Avengers star Tom Hiddleston has signed on to play music icon Hank Williams in the upcoming biopic “I Saw the Light.”
The script, which was written and will be directed by Marc Abraham, is based on Colin Escott’s Hank Williams: The Biography, which is widely considered the definitive account of the most revered artist in country music history and one of the most influential artists in the history of recorded music in any genre.
Hiddleston, 33, not only will play Luke the Drifter but will also be singing some of Hank’s most noted songs for the film including “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Hey Good Lookin’.”
Production for I Saw the Light is set to begin in October in Louisiana according to Deadline.
I remember when I first started discovering and being overtaken by Hank as a teenager and having my mind blown when I discovered that he had written the song from which this film gets its title. I heard it sung in church and just assumed “I Saw the Light” was one of those standards that had no known origin and had been around a couple of hundred years. I guess you could say his entire catalog now seems that way to me – the definition of timeless.
So how will a British actor who’s older than the legend was at the time of his death (29) do in portraying Hank Williams and singing those songs? I guess time will tell, but as a devoted fan of Hank Williams, I know I can’t wait to find out.
“When I hear Hank sing all movement ceases. The slightest whisper seems sacrilege. In time, I became aware that in Hank’s recorded songs were the archetype rules of poetic songwriting. The architectural forms are like marble pillars, and they had to be there.” – Bob Dylan
