From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

The filming of "Walk the Line" wasn't exactly smooth. It wasn't anything too serious, but mainly stemmed from the equipment.

Mangold and Keetch, these two Jameses, reached a consensus, insisting on using equipment from that era to restore the musical texture. This was also a key reason why they favored Anson—

All the live performances in the movie insisted on being sung and filmed live, and the live effects were presented through authentic equipment.

In essence, music plays a crucial role in this biographical film. They hope to show how Johnny Cash transformed life into music, and also yearn to show how music completed Johnny Cash's self-redemption, rather than just treating music as a prop like other movies.

Music has a soul.

Precisely because of this, the importance of equipment and devices is highlighted.

However, these old devices are not only precious but also prone to errors, which does bring many challenges to the "Walk the Line" crew; at the same time, this is also a challenge to the actors, not just Anson and Reese, but also other actors playing singers of the same era, all of whom need to show their true skills.

Despite this, under various difficulties, the crew's filming progress is still gratifying. Having started later than planned, they have now caught up with the schedule—

The crew, from top to bottom, is working enthusiastically.

As filming progresses, the real tests begin to appear one after another.

The first to bear the brunt, of course, is the core of the entire movie:

Anson.

When Johnny Cash's life falls into the quagmire of entanglement, it is also the moment to test Anson's acting skills, and even the two Jameses don't have 100% confidence.

From a theoretical point of view, Anson is indeed the wisest and most perfect choice, and the August Thirty-First Band's performance at the Grammy Awards also proved this; but these are all just theories on paper, and the actual combat is another matter.

Today, the crew is preparing to film a major scene, Johnny Cash and June Carter's first performance together.

In the forties and fifties, the concept of concerts was not yet mature, and television programs were just emerging. Everything was in the early stages of exploration. In addition to radio programs, show culture was the mainstream of the market.

What is a show?

In fact, simply refer to the current Las Vegas residency shows to know that in the form of a theater, a comedian serves as the host to connect the scenes, and different singers take the stage for a platter performance. This is probably the model—

The theater is still a very important component of entertainment activities.

In shows, farmers, workers, and other audiences are often allowed to enter. They dress up to watch the performance, but the lack of higher education leads to uneven quality, so shows are keen to tell some restricted jokes to please the audience, and even play some borderline content.

Later, shows evolved into more vulgar "beef shows."

In the literal sense, naked, direct, savage, and bloody.

Precisely because of this, for a very, very long time, Las Vegas show performances were also labeled as vulgar and inferior. Truly top singers refused to go to Las Vegas for residency performances, because that was a sign of a career decline; it wasn't until later that Las Vegas worked hard to change its image that it got rid of this stereotype.

But that's another story.

Extending outward from show performances, two to three singers partnered to perform in theaters across the North American continent. This kind of cooperation model was a very popular commercial tour at the time, and legendary superstars such as Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley all grew up from these performances.

In reality, Johnny Cash and June Carter had performed together for a long time. The two helped each other and achieved each other. Their cooperation was a box office guarantee.

However, the beginning of this collaboration was not pleasant. Johnny Cash and June Carter's first collaboration was when Johnny forced June to complete it together in a platter show performance. After the end, June was furious and had a violent quarrel with Johnny.

At that time, Johnny's career finally opened up, and he began to perform in different shows across the North American continent. His debut single entered the Billboard chart at fourteenth place and was still rising, appearing like a comet. However, outside the stage, Johnny was as dizzy as all the fledgling rookies by the bizarre and dazzling world of fame and fortune.

On the one hand, Johnny was on the road touring for a long time, and Vivian and the children were at home. They missed Johnny, but they couldn't reunite.

On the road touring, all kinds of beautiful women threw themselves into Johnny's arms, but Johnny adhered to his bottom line because of his inner faith and refused those women; however, after returning home, Vivian didn't believe it.

Reading the letters and swimsuit photos sent home by those enthusiastic fans, Vivian couldn't believe that Johnny could resist these temptations. Her anxiety led to quarrels between the Cash couple, which exhausted Johnny, who was tired from the long journey.

On the other hand, Johnny fell in love with June Carter at first sight and gradually approached her uncontrollably; however, June Carter was also a devout believer, drawing a line and always treating Johnny as a friend.

Later, June Carter divorced. For devout believers, it was unacceptable for June Carter to betray her commitment to marriage. In those days, when such things happened, people always habitually blamed women, so June Carter stood at the forefront of the controversy, both physically and mentally exhausted.

Under such circumstances, Johnny tried to approach June Carter, but what she needed least now was another storm and controversy. She didn't want to be the third party who ruined Johnny Cash, so she rejected Johnny and distanced herself.

This made Johnny furious.

At the same time, the desires and temptations of the world of fame and fortune surrounded Johnny.

Although Johnny's career was thriving and he attracted everyone's attention as soon as he appeared, standing outside the industry and standing inside the besieged city were two different things.

These negative emotions began to invade Johnny's brain, coupled with the emptiness of the long journey, Johnny urgently needed some worship, some cheers, some warmth to fill his emptiness.

Johnny ultimately failed to resist, opening his arms to strange women; and like others, alcohol and drugs began to enter his life.

Living in a drunken dream, indulging in debauchery.

The emotional entanglement of family and love evolved into a mess in the vortex of fame and fortune, and Johnny Cash began to indulge.

Everything happened at this point—

Johnny was rejected by June Carter again, but he couldn't understand.

Clearly June Carter was already divorced, without the constraints of marriage; clearly June Carter also had feelings for him, it wasn't just his delusion, but June Carter still pushed him away again.

Why?

What on earth is the reason!