone burst from my ear. 'It's alive! It's alive! It's alive!' It was the huge, full, booming power of his voice, and then he's laughing like a maniac ma·ni·ac n. An insane person. maniac one affected with mania. at the other end of the line.'' Thoughts on Cash's music: ``There's two essential components - the danger and the softness, the tenderness. That's why I open with 'Cocaine Blues.' The lyrics of that are outrageous. They're gangster rap. Then, on the other side, you have a song like 'I Walk the Line,' a man struggling to be good, promising to be good, in a world full of temptation.'' Favorite Cash songs: `` 'Get Rhythm.' 'Home of the Blues' is a staggeringly beautiful song that I don't think people know he wrote. And 'I Still Miss Someone,' of course. It speaks so much to his character.'' Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com The man behind the voice Johnny Cash didn't know how to put on a face. There was no artifice, no affectation af·fec·ta·tion n. 1. A show, pretense, or display. 2. a. Behavior that is assumed rather than natural; artificiality. b. A particular habit, as of speech or dress, adopted to give a false impression. to the man. So when it came time to make ``Walk the Line,'' writer-director James Mangold decided he would have Joaquin Phoenix do his own singing, even though Cash's deep, resonant baritone is one of the most distinctive voices in music history. ``To me, being authentic trumped being pitch-perfect,'' Mangold says. ``By denying Joaquin and everyone else the opportunity to be a musician and to really mean it seemed to be the antithesis of what we were really making the movie about.'' Phoenix worked with musical consultant T-Bone Burnett (the man behind the rootsy ``O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' soundtrack) and a guitar teacher, but it was Cash himself who helped the actor the most. ``I just listened to his CDs over and over again,'' Phoenix says. ``Singing in the movie was a terrifying ter·ri·fy tr.v. ter·ri·fied, ter·ri·fy·ing, ter·ri·fies 1. To fill with terror; make deeply afraid. See Synonyms at frighten. 2. To menace or threaten; intimidate. prospect, but as I listened to John's early albums, I could see he himself was struggling to find himself as a musician. The 'Man in Black' persona evolved over time. I wanted to capture that process.'' Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon (June Carter Cash), Tyler Hilton (Elvis Presley), Waylon Malloy Payne (Jerry Lee Lewis), Jonathan Rice (Roy Orbison) and Shooter Jennings (playing his father, Waylon Jennings) are all featured on the film's official soundtrack album, singing direct, unadorned versions of classics like ``Ring of Fire,'' ``That's All Right'' and ``Jackson.'' ``This is not some twangy, nostalgic movie,'' Mangold says. ``We wanted to make those early tracks rock. When someone says `the birth of rock 'n' roll rock 'n' roll: see rock music. ,' we want you to feel what that means, the arrival of this beat, the arrival of this passion. ``In many ways, the recordings of that period are beautiful, but there's not enough presence to impress a modern ear,'' Mangold continues. ``What I wanted people to experience is what you heard when you saw one of these shows in a gymnasium with the amps turned up all the way. This is music with (power). It's like a heartbeat. It's as strong as anything you'll ever hear.'' - G.W. CAPTION(S): 9 photos, box Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) The legend of Johnny Cash Don Hunstein/Sony BMG BMG Bundesministerium für Gesundheit (Germand: Federal Ministry for Health) BMG Be My Girl BMG Blue Man Group BMG Bertelsmann Music Group BMG Be My Guest BMG Browning Machine Gun BMG Bulk Metallic Glass Music Entertainment (2) no caption (Johnny Cash) (3) Joaquin Phoenix (4) Shooter Jennings (5) Shelby Lynne (6) Waylon Malloy Payne (7) Tyler Hilton (8) James Mangold (9) no caption (Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash) Box: The man behing the voice (see text) |
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