Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Gwyneth Paltrow as a country singer?

Gwyneth Paltrow
Some of my favorite films are about country singers.

Robert Altman wonderfully maligns Music City with his 1975 masterpiece "Nashville." The film includes numerous great performances including one by Keith Carradine. The actor won an Oscar for singing his original song "I'm Easy."

Robert Duvall set the bar with 1983's "Tender Mercies." He turned in a sublime performance, sang his own songs and won his lone Oscar.

Duvall plays a supporting part in 2009's "Crazy Heart." It features Jeff Bridges in a similar, singing, Oscar-winning role in a movie surely inspired by "Tender Mercies."

Before playing the world's most obnoxious rapper, Joaquin Phoenix depicted Johnny Cash opposite Oscar-winning Reese Witherspoon (as June Carter Cash) in 2005's "Walk the Line."

And then there's Sissy Spacek, who won a much-deserved Academy Award for playing Loretta Lynn in 1980's "Coal Miner's Daughter."

In the new flick "Country Strong," Gwyneth Paltrow plays a superstar Nashville singer who, like the protagonists of "Tender Mercies" and "Crazy Heart," battles drug and/or alcohol addiction. The cast also includes a bearded Tim McGraw. And judging by the trailer (see below) this film looks like a big, fat Thanksgiving turkey. Of course, I could be wrong. Read "Gwyneth Paltrow talks 'country strong' at premiere."

Official trailer for "Country Strong"

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