Hiddleston does bear a physical resemblance to Hank. It will be interesting to see if he has the voice to pull it off.
I know he is a very gifted impressionist. His Owen Wilson and Alan Rickman are both great. I’m thinking this would extend to getting Williams’s voice at least in speech.
I don’t know this guy from Adam, so my comment has to do with the idea of doing this film at all.
I’m generally very skeptical of Hollywood’s treatment of music legends, for several reasons:
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Hollywood rarely sticks to the real story. I could never figure out why the producers of The Buddy Holly Story, who did an admirable job in capturing the period (while Gary Busey did an exceptional job of capturing the essence of Buddy Holly), felt they had to play so fast and loose at times with what actually happened. Buddy Holly’s story is plenty interesting on its own; there was no reason to introduce fictitious elements into it.
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Movies are usually miles away when it comes to their presentation of the actual music (although again The Buddy Holly Story did a pretty good job with that, even to the point of having the actors play live in the roller rink scene). But look at Backbeat, which purported to tell the story of The Beatles in Hamburg. The producers enlisted a bunch of contemporary musicians, who proceeded to play in a contemporary style that sounded NOTHING at all like The Beatles sounded in Hamburg (fuzzboxes, distortion? Really?). I suppose this only bothered anal types like me, but it bothered me a lot.
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For those not familiar with the true story and the true personalities of the entertainers, the movie becomes the truth of what the musicians were about…for all time. I understand the Johnny Cash movie was very well-done. But when I think of Johnny and June’s early days, I want to think about them and what they were like, even if I have to fill in with my imagination a bit. I don’t want to think about Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon.
I imagine one’s feelings on this subject come down to whether one is more of a music fan or a movie fan. I’m pretty clear on this, but YMMV.
The one positive I see here is that it’s said this film will be based on Colin Escott’s book about Hank Williams. That’s a good sign, but no guarantee they won’t mess with things.
Sorry for the thread hijack, but this is something I feel strongly about.
I think you’re being too cynical. From what I’ve heard, they are trying to make this a very true-to-life biopic … from Hank’s (Hiram’s) humble beginnings, to his study of guitar with Rufus Payne, to his apocalyptic battles with laser beam wielding alien robot monsters.
In 3-D!!!
It’s a well done movie but bears very little semblance to reality.
The best musical biopic in history is Walk Hard.
Bryan, yeah!
He can certainly sing, he’s an excellent actor, and he’ll work hard to get Hank exactly right. It’s Tom Hiddleston, how can it not be awesome? (ok, that link was gratuitous, but I heart Tom Hiddleston)
Unfortunately there will probably be no dancing involved.
I’m not sure Hiddleston is the best choice to play Hank Williams. He’s too low-key.
You have a lot of stuff you feel strongly about, sir 
Always interesting to hear what and why.
The beauty of a bad music movie is that I can walk right past it. La la la - can’t hear you. If I can mentally shut down Season 7 of Buffy, Aerosmith past the first 5 or so albums, Chris Cornell’s album with Timbaland, etc., I can mentally block out a movie.
You are basically frustrated about the fact that History goes to the Winners. If someone’s voice gets heard, it becomes the dominant voice of record. It can suck, but it can’t be stopped. I mourn some, applaud some others, etc.
Tom Hiddleston is a badass. He’s damn good at what he does. I watch a fucking silly-ass Jaguar Commercial because he is in it. If someone is going to give Hank a shot, I am pleased it is someone like him. I’m just glad to hear Hank Williams is getting a bit of crossover time - a legend in Country, but not a household name.
I think it will be interesting. He’s a good actor who has been well-trained, seems to be very conscientious about his craft and portrayal of characters, and seems to work hard to produce the best work he can (obviously not knowing him, that could all be image-crafting, but it seems true with the types of films he’s done so far).
The two men look similar, and presuming Hiddleston’s reputation is correct, he’ll be cramming Williams’ biographies and discography and visual representations from now until filming, so I don’t think we need to be too concerned about that part.
I am most concerned about the accent - if they’ll actually have him play it straight, or try to ham it up like most Hollywood people do for southern characters.
I am actually looking forward to the singing, and perhaps a bit of guitar playing. I’m a sucker for nice hands on stringed instruments.
Hiddleston is absolutely safe. No concerns at all. Total, top tier pro.
That may not be a good thing, depending on how accurate the screen writers portray him. Hank Williams was a songwriter with few equals and a brilliant entertainer. He was also a miserable failure as a human being.
I just found out that it’s being directed by Marc Abraham, whose first movie was a nifty little film called Flash of Genius, with Greg Kinnear as the man who invented intermittent windshield wipers and battled Big Auto for years for the credit after they stole the idea from him. It’s an excellent movie.
This one is in very good hands.
Sorry for the late response. I was away the entire weekend, and I’m just now catching up.
This is pretty much what I do and have done…not only with music movies I refuse to see, but more generally with the greater percentage of what passes for popular culture these days. In fact, I work very hard at times to keep the blinders on, because the alternative is slitting my wrists!
Sure, I realize this, and recognize there’s nothing I can do about it. But it doesn’t stop me from idly wishing for a more just world.
I’m sure we both hope for a best-case scenario where the film does Hank justice and brings him wider recognition, particularly among those who unthinkingly dismiss and even mock ALL country music, making no quality distinctions from among its many strains.
And as another said, I hope they don’t whitewash the less savory aspects of his life, as that miserable 1964 film with George Hamilton (yikes!) did. That truly great art came out of a quite flawed human being only makes the story that much more remarkable to me.