10 Actors Who Learned To Play Instruments For Their Roles
6. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line
The first musical biopic to make the list centres around a giant of American music, one who made a gargantuan impression over a career that spanned nearly fifty years.
Walk the Line from director James Mangold is biopic surrounding Johnny Cash, the tour and subsequent romance he embarked on with fellow musician June Carter. While it elevated the wildly popular musician to super-stardom in the seventies, it also took a heavy toll on his personal life and marriage to Vivian Cash.
Focusing so heavily on one of the most iconic American musicians of all time required a hefty amount of authenticity and practice. So it was that lead actors Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon took up practice on both instruments and singing. The two faced different challenges that tied in with their specific roles.
Phoenix had to nail to the gravelly voice, which he admitted wasn't perfect, as he spent several months at a kind of "rock-n-roll boot camp" to perfect his performing skills. On the other, Witherspoon found stage fright troublesome, alongside the singing itself, having initially auditioned for the acting side only. In the end though, the two were able to deliver two excellent performances that truly captured the talents of both musical artists.