If Tom Hiddleston has been looking to escape the shadow of Loki so that he can focus on establishing himself as a true leading man, then he might have found the biopic to do just that. Hiddleston will star as Hank Williams in Marc Abraham’s I Saw the Light – based on Colin Escott’s “Hank Williams: The Biography” – and just like all good actors bringing legendary musicians to life on the big screen, Hiddleston is going to handle all of the singing duties himself. According to Deadline, the film’s producers, which include Brett Ratner and his RatPac partner James Packer, have locked up the rights to Williams’s classic hits, so Hiddleston likely has some cramming to do.
Production will begin in Louisiana in October, and Hiddleston will sing such Williams standards as “Your Cheatin’ Heart”, “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Hey Good Lookin’,” after the film’s backers made a deal with Sony ATV to secure rights to the Williams music catalog. The film will tell the story of Williams’ meteoric rise to fame, and the price that fame took on his personal life. He died at age 29 of heart failure. (Via Deadline)
So the big question, then, is will the 33-year old actor from London be able to channel the country identity of the Hillbilly Shakespeare from Butler County, Alabama? Probably. Hiddleston is pretty awesome, after all, and he has already proven to us that he can belt one out on multiple occasions. But can he turn a performance like this…
… into this?
He proved in Midnight in Paris that he can handle an American accent, and he also does a hell of an Owen Wilson impression, so I think he’ll get it all figured out in the next three months or so.