Hank Williams Movie Casts Four New Roles
The upcoming Hank Williams biopic, I Saw the Light, begins production in Louisiana this week, with four newly-announced actors on set. Wrenn Schmidt (pictured above), David Krumholtz, Josh Pais and James DuMont have been cast in the film, the Hollywood Reporter reveals, joining Tom Hiddleston, who is playing the lead role, and Elizabeth Olsen, who will portray the country icon’s first wife, Audrey Mae Williams.
Schmidt will play Bobbie Jett, a woman who had a short-lived relationship with Williams after his divorce from Audrey. She gave birth to their daughter, Antha Belle Jett (who now goes by Jett Williams), just five days after the singer’s untimely death. Schmidt is best known for her roles on the popular TV series Boardwalk Empire and the Americans.
New York native Krumholtz won’t have to fake a southern accent for the film, as he will play a Big Apple reporter who conducts a tough interview with Williams. Krumholtz currently stars in a new movie, The Judge, alongside Robert Duvall and Robert Downey, Jr., and also starred on the TV series Numb3rs and Men at Work.
Pais plays Dore Schary, a movie director, producer and former head of MGM Studios who signed Williams to a movie contract in 1951, only to have the country star later pull out of the deal after a combative meeting. Pais is known for roles on TV’s The Good Wife, Law & Order: SVU and Ray Donovan.
DuMont scored the role of WB Nolan, a music promoter and small-town mayor who has to deal with the intoxicated singer just before a show. DuMont recently starred in another musical biopic, the James Brown film Get On Up. He also appeared alongside Oscar winners Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club.
I Saw the Light, directed by Marc Abraham, is based on the Hank Williams biography by Colin Escott. The film will chronicle the music legend’s rise to fame and fall to substance abuse, which led to his death at age 29. Grammy winner Rodney Crowell is the film’s musical director.