Country music, generally speaking, is powered by its cliches. The death, the lovesickness, the sin and salvation—rather than weighing the genre down, the way these themes are reanimated through the decades makes country vital. They’re also what makes the prospect of a Hank Williams biopic so juicy: there’s never been a country songwriter as profound as Williams, and there may not be a country singer who’s lived out his songs so blatantly.
Marc Abraham‘s I Saw the Light is out on March 25, but today you can get an extended glimpse at Tom Hiddleston‘s portrayal of ole Hank. The trailer, which you can watch below, finds the same beats as pretty much every music biopic of the past decade or so—there’s the humble beginning, the declaration of genius, the toll of fame—but it pointedly avoids telegraphing the ending. Unlike, say, Ray Charles or Johnny Cash, Williams didn’t live long enough to witness his own transformation into an American icon. How I Saw the Light handles the cliches of the biopic form—and whether it’s using that title ironically or not—will be interesting to see.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N_E7u8te-s
I Saw the Light is out March 25.
