No more waiting, no more hypothesizing what the British-born Tom Hiddleston will look and sound like attempting to evoke the likeness and sound of the great Hank Williams. Ahead of the world premier of the Hank Williams biopic “I Saw The Light” at the Toronto Film Festival this weekend—-directed by Marc Abraham, and based off the biography by Colin Escott—we now get to see the very first clip of the movie, released by Tom Hiddleston through Twitter Thursday (9-10) morning.
The minute-long clip begins with the Hiddleston-played Hank Williams recording the country classic “Move It On Over” at Castle Recording in Nashville on April 21st, 1947. Included in the clip are Hank’s Drifting Cowboys, which include Michael Rinne as Hank’s bass player Lum York, Joshua Brady a lead guitar player Sammy Pruett, Joashua Brady as steel guitarist Don Helms, and Casey Bond as fiddle player Jerry Rivers. The clip then cuts to a scene of Hank Williams at home with his first wife Audrey Williams, played by Elizabeth Olsen.
I Saw The Light is set for release on November 27th, and is being distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. Producers licensed the rights to the original Hank Williams songs for use in the film, and the film is already garnering considerable Oscar buzz.
Hank’s grandson, Hank Williams III, has previously criticized the pick of Hiddleston to play the Hillbilly Shakespeare, saying, “You got no soul or moan to your voice.”
