Reese Witherspoon on Walk The Line

In Walk The Line, Reese Witherspoon plays June Carter, the child star of country music who fell in love with Johnny Cash. Both were married to others, so it was a love affair that grew on stage. Making Movies talks to the Academy-award nominated actress about the role...

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Joaquin Phoenix committed to the film without seeing the script. How did you come to be involved?
I was approached two years before there was a script and said yes. I grew up in Nashville which is the centre of country music in the US. I knew the music, I had been brought up with the same attitudes to religion and family, the kind of things I use to build a character. These were 'easy connects', if you like. I had even played Maybelle Carter (Carter's inspirational mother) in a fourth grade play.

Do you like biopics of musicians?
They are often fascinating. Musicians live in a different world, they are constantly travelling, their lives get interrupted. I'd love to see a biopic of someone like Brad Nowell (late singer of garage punk band Sublime) or Jeff Buckley. Or Peggy Lee.

You're well known for comedies, but have been Oscar-nominated for a drama. Do you think comedies are overlooked by the Academy?
No, not really. Alexander Payne makes comedies that appeal to the Academy. It's about taste.

Did you discover anything you didn't know about June?
Every film is an education. I think she was a really modern woman, she had kids from two different marriages, she was divorced twice. She toured with Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison and Elvis and they all had these huge crushes on her. She didn't give them the time of day. I think Johnny Cash had a fight over June with Elvis. Possibly something happened, which the family winked at. Johnny would rage at the mention of his name.

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