Joaquin Phoenix had his work cut out for him before playing Johnny Cash in the upcoming film “Walk the Line.”
Phoenix, who had no musical background, “was pretty horrible when he started,” said Dan John Miller, leader of the indie band Blanche, who plays Cash’s lead guitarist.
The 31-year-old actor spent months rehearsing by himself. He also wrote his own songs to “see what it felt like to make something from nothing,’ Phoenix told Time magazine.
Apparently it worked.
“He came around the corner for this concert scene and he just had the swagger and confidence,” Miller told Time.
“He was Johnny Cash . . . . For an amateur like me, it was suddenly clear what real acting is.”
“Walk the Line,” also starring Reese Witherspoon, is set for release in U.S. theaters Nov. 18.
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The Personals page was compiled by Cheryl Bowles from Tribune news services and staff reports.
