Stars Shine for ‘I Saw the Light’ Premiere in Nashville

Stars came out to walk the red carpet and celebrate the Nashville, Tenn., premiere of I Saw the Light, the new movie about the late, great country music singer and songwriter Hank Williams.

British actor Tom Hiddleston, who plays Williams, was joined by costars Elizabeth Olsen (who portrays his second wife, Aubrey), Bradley Whitford (as music publisher Fred Rose) and others, including writer-director-producer Marc Abraham and producers Marq Roswell, Aaron Gilbert and Bret Ratner, at Nashville’s historic Belcourt Theater for the gala Oct. 17 event, which included a screening of the film and a star-studded after-party at which Hiddleston took to the stage and performed songs from the movie.

Based on the 2013 biography of the same name by Colin Escott, George Merritt and William MacEwen, the movie tells the saga of Williams’ rise to fame, his marital struggles and his death in 1953 at the young age of 29. Originally scheduled to open nationally in late November, its release was recently pushed to late March of next year due to Hiddleston’s lack of availability to promote the film due to other movie commitments, and to lessen its chances of getting lost in the shuffle of major fall releases, according to Sony Pictures Classics.

Hiddleston, 32, sees the tragedy of the character he portrays in the film—and wonders what might have been different for Williams had he lived a longer life. “There’s something furious and headlong about everyone’s 20s; they’re so un-self-conscious and everything is so instinctive and you don’t really know where your place is in the world,” he tells Parade. “It all happened so fast for him. I hope he would have mellowed out. But we’ll never know. And we’ll never know what we missed.”

Here are 10 facts about I Saw the Light.

1. Hiddleston, best know for playing the malevolent Loki in the Thor and Avengers movies, did extensive prep for his role as the Alabama-born “Hillbilly Shakespeare.” He ran and cycled daily—up to 25 miles—to shed weight and appear as thin as his character.

2. Many other country music performers also “appear” in the movie—but blink and you might miss the actors playing young versions of Ray Price, Faron Young, Hank Snow, Red Foley, Kitty Wells, Ernest Tubb and Roy Acuff.

3. Wrenn Schmidt, who portrays Hank’s “girlfriend” Bobbie Jett, had a recurring role as Dr. Iris Campbell in the CBS TV series Person of Interest and is set to star next year in Outcast, a new Cinemax horror anthology. During the filming of I Saw the Light, she ran every day while listening to Taylor Swift’s 1989 album.

4. The music in the movie has serious country pedigree, performed by ace Nashville musicians under the direction of Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, performer and producer Rodney Crowell.

5. Hiddleston isn’t the only Avenger actor in the film. Elizabeth Olsen played Wanda Maximoff/the Scarlet Witch in Avengers: Age of Ultron, a role she’ll reprise in Capt. America: Civil War next year.
6. Olsen (the younger sister of show-biz siblings Mary-Kate and Ashley), had to sing “badly” in the film—because her character does. But she’s actually trained in musical theater. “I’ve sang my whole life,” she tells Parade. “But I’m not a singer. I can carry a tune, but that’s about it.”
7. Williams’ third wife, Billie Jean, is portrayed by Maddie Hasson, who appeared in the TV series The Finder and Twisted. Hasson admits she never cared much for country music before getting the part. “I grew up in North Carolina and was always kinda annoyed by it because it was always on: Ugh, not that again,” she tells Parade. “Now it’s growing on me: Johnny Cash, Hank Williams. I’m slowly getting into it.”
8. Bradley Whitford, who’s starred in TV’s The West Wing and Happyish and dozens of movies, compares Hank Williams to a punk-rock band in his rawness, power and impact. “Like the Ramones of country music,” he says. “He was this very pared-down, fundamental, monumental figure.”
9. Writer-director-producer Marc Abraham says he wants viewers to have “an emotional experience” when they see the movie. “I want them to relate to some of the things they see, I want them to learn more about they guy, and  I wouldn’t mind them being a little messed up at the end—I would like to see them them touched.”
10. Hiddleston does an impressive job of singing more than half a dozen of Hank Williams’ classic tunes during the movie, including “Cold, Cold Heart,” “Honky Tonkin’,” “Move It On Over,” “Why Don’t You Love Me” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart.”