Amid all the casting uncertainty around the Steve Jobs movie and the news of a Sock Monkey movie in the works, another biopic would like a little of your love and attention today. I Saw The Light, a biographic treatment of famed country star Hank Williams, already has Tom Hiddleston playing the famed country star and it now has Bradley Whitford and Cherry Jones aboard, too, according to Screen Daily.
Jones, best known for her Tony-winning work on Broadway and for winning an Emmy as President Taylor in seasons 7 and 8 of 24, will play Hank Williams' mother Lillie. Whitford, who recently reminisced about playing Josh Lyman in Empire's enormous West Wing reunion, takes on Nashville music publisher Fred Rose. Both characters were big characters and big influences on the young star-in-the-making. The latter helped Williams chart his rise from backup vocalist to superstar, and remained a good friend of the singer's.
I Saw The Light sees Marc Abraham directing the script he wrote. It adapts Colin Escott’s biography of the man who scored hits with songs such as ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’, ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’ and ‘Lovesick Blues’. Williams, who died in 1953, is still considered one of the most significant country music artists and rose quickly, burned brightly and died at the age of 29 from heart failure brought on by pills and alcohol.
The shoot is already underway in Louisiana.