Reese Witherspoon once teamed up with Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix for one of her most critically acclaimed roles. But after being told her true role in the film, she did everything she could to leave the project.
Reese Witherspoon begged to get out of Joaquin Phoenix’s ‘Walk the Line’
The 2005 feature Walk the Line saw Phoenix portraying the late Johnny Cash and Witherspoon playing the artist’s wife June Carter. It was considered a high point for Witherspoon’s career, who ended up winning an Oscar for Best Actress due to her performance.
But originally, she tried to abandon her Oscar-winning role when she discovered she had to sing in the movie. It was something she didn’t know beforehand.
“It was awful,” Witherspoon once told Oprah. “First of all, we had to learn how to sing. … The director came to us and he said, ‘I really want you guys to learn to sing, to learn to play instruments, and I want you to record an album. I absolutely was just gobsmacked!”
This resulted in Witherspoon turning to everyone she knew to help her leave the project. The star even went as far as to offer up a substitute.
“I called my attorney, my agent, my manager. I said, ‘I’ve got to get out of this. Can’t they call LeAnn Rimes? She’s good! There are plenty of people that do this for a living. I’m just an actress,’” she added.
But Witherspoon’s singing skills would be groomed thanks to the help of professionals. The almost nonstop practice she endured helped inspire the actor’s confidence in the role.
“It’s good to have that kind of challenge in your life,” she said. “It’s important to do things that scare you to death!”
Joaquin Phoenix complained about Reese Witherspoon’s performance in ‘Walk the Line’
After Witherspoon agreed to be in the film, collaborating with Phoenix presented a few problems for her. Given the nature of their roles, it was a while before the two stars felt comfortable together.
“It took us about three months to trust each other because we didn’t know each other at all in the beginning and we couldn’t even look at each other when we had to sing to each other because it was so embarrassing,” Witherspoon recalled according to Female First.
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This led to the Joker star complaining about his co-star’s performance to her face.
“I’d sing too loud and he’d say, ‘It’s driving me crazy, she’s singing too loud. Does she have to sing so loud?’ I said, ‘I’m just trying here!’ It took about three months before we responded to each other’s work and saw improvement. It took a long time before we really felt comfortable with each other,” she said.
After those months passed, however, Phoenix and Witherspoon became closer than ever.
“There were days we felt bad. He would say, ‘You’re doing really good today,’ or, on days he felt like crap, I said, ‘Don’t beat yourself up, you’re doing a really good job,’” she recalled.
Joaquin Phoenix didn’t think he could’ve done ‘Walk the Line’ without Reese Witherspoon
Phoenix might have benefited greatly from Witherspoon deciding to stay on the project. He got the part because his ex-girlfriend, Liv Tyler, recommended him for the role. But one of the first things he told the film’s director was that he wasn’t sure he could perform music for the film. That didn’t stop Phoenix from trying and preparing, however.
“Still, the first thing I did was go out and buy a guitar and just learn how to hold it, you know? I got a book and taught myself a few chords. But I didn’t do any research really, because I thought if I did, I’d jinx it. So when the film finally did get a green light, I had some cramming to do,” Phoenix once told the Massachusetts Daily Collegian.
Phoenix credited Witherspoon as one of the main factors who helped him succeed in Walk the Line.
“I don’t know that I could have done this without Reese,” Phoenix said. “We have very different acting styles, but she had enough faith in our compatibility for the both of us. She’s the one who got me a singing coach and hooked me up with T-Bone, who was really encouraging.”
Phoenix found further encouragement from Cash’s own son.
“But I think the first time I felt like it was going to be OK was when Johnny’s son John R. came to a rehearsal,” he recalled. “He said, ‘You know, you hold that guitar just like Daddy did.’ That was enough to keep me going.”
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