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	By Erik Philbrook

HARD CASH

In Walk the Line, actor Joaquin Phoenix triumphs in the tough job of portraying musical legend Johnny Cash - and learns a thing or two about songwriting in the process.

Dark hair slicked back, a man in black steps up to the microphone and peers out at an audience with a steel-eyed intensity. He is holding a Gibson acoustic guitar high up under his arm and slightly off to the side. When he opens his mouth to sing, a rumbling baritone voice barrels out full of emotion and conviction. It's a classic Johnny Cash moment. Only this is actor Joaquin Phoenix skillfully portraying the legendary singer-songwriter in the remarkable new film, Walk the Line. Directed by James Mangold, Walk the Line follows Cash's life from his childhood as a poor Southerner during the Great Depression through his audition for Sun Records and his rise to fame as "the man in black," one of America's greatest songwriters. Reese Witherspoon plays June Carter Cash and the film focuses largely on Johnny and June's tormented love story as well as on Cash's many personal demons.

Johnny Cash (1963)

"The thing about Cash is, you can't deny his heart. He's playing an E chord and he's telling it like it is." — Joaquin Phoenix

For Phoenix, who had never played guitar or had any prior singing experience, the role could have been daunting. He was expected to realistically portray the heart, soul and songs of one of the world's greatest musical legends. But not only does he admirably pull off the character of Cash, but Phoenix also sings and plays his own parts (as does Reese Witherspoon). The result is an honest, moving and electrifying performance, and one that's gaining Phoenix a lot of attention. Talk of an Oscar nomination has already begun.

Prior to the film's release, Playback's Erik Philbrook talked to Phoenix about his experience and what he learned about Cash and the process of songwriting.

Is it true you had no musical experience prior to going into this project?
None. It is ironic because everybody in my family plays guitar and they've all written songs. My sister has a band called Paper Cranes. My brother was a musician and had a band. My younger sister plays piano. It was just something that I never did, although I've always loved music and admire songwriters for what they do.

Some of the most engaging scenes in the film are the ones in which you, as Johnny, are coming up with the songs that are now classics.
I became really fascinated by the songwriting process because there were so many sequences in the film in which John is writing a song. And from seeing other musicians in the various stages of writing music, I knew that the finished product rarely resembles the first conception of the song. When I first approached the project, I thought I would just learn John's songs, then I thought that it would be better to just try and write my own stuff. To see what it is like to write a song and see what happens.

Did it help viewing Johnny Cash as a "work in progress" as opposed to the master songwriting icon?
There's a lot more to his music than I first imagined. There's a great level of thought. He's such an amazing lyricist. And, in my opinion, it's more difficult to be stripped down in your music than not.

How did you research him as a young performer? Did you get access to some early archival performance footage?
There was footage from two shows in the late 50s. The second show in Compton, California in 59 was really helpful. I was able to watch how he played the guitar because he had a very specific way of playing it. He holds it high up and straps it on around the back. His strum was even different, almost like a reggae rhythm. Back then, they didn't mic the acoustic and so, to be emphatic, he would lift it up and hold it near the mic and strum it. He did have his own style as well as the way he would attack the microphone. He would lift up his head, with his chin first, and open his mouth. I thought it was a little tic. But he was taking a huge gulp of air. But all of those mannerisms, you don't want to do them just for mimicking them, but to understand what is at the source of those mannerisms. Partly why he played the guitar with his arm wrapped around it was because he was so big.

Were you able to talk to some musicians who played with him or some family members in order to get some nuances of his character?
It's a very tough thing in a situation like this, because everybody has a different idea of who John is. There can be issues with that. At some point you have to focus your ideas down to the director, the actor, the research material and to the script. With John, the major things were I had two books plus his unedited transcripts from his autobiography. So I had direct stuff from John relating his experiences and his reaction to those experiences, which is what I relied on the most. The thing about John is that he was so honest about himself. When John spoke about himself, he wouldn't sugarcoat things. He had no issue with saying this is who I am, for better or worse.

What led to the decision to have you and Reese do your own vocals?
Well, the desire was to be as true to John and June and the story and this style of music as possible. What dominates his music is a sense of intimacy and truth. He was a storyteller and he had heart and soul. To have scenes of me writing and singing songs using my voice and then suddenly to have me on stage with John's voice, it would have sounded strange.

What do you think it is about Johnny Cash's music that has made him such an enduring artist?
Cash wasn't about gimmicks. He was just a man and a guitar. He was a man beating his hand on a tree. That is something that was captivating to people, a simplicity. He had that real bare-bones, straightforward storytelling approach. It's something that everyone can identify with. The thing about Cash is, you can't deny his heart. He's playing an E chord and he's telling it like it is.

Sony Legacy recently released Johnny Cash: The Legend, a 4-CD box set of 104 of Cash's songs as well as Keep On the Sunny Side - June Carter Cash: Her Life in Music, a 2-CD collection with 40 songs.

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