Hank3 Slams New Hank Williams Biopic. “I Just Want to See One Done Halfway Right.”
The new Hank Williams biopic I Saw The Light finally opened in select theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville on Friday, March 25th, and will be released nationwide on April 1st, and the controversy and criticism of the film continues.
I Saw The Light originally debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11th, 2015 and was immediately slammed by critics. One writer called the film “shockingly bad,” and it has been criticized universally for its terrible screenplay. Multiple reviewers have praised Tom Hiddleston’s depiction of Hank, but that’s about where the plaudits end. Subsequent screenings and reviews have not fared any better, with Rolling Stone‘s Peter Travers saying recently, “Hiddleston is not what’s wrong with this movie. But damn near everything else is.” The film currently holds a deplorable 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Hank Williams’ grandson, Hank Williams III or Hank3, has been one of the most vocal opponents of the film, and though most of the reporting on his concerns has centered British-born Tom Hiddleston playing Southern icon Hank Williams, Hank3 has also been critical of the entire process, and specifically the director, producer, and screenplay writer for the film, Marc Abraham, who despite having many films under his belt in the producer role, is only making his second appearance as a director.
“I just one(sic) to see one [biopic] done halfway right. It’s because I care,” Hank3 told Fox News on Friday. “It’s the whole approach to this movie. I hate to say it but these things don’t come up that often and when they do, I wish they would be taken more serious. I would ask for a”¦better director. I think this is only [director Marc Abraham’s] second movie and he’s more of a producer and that in it of itself is an issue.”
Hank3 also criticized how the film is being promoted, specifically all of the videos and appearances by Tom Hiddleston singing Hank Williams songs.
“I don’t know what is going on with [Hiddleston] impersonating Hank Williams and making all of these live appearances and it seems they are trying to launch someone’s music career not making a movie. It’s really hard to enjoy the movie when they’re pushing more music on you than acting … I’m trying to get the best movie to be made about him as possible. Let’s hope the light shines on the new Hank Williams movie, but if it doesn’t, everything that I’m bringing up are possible reasons why.”
READ: Where The Hell Has Hank3 Been?
I Saw The Light was originally scheduled to be released in late 2015 to compete in Oscar season, but after the terrible reviews, the release was delayed. The movie is based off of the biography of Hank Williams by Colin Escott, and Hank’s original songs were licensed for the soundtrack. Hank3 says he wasn’t consulted or contacted at all about the making of the film.
curt bowling
March 26, 2016 @ 8:42 am
you should do it yourself you look and act just like him.except for the tats.
Pool
March 26, 2016 @ 3:05 pm
I’ve read several publications on Hank, and I personally don’t much think he acts anything like his grandpa. Looks and sounds like him to be sure, but that dude is not an actor anyway.
On that note though, I think he is right about every Hank Williams movie being dog sh*t. It’s sad, considering the story and the material available.
If you like a good read, check out “sing a sad song”, written by Roger Williams (no relation). One of the first, and arguably still the best biography available.
Matty T
March 26, 2016 @ 6:21 pm
Interestingly enough, Hank 3 had a small role in Southlander and a brief onscreen appearance in Bloodworth.
Tezca
March 26, 2016 @ 8:49 am
Well Hank the 3rd’s criticisms is not gonna stop me from checking out the movie. It’s interesting and I just want to be entertained dang it lol. Besides this also appeals to the MCU fan in me, you got “Loki” singing country.
Still looking way forward to that Waylon biopic, so gonna watch that one!
Janet
March 26, 2016 @ 8:56 am
I think Tom Hiddleston is an excellent actor. I will plan to see for that reason
Monique Lavalette
March 26, 2016 @ 10:12 am
Yes I would still like to see this movie because I want to see it myself. If this movie really that bad as the critics say then I think that is a shame for the memory of Hank Williams and for the way he is presented to the next generations. They should learn about him the right way I took my children to movies about Jerry Lee Lewis life and about Johnny Cash lifes. It is one of the ways to learn about the birth of several styles of music and to learn about the background of it all, if that is done not properly it is not right. Hopefully there will be another attempt on Hank Williams life that will be honorable enough for the next generations.
Debi
March 26, 2016 @ 11:05 am
I think Hank 3 got the raw end of this.He should have done the sound track…plain an simple!
I support Hank 3 one thoussnd percent!
Andrew
March 26, 2016 @ 11:44 am
As much as I love Hank Williams, and as much as I would love to see a good movie about him, I’m really dreading going to see this movie. This will be the first movie I’ve ever gone to see knowing it will be bad beforehand.
Now, my problem isn’t with Tom Hiddleston. I would have preferred a Southern actor, but I’m sure Tom did a good job.
The best thing about this movie is that it will introduce a lot of Tom Hiddleston fans(who for the most part won’t be country fans, or a least not real country fans) to country music.
Chris
March 27, 2016 @ 9:44 am
And they still won’t like country music
sanQ
March 26, 2016 @ 11:55 am
I don’t know how many arguments I’ve been in online defending Hank 3’s point of view, which is the correct one if a person actually loves music and actual music history. Many of these little battles I have been in are with female Tom Hiddleston fans who all of a sudden have an interest in Hank Williams, which is good, but really they have no idea what they’re talking about and will go to all lengths in defending Tom and kissing the ground he walks on rather than understanding that this is our musical legacy, our hero Hank Williams who was a person who has represented us all our lives in the musical tradition. We are emotionally invested in this after more than half a century of listening to every song we could possibly get our hands on.
How these two worlds – Hollywood fantasy with Tom Hiddleston fanatics vs Hank Williams’ country music legacy – ever came to collide is really beyond me.
Bottom line though, if it makes more people listen to Hank, no matter how many more, then that’s the best possible outcome.
Trigger
March 26, 2016 @ 12:30 pm
The Stan culture is alive and well with Hiddleston that’s for sure. The sad thing is, if they’d given him half a script and the director would have been worth anything, he may have been nominated for an Oscar. Instead you have a very popular actor hidden in a dud movie, and all the potential to present a new generation the legacy of Hank Williams down the drain.
sanQ
March 26, 2016 @ 12:46 pm
Yep. It’s not going to have as much impact as it could have. For the record, I have no problem with Hiddleston the actor. But for the sake of realism, they could have cast someone with some music ability. They cast Tom because he already has a name for himself and because bottom line, they want to use his name to make the film money. With thinking like that, these kinds of films never work. The best ones always have someone who actually has musical ability such as the Ray Charles and Johnny Cash films. Hearing Tom sing, made it plain to see that he’s not possessed of natural music ability as much as the desire is there. But I better not get into that or I’ll get bombarded by his tone deaf fans lol I didn’t think he was the worst of all time, but he is far, far less talented than Hank Williams and it makes Hank Williams seem as though he was a sub-par singer since their voices also couldn’t be any more different. One is emotionless, the other the epitome of emitting feeling.
marc
March 26, 2016 @ 1:06 pm
I will compare this movie to the new Sturgill Simpson album. I will wait to see what the finish product is before I make any judgement. .
Klancy
March 26, 2016 @ 3:40 pm
Honestly, his comments are pretty meaningless to me at this point. We all knew even if the film was great 3 was going to not like it. But to his supports who are deciding not to see the movie because of his comments. Just remember a poor box office is just going to discourage studios from making films on other country stars. Want to see a Jones or Waylon biopic? Better speak with your dollars.
Trigger
March 26, 2016 @ 7:29 pm
There’s two George Jones movies already in production, and possibly even a Waylon one (though the stove is curiously cold on that one). The main thing this film flopping will affect is the ability for a production company to actually get a definitive film on the life of Hank Williams made in the future. If it’s so bad, I don’t think the industry will use it as a gauge. Music biopics are super hot right now.
Kent
March 26, 2016 @ 7:41 pm
“Just remember a poor box office is just going to discourage studios from making films on other country stars. Want to see a Jones or Waylon biopic? Better speak with your dollars.”
Do you really mean people should “speak with their dollars” to see a crappy movie in order to get a studio to make more crappy movies???. For the chances are that this is precisely what will happen. You mention Waylon, I love Waylon and if I have to choose between watching a crap movie about him elle none at all. I would definitely choose the latter!
For it is just because people will go and watching shitty movies and pay for shitty music that makes companies continues to produce it. going to happen. You mention Waylon, I love Waylon and if I have to choose between watching a crappy movie about him elle none at all. I would definitely choose the latter!
justin casey
March 27, 2016 @ 2:22 pm
whether it’s good or not i’ll still see it I’m a fan of tom hiddleston and hank’s seniors music and my dad is a pretty big hank senior fan as well so he’s dead set on seeing this with me which I’m cool with it’ll be the first time I’ve dragged to the movies in almost a decade
Mike Rutherford
March 27, 2016 @ 9:12 pm
I think I will wait and (ultimately) watch this likely very bad biopic after it is either released to DVD or potentially even wait until it ends up on TV in a couple of years. I will NOT be going to a theater; something not entirely unusual for me to choose to NOT do regardless. I have not seen a film in a theater since 2002 to the best of my memory. It’s just not my thing. For my part, I dislike the majority of the movies released over the last 10 to 15 years but the flip-side to that coin is that I DO LOVE biopics regarding musicians, etc. Enough about me and my preferences….
The REAL question here is WHY is someone writing/producing a GREAT DAMN biopic about the wonderful Hank Williams Sr. seemingly proving to be so difficult? I am not going to condemn Tom Hiddleston (though I have heard some of his versions of Hank’s amazing songs and, while I have certainly heard worse? It’s far from what I would call good – especially considering that I am 100% certain that they could have found someone that could have done that aspect more justice).
Why are these folks so seemingly unwilling to consult with Hank Jr. and with Hank 3? I don’t know if Hank 3 could (at his current age) play his grandfather, but dammit! There WAS a time when he could have played that role and made you think you were seeing/hearing a ghost a decade (give/take) ago. You can also cover tattoos (hell, Charlie Sheen had a mouthful of rotten/missing teeth as well as tattoos back in his “Two & a Half Men” days and they simply had him wear a mouthpiece and covered his tattoos).
At this point? I just think that the best thing would be to consult with the FAMILY. I mean? How HARD can that be? WORK with the family. If it is their desire to have a true southerner play their infamous relative? FIND ONE! Allow them to help guide your screenplay so you do not end up with the mess that this film obviously is. Allow them to offer their approval & blessings regarding the final draft.
I don’t want to ramble on and on and on here (Hank Sr. means a LOT to me and this was something that when I heard about in its formative stages? I had a LOT of hope for. Now? I’ll give it a morbid curiosity/mercy viewing at some point but I expect to be very disappointed. That is a damn shame and there is ZERO excuse for such an American icon to receive such a lackadaisical biopic about what was an extremely short life.
I can not wait to hear opinions regarding the upcoming (TWO) George Jones biopics and if there is a Waylon biopic in the works?! OH LAWDY!!! Please, for the love of GOD, treat it with the full respect that it deserves.
One biopic that I would love to see – and potentially more-so than ANY other of the 70’s “outlaw” movement – is a really GREAT ONE on the one and only David Allan Coe. I have a LOT of DAC stories and, despite him being, for a time, “the” country musician that I thought was releasing the greatest LPs (as well as some of the most unique and original albums in the late 60’s/turn of the 70’s)? I can say straight up that I have had some (PERSONALLY) “negative” DAC experiences. I did get to know one of his daughters quite well for a time and she was an incredibly sweet and wonderful person to get to know. I wish me and her had not lost touch a decade or so ago.
There was what was shaping up to be a nice looking biopic titled “Field of Stone” in the works a decade or more ago but his “wife” (the one that has essentially succeeded in alienating him from his own son, etc….I just get too angry to get into too much of this)….anyhow, SHE decided that she did not like it, so, those making the biopic said “hell with it” and posted a near 10-min. version/trailer that shows the promise that this thing truly had (here’s a link to those that have not seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LMIcI34Mzs ).
I could go on about DAC for 20 more paragraphs….why I think he was so groundbreaking…why I think a large portion of his lyrical output was absolutely incredible and stunningly original for an artist in said genre….how I think he took other’s song’s and churned out versions that were (usually) my ultimate favorite versions. However, because this “comment” is going on as long/if not longer than some of Trigger’s main page topics, I better shut the hell up before I ramble on for too long and get folks upset w/me!!! Bottom line? IF done properly (and with NO “intrusions” via his wife, himself or anyone else….just the truth and nothing but the truth)? I think it would be one HELL of AMAZING story (and I have not even delved into the “X-Rated” albums….plus a few more that were played live at one time or another that are out there on some rare audio boots but which did not ultimately make the “N.Sacred/Underground” albums final cut(s) )! Sorry for the long, rambling reply – just a lot on my mind on this rainy KY night.
Bill
March 28, 2016 @ 3:06 pm
This is unrelated to the movie controversy, but damn I wish III would start touring again. I’ve got friends who are newer converts and would love to see him hit the road.
Jackie Treehorn
March 28, 2016 @ 8:04 pm
If he doesn’t like the way the film came out, he’s got more right to criticize it than anybody. The movie is about his blood kin for goodness sakes. On that vein, they should have involved him AND his old man as well as anybody else who could atttest to Hanks life in the writing and production. Who better to help tell the story of Hank than his descendants?
Ben Jones
April 1, 2016 @ 7:05 am
When the news of this casting broke, there was a long and extended debate on Saving Country
Music about the casting of Hiddleston and the fact that his singing of Hank’s songs was going to
be simply awful.
He is a good actor and seems to be a fine fellow, but the decision to have him sing the
soulful blues of Hank Williams was the kiss of death for this film. He simply doesn’t have a Southern
bone in his body. If the producers had been willing to use William’s original recordings, they would
have had a film with a built-in selling point, despite the clunky script and questionable casting.
The concerns of the Williams family were legitimate. The old saying is that “you can’t turn a sow’s ear into
a silk purse”. But you can turn a silk purse into a sow’s ear. This movie is proof.
Heather Reynolds
October 11, 2018 @ 2:21 pm
Could anyone help me? I have a fan letter that I’m trying to send if anyone could point me in the right direction to obtaining an address where it can be sent I would greatly appreciate you. Thanks in advance