Is there anything Tom Hiddleston can’t do? The talented actor proved his singing chops in a clip of his latest film that he shared via Twitter. Vanity Fair reports that this is the first clip from the biopic “I Saw the Light,” written and directed by Marc Abraham and based on the Hank Williams: The Biography by Colin Escott.
The clip shows Hiddleston as the late country performer Hank Williams singing and playing the guitar to Williams’ 1947 classic, “Move It On Over”, and backed by a band. A short footage also shows co-star and “Avengers” newcomer, Elizabeth Olsen, who plays his wife, Audrey. I Saw the Light was selected to be screened during the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, which is currently underway until the 20th of September. The film, which is set to hit theaters on Nov. 27, also stars Cherry Jones and Bradley Whitford.
Abraham admitted to Entertainment Weekly that it would be tricky to create an imitation of the country singer’s voice, which is why they aimed for Hiddleston to capture his emotion and authenticity instead. Abraham explained, “I knew that Tom Hiddleston or anyone was never going to sound exactly like Hank Williams.”
However, Abraham said Hiddleston’s performance as Williams was a great success, and the former’s nationality should not sway the audiences to think otherwise. He told EW, “When people ask me, ‘Why’d you get an Englishman?’ I say, ‘He’s the best actor I know to play the part.’ Who’s the most famous southerner ever portrayed in the movies? Scarlett O’Hara. Who plays her? Vivien Leigh.”
Hiddleston did, however, receive training from singer and songwriter Rodney Crowell, who praised the actor’s dedication to the role, and who is also credited as the musical director of the film.
Crowell posted a photo of himself with Hiddleston on his official Facebook page in September last year, writing, “I watched him sit for a wardrobe fitting, read through four hours worth of key scenes with the director and leading lady, spend another two hours with a dialect coach, and then, in order to lose the weight needed to look Hank Williams gaunt on screen, run seven wicked miles over hilly Tennessee terrain. With those chores done, he’d then commit to six more hours of singing, over and over again, a very hard to master song like ‘Lovesick Blues.’ And then, when he finally unlocked the mystery of yodeling the blues, hillbilly style, and was treated to a playback of his performance responded by saying 'I can do it better, let me go again.’”
Crowell also wrote about how Hiddleston, just a day after he arrived in Nashville, hopped on a tour bus with Crowell and his band. When asked if Hiddleston wanted to perform a Hank Williams song on stage, Crowell said, “I was surprised when he said yes and skillfully performed the tune before what must have been 1500 people.”
Crowell also shared that Hiddleston “admitted, rather boyishly, that he’d never in his life performed with a band and had loved it.”
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