(Premier Login spindaddydad) Forum Owner Posted Dec 7, 2005 12:25 PM
Joaquin Phoenix performed all of the songs himself without being dubbed and learned to play guitar from scratch.
June Carter Cash died before production began on the film, so Reese Witherspoon's research included looking through Carter's closet for inspiration.
Johnny Cash chose Joaquin Phoenix to play him in the film. June Carter Cash reportedly chose Reese Witherspoon for her role in the film. also.
Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix had vocal training for six months with music producer 'T-Bone Burnett '.
Sony, Universal, Focus Features, Paramount, and Warner Bros. all passed on the project.
Reese Witherspoon did her own singing. She also had to learn to play the auto-harp.
It took four years for the producers to secure the rights to the story from James Keach who is a friend of Johnny Cash and his family. After Keach agreed, it took another four years to get the film made.
Columbia Pictures passed on the project.
One of the fan letters Johnny receives is from an inmate at Folsom Prison named Glen Sherley. Glen Sherley was an inmate at Folsom when Johnny recorded "At Folsom Prison" and also wrote the song "Greystone Chapel" that Johnny recorded during that show.
The scene where Johnny Cash pulls the sink off the wall was not scripted. Joaquin Phoenix actually pulled it off the wall.
When Johnny Cash wakes up on the Tour Bus, just after the Folsom Prison performance, you see him walk past a passed out Luther Perkins (his guitarist) with a lit cigarette in his mouth. Just months after the 'At Folsom Prison' recording/performance, Luther Perkins died in his Tennessee home. He fell asleep with a lit cigarette and died from his injuries sustained from the fire.