Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

[modage]

John C. Reilly to Walk Hard
Source: Variety
August 10, 2006

Columbia Pictures has acquired the comedy pitch Walk Hard, which Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan will write and produce as a vehicle for John C. Reilly. Kasdan will direct.

Variety says the story is about fictional music legend Dewey Cox, whose life becomes as messy as the protagonists in Ray and Walk the Line, films that inspired the comedy. Reilly, who has sung and played harmonica in blues bands, last sang onscreen in Chicago.

"It's an idea Jake had after seeing one too many musical biopics and feeling it was time to have some fun with that," Reilly said. "My character is an amalgamation of a number of classic musician stories, tales of excess, highs and lows and bad behavior."

Production begins early next year.

[squints]

Reilly, who has sung and played harmonica in blues bands, last sang onscreen in Chicago A Prairie Home Companion.

[modage]

yeah, but nobody saw that.  i think he might sing a line or two in Talladega Nights though.

[MacGuffin]

Sex and drugs? Got it — now they need rock
Everything's in place except the music for Jake Kasdan and Judd Apatow's latest creation--John C. Reilly's mockumentary 'Walk Hard.'
Source: Los Angeles Times

John C. Reilly's poignant performance of "Mr. Cellophane" in "Chicago," for which he earned a best supporting actor Oscar nomination, may have come as a surprise to moviegoers whose only previous exposure to his musical talent was "Feel the Heat," the '80s rocker he belted out in ironic splendor with "Boogie Nights" costar Mark Wahlberg five years earlier.

But writer-producers Jake Kasdan ("Zero Effect") and Judd Apatow ("The 40 Year-Old Virgin") have created a starring vehicle for Reilly that will take full advantage of both of these approaches to his prodigious musical talent: "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," a comedic take on tortured musician biopics. The three filmmakers and a variety of musical talents are in the studio recording 15 songs for the project.

"It's a parody of the genre," says Kasdan, who cites "Ray," "Great Balls of Fire" and, uh, "Selena" as inspirational touchstones. "The character is an amalgamation of a lot of different guys, but the movie is playing on the conventions of 'great-man' movies and biopics in general."

Kasdan and Apatow's screenplay tracks the tumultuous life and five-decade career of early rock 'n' roll star Dewey Cox, who bursts onto the scene during the Buddy Holly era. The film will emphasize the '50s, '60s and '70s, but Reilly will play the character from age 13 into his 60s — an artist ravaged by a life lived (and walked) so hard he makes Sid Vicious seem like Haylie Duff.

"The movie charts the character's rise and fall and rise and fall that happens many, many times," says Kasdan, who is also directing the film. "He's addicted to pretty much everything you could possibly get addicted to, in and out of rehab, many, many children, and several wives.... It's an American epic."

After writing song titles and lyric fragments into the screenplay, Kasdan and Apatow reached out to musicians they admired who could use the script cues for songwriting inspiration. The brainstorming has resulted in songs like Cox's first huge hit, "Walk Hard"; a tune from his "dangerous period" called "Guilty as Charged" and songs from a protest album he turns out during his socially conscious political phase named "These Are My Issues."

Marshall Crenshaw penned the title song, and indie singer-songwriters Dan Bern, Charlie Wadhams and Candy Butchers co-founder Mike Viola are contributing material. The filmmakers have also recruited Van Dyke Parks, a legendary composer and producer who wrote lyrics for Brian Wilson, produced early Randy Newman and Ry Cooder records, and composed the feature soundtracks for "Goin' South" and "The Two Jakes," to write a musical sequence.

As the song demos come in, Apatow, Kasdan and Reilly are tweaking and arranging them with Kasdan's usual composer, Mike Andrews ("Orange County," TV's "Freaks and Geeks"), to make sure they best fit both the character and Reilly's style. The songs aren't straight parodies in the Weird Al Yankovic vein, but "good songs that are funny within the context of the movie," Kasdan says. "Some of them are kind of jokey, and some are less jokey. For the purposes of the movie, we don't want the comedy to be dependent on listening to the lyrical content of the song line for line. It's got to work in a sequence."

The filmmakers are recording the songs at Andrews' home studio in Glendale before shooting starts in February so Reilly has the tracks to perform to, and Kasdan plans to release an accompanying soundtrack album of complete studio versions of the songs along with the film.

Though Kasdan showed off his songwriting skills in his first film, "Zero Effect," which included star Bill Pullman performing two songs they had co-written, he and Apatow will not be performing on the "Walk Hard" soundtrack. "We both play really mediocre adolescent Jewish-boy-who-loved-Bob-Dylan, campfire-type guitar," Kasdan jokes. "We both know the same six chords."

Longtime friends and collaborators ("Freaks and Geeks," "Undeclared"), Kasdan and Apatow wrote the script, mostly over the phone, in the spring after Kasdan offhandedly mentioned the idea and Apatow "totally responded to it, in the way that he is able to do, and immediately came up with 40 jokes on that phone call," Kasdan says. This evolved into frequent riffing sessions over a few months in which they recalled classic tales of rock 'n' roll excess and passed scenes back and forth for a "real rock comedy" that also expresses their deep love for the music.

"There's so many great, crazy rock stories and it's all kind of fodder," Kasdan says. "The more you work on it, the more stuff you want to include."

[matt35mm]

It all sounds good to me, but this part...

Reilly will play the character from age 13 into his 60s

... did have me laughing out loud just thinking about it.  I think this could be a pretty funny movie, especially if they don't go too, too broad with it.  I think they're smart enough not to do a Scary Movie version of the music biopic, though.

[MacGuffin]

Fischer walks the 'Walk'
'Office' actress cast opposite Reilly in comedy
Source: Variety

Columbia Pictures has set Jenna Fischer to star alongside John C. Reilly in the Jake Kasdan-directed comedy "Walk Hard."
Judd Apatow and Kasdan wrote the script.

Fischer will spend her hiatus from "The Office" playing Darlene, a June Carter Cash-like love interest for fictional troubled music legend Dewey Cox (Reilly). Fischer also will sing in a comedy custom-fit for Reilly, who has sung and played harmonica in blues bands and last sang onscreen in "Chicago."

Fischer and Reilly recently starred with Seann William Scott in Dimension Films' "Quebec," the directorial debut of "The Pursuit of Happyness" scribe Steve Conrad. Fischer also will be seen in the Paramount/DreamWorks comedy "Blades of Glory" and "The Brothers Solomon" for Screen Gems.

Apatow and Kasdan are producing "Walk Hard" with Clayton Townsend.

[MacGuffin]

Judd Apatow On Creating A Fake Musical Biopic
In his second column for MTV News, '40-Year-Old Virgin' director also talks about favorite musical films.

Judd Apatow is the writer/director of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," the upcoming summer comedy "Knocked Up," and producer/writer of the acclaimed television series "Freaks and Geeks." The following is the latest in a series of guest columns by Apatow for MTV News:

Lately I have been paying a lot of attention to movie musicals because myself and Jake Kasdan recently wrote a film called "Walk Hard" that is kind of a goof on music biopics. It is based on movies like "Ray," "Walk the Line," "Great Balls of Fire" and "Selena." To prepare to write it we watched a ton of those films — and we realized they are all the same movie. So we decided to create our own music-industry giant, Dewey Cox, and tell the world his story. Let's just say he goes to rehab a lot. He has a very addictive personality.

The next assignment is to write all of the hits that spanned his 40-year career. That is a hard assignment, because now we need songs that are both funny and good enough to kind of sound like they could be hits. We enlisted a bunch of songwriters to help with this process; it is going on as we speak. Right now someone is sitting in a room working on a Dewey Cox guitar part.

Dewey will be played by John C. Reilly, who I worked with previously on "Talladega Nights." He has an amazing voice, sort of Roy Orbison-like, which makes the songs funny. The fact that this incredible voice comes out of John is shocking and thus humorous.

What are my favorite musicals? "Hair," starring Treat Williams — who also has an amazing voice — and a guy who joined the band Chicago soon after making the film [Donnie Dacus]. Also John Savage, who is awesome as usual. Milos Forman directed it. I don't know if people consider this a good movie or not, but I love it. I sing it. My family gets annoyed as I sing it. So I stop singing it.

I also love "Harold and Maude" which is filled with songs by Cat Stevens. I guess it isn't a musical — it is more of a black comedy — but I believe the director Hal Ashby saw it as a bit of an operetto. Is that a word? [Editor's note: Nope. An operetta is a romantic-comic opera that includes songs and dancing, but that's not 'Harold and Maude' either.] It is a really funny movie and it makes you cry: My favorite kind of movie.

"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" had a big effect on me. I sang it at a talent show in a negligee at summer camp. There was a period when I did wear women's clothes a little too often for a child entering puberty.

The movie I just made, "Knocked Up," has a score written by singer/songwriters Loudon Wainwright III and Joe Henry. We went about it in an odd way. They wrote a bunch of songs with lyrics, then we took the melodies of those songs and made them recurring themes [without lyrics] in the film. Two of those songs play over the final credits. And now we have a soundtrack album coming out which will contain all of those songs with their lyrics. Playing on many of those tunes is the great guitarist/songwriter Richard Thompson, who scored the film "Grizzly Man."

Loudon is someone I have been inspired by for a long time. He is a folk musician whose songs are both funny and biting, and also deeply personal and emotional. I saw him on David Letterman's old morning talk show in 1980. He sang a song called "Unrequited to the Nth Degree," which is basically about trying to make your ex-girlfriend feel bad about your impending suicide. It is really funny, and really dark. In a way all of my work is going for the same honesty and humor that he puts into his music.

The one thing I have learned from trying to make a film about musical icons is that it is really hard to create music, so maybe it is wrong to make fun of them.

What the hell — we're gonna do it anyway.

[MacGuffin]

Meadows walks 'Walk' for Apatow
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Tim Meadows is in final negotiations to join Columbia Pictures' "Walk Hard," the John C. Reilly comedy being produced by Judd Apatow.

Directed by Jake Kasdan from a script by Apatow and Kasdan, the film pokes fun at the musician biopic genre and centers on a singer named Dewey Cox (Reilly) who overcomes adversity to become a musical legend.

Meadows will play the drummer in Reilly's band.

Also cast in the movie is Raymond J. Barry, who will play Cox's cold and angry father who is constantly telling him he is a failure.

Jenna Fischer and Kristen Wiig already are onboard.

The film is scheduled to start shooting this month in Los Angeles.

Meadows, who recently signed with APA, recently wrapped "Nobody Knows Anything" and is a contributor to "The Colbert Report." His feature credits include "The Benchwarmers" and "Mean Girls." He is additionally repped by Brillstein-Grey.

Barry's most recent credits include features "Steel City," for which he is nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, and "Little Children."

[MacGuffin]

Jack White Walks Hard as Elvis Presley       
Source: IESB.net

John C. Reilly is walking pretty hard these days as Dewey Cox in "Walk Hard," a parody based on the "poor boy with musical talent does good then gets into drugs and goes downhill and then redeems himself and does good again" storyline.

We got an email today with some news on casting of the film. Seems Jack White of the White Stripes is making an appearance as Elvis Presley. Will Ferrell and Jack Black are also rumored to have bit parts. Here ya go --

Jack White of the White Stripes has just filmed (or will shortly film) a cameo in Jake Kasdan's music-industry comedy "Walk Hard" starring John C. Reilly. White is playing Elvis Presley.

My source is 100% certain about the White cameo, but he also thought that Reilly's Oscar-night cronies Jack Black and Will Ferrell are also playing bit parts in the movie, probably as real-world musician figures as well.

I don't think this has been reported anywhere yet...

Hey if Kurt Russell can play Elvis, so can Jack White. White and his Stripes counterpart Meg, reunite this summer after a few years hiatus at the Bonnaroo Music and Art Festival.

I'm waiting for the Seth Rogan cameo, can't be a Judd Apatow movie without Seth Rogan.

In other "Walk Hard" news, our local SoCal newpaper The Daily Bulletin reported on the shooting in Pomona for the film and dammit why didn't I know they were shooting there? It's only 20 minutes from me! Ah well, here's the low down,

Leroy's Lounge, Sherrods Jewelry, Quality Meats, the Shot Glass Bar and the Shoe Shop all sprung to life in one block of Pomona's Garey Avenue last week, complete with stylish vintage signs.

A retro-style economic revival?

Alas, no. The storefronts were phony, added for a movie shoot requiring a 1950s look.

That wasn't all. The Mayfair Hotel's facade, hidden for months by construction screens, was revealed in freshly painted splendor. For the movie, it will double as the Linden Arms Apartments, with the faux Maureen's Flowers next door.

Along Third Street, the Fox Pomona became the Romona after the change out of one letter in the neon marquee. Cooney's Hardware ("Open Since 1926"), Pee Gee Paint and Olson's Bakery were installed nearby.

The parking lot by the Mayfair became McAvoy Motors - "Brand New '54 Models! They're Here!" a banner boasted - and Planet Recording Service set up shop feet away.

"All of a sudden the town is looking a whole lot better," downtown landlord Dave Armstrong told me approvingly as we surveyed the handiwork Friday.

The work was done for "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." The Columbia Pictures comedy about a musician's struggle over adversity parodies recent Johnny Cash and Ray Charles biopics. John C. Reilly stars.

Pomona's vintage downtown "had an all-American feeling" perfect for 1950s scenes, Assistant Location Manager Jim Small told me during Friday's all-day shoot.

Passers-by gathered on the sidewalk and Verizon employees gawked out their windows as the brief car-lot scene was readied and filmed. By the way, this was a few paces from East Second Street, where colorful paint from "The Cat in the Hat" shoot in 2002 is still visible.

Six "Walk Hard" vignettes were filmed in Pomona. Merchants were cooperative, which is "the kind of thing that brings (movie crews) back," Small said.

The scenery should be gone by today.

Too bad. The signs were so cool, I was kind of hoping someone would open a real Leroy's Lounge.

Walk Hard is set for a February 2008 release date.

[MacGuffin]

Trailer here.

Release Date: December 14th, 2007 (wide)

Starring: John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Kristen Wiig, Tim Meadows, Raymond J. Barry
 
Directed by: Jake Kasdan 

Premise: Singer Dewey Cox overcomes adversity to become a musical legend.

[Ghostboy]

This looks awesome.

[mogwai]

"in my dreams you're blowing me... some kisses"

[squints]

"let's play machete fight!"

best trailer ever

[Ghostboy]

To expand my thoughts: what's so brilliant about this is that it looks exactly like one of the movies its a parody of. Most spoofs look like shit -- this looks like a real movie, which throws the obvious jokes for a loop. Brilliant!

[Ravi]

To expand my thoughts: what's so brilliant about this is that it looks exactly like one of the movies its a parody of. Most spoofs look like shit -- this looks like a real movie, which throws the obvious jokes for a loop. Brilliant!

I'm glad that the Date Movie/Epic Movie guys can't make Biopic Movie now.  This movie's going to rock.

I love that ridiculously overdramatic music in the scene with JCR and Kristen Wiig.