Hank Williams “I Saw The Light” Biopic Delays Release
The movie about the life of Hank Williams is starting to account for as much drama as Hank did. Originally scheduled to be released on November 27th to give the film prime consideration during Oscar season, I Saw The Light starring Tom Hiddleston as Hank has now suddenly been moved back until March 25th, 2016. This is the news from the film’s distributor Sony Pictures Classics only six weeks before the film was set to hit theaters.
It is strange timing to say the least. The film has already debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival, and today (10-17), the film is set to make its Nashville premier at the historic Belcourt Theatre near Music Row. The film’s main cast, including Tom Hiddleston are “expected” to be in attendance for the red carpet ceremony, but the reason Sony Pictures is giving for the delaying the release is so that Hiddleston can better help promote the movie, which he can’t do at the moment due to his production commitments to the shooting of Kong: Skull Island.
Looming over this news are the terrible reviews the film received at the Toronto International Film Festival, including one critic describing the film as “shockingly bad.” Though many reviewers praised Hiddleston’s performance in the film, there was almost universal criticism of the screenplay, and reviewers said the film had no heartbeat. Rotten Tomatoes is currently scoring the film at an abysmal 31%. I Saw The Light was written and directed by Marc Abraham—a film producer who had only directed one film previously. It is based off the Hank Williams biography written by Colin Escott.
See The First Clip from Hank Williams Biopic Movie “I Saw The Light”
On Friday (10-16), Rolling Stone published an in-dept article by Chelsea Crowell—the daughter of country performer Rodney Crowell who was hired by the film to help train Tom Hiddleston how to best portray Hank Williams. It was part of the promotional roll out for the film, but now it all feels a little premature. Additional stills from the film were also released this week (see below). Hank’s grandaughter Holly Williams also came out on behalf of the film recently, saying, “I’m incredibly happy with the whole thing. I thought it was brilliant.”
Along with the Nashville premier, the film is also scheduled to be screened at the Austin Film Festival later this month. But the wide masses will have to wait a little bit longer to see the long awaited film about Hank.
October 17, 2015 @ 8:27 am
Well, his hat looks nice.
October 17, 2015 @ 8:29 am
What? I’ve been looking forward to see how Tom, aka the guy who played Loki, would do in playing a country music legend. Now you’re saying I have to wait 1,533 more years to for this movie to be released. Ugh damn it Hollywood.
(Ok 1,533 years might be an exaggeration but still)
October 17, 2015 @ 8:29 am
Never a good sign. I still am hoping for the best with the movie, but normally films only get pushed back this late when the studio know there are problems with the movie, and want to move it to a time of year with less competition.
October 17, 2015 @ 8:37 am
Just think, many of these critics think Cole Swindell is a great singer and “Cruise” is a great song.
Luke Bryan concerts get rave reviews. There’s no way this movie is worse than a Luke Bryan concert.
October 17, 2015 @ 9:01 am
The difference is movie reviewers actually have the latitude to share their opinions, while most music reviewers are nothing more than a promotional arm for the industry.
October 17, 2015 @ 1:40 pm
Hm. People thought Fast and Furious was good enough to have 7 movies.
November 27, 2015 @ 3:21 pm
You are confusing critics and fans. The fact that lots of people bought tickets to Fast and Furious is irrelevant to Trigger’s point. By and large, critics pan movies like it, because, as Trigger says,movie criticism is much more independent and they actually do give negative critique. If anything, movie criticism favor independent, artsy films. They are not extensions of the promoters like they often are in the music business.
October 17, 2015 @ 8:38 am
The stills are great. But this news makes me wonder if they’ll skip the theater release and go straight to DVD.
October 17, 2015 @ 8:44 am
This could be the final nail in the coffin for this movie. A four-month delay from the reasonably busy Thanksgiving season to the dead of March will push the movie out of the public’s memory. Granted, it wasn’t very smart on Sony’s part to put the movie head-to-head with The Good Dinosaur and Mockingjay: Part 2, but moving it to March and hoping Tom Hiddleston’s promoting saves it is not a great solution. The worst part is that, since they’re already doing an official premiere, the film will most likely sit for four months without any post-production attempts to fix critical flaws. Maybe Sony senses the direction the film is going and is just letting it take its course. We can definitely hope for something that’s nowhere near as bad as the critics say!
October 17, 2015 @ 9:03 am
I’m guessing they probably realized they didn’t have an Oscar contender on their hands, so it wouldn’t have been worth their film getting totally lost in the holiday- and awards-season shuffle — at least releasing it in a less competitive period might ensure a better chance of modest box-office profits. :\
October 17, 2015 @ 9:10 am
Although depending on how much music (and/or humor) is in it, I do wonder whether ISTL might have gotten some Golden Globes love in the Comedy-Musical categories…
October 17, 2015 @ 9:14 am
The biggest problem is the promotional roll out for the film is happening right now, as we speak. And all of a sudden they have to figure out how to extend that for another four months, and through a holiday season and a Presidential election. Meanwhile I’m sure Sony isn’t in the business of wanting to throw extra money behind the promotion of a film that may completely flop. Sure, having Hiddleston on the Tonight Show will help (if that happens), but it appears this decision to delay the film was made probably in the last 48 hours or so, and was released on a Friday afternoon like all bad news is so it hopefully gets buried over the weekend.
October 17, 2015 @ 8:40 pm
We still don’t have a trailer…makes me wonder
October 17, 2015 @ 10:11 pm
Yeah, we’ve seen a “clip,” but no theatrical trailer, nothing you’d see on TV as a commercial or playing at the theater before other films. There’s just so many signs that something is wrong here.
October 18, 2015 @ 8:39 am
Finally I’m not the only one wondering why here hasn’t been any trailers for this movie yet.
What does it usually means of a movie doesn’t have a trailer like yeah I know it means something is wrong as Trigger said, but does that mean that they realize it’s not as good as they hoped to be or something?
October 17, 2015 @ 12:48 pm
The 5th pictures with the all white suit make me laughting as mad. If the movie is entirely like this, it’s the best comedy of the year.
October 17, 2015 @ 1:45 pm
That terrible fringe is James Dean-esque compared to the clown shirts that Sam Hunt wears while desecrating country music.
October 17, 2015 @ 9:45 pm
Actually, Hank performed with a suit like that.
October 17, 2015 @ 9:57 pm
Maybe, but he never look like this ! We talk about Hank Williams. Tom Hiddelston look like a sweet top model in a girly magazine )))))
October 17, 2015 @ 10:00 pm
Well I guess I will take you at your word….since I don’t read girly magazines.
October 17, 2015 @ 10:15 pm
Stills can be very hard to read as far as the vibe of a film, but what I have noticed is that even though the costuming appears to be appropriate to the period, it’s too starchy, too clean, and too much like a new interpretation of the old clothing instead of what the clothing would look like at that time. Hank probably would have worn something like that frilly white outfit, but it probably wouldn’t been as brilliant white as Luke Bryan’s teeth. Did they call Marty Stuart? He’s got a number of Hank’s actual suits that we’ve seen other performers wear.
October 17, 2015 @ 11:51 pm
You’re right Trigger, it’s all too much lush and shiny. There’s no life in this, looks like a movie for kids.
I think the production want to sell us a clean version of Hank’s life. Maybe he lives a long life of joy and happiness with a princess at the end )))
October 17, 2015 @ 6:10 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3NuaJTmiUc
Low budget CBC public broadcaster film…it`s STILL the best ever done…
Remember….He`s Hank Williams!!! An original and there will never be another
October 18, 2015 @ 6:38 am
Not only did they push it back so long, they pushed it to the beginning of next year. The beginning of the year (January/February, March to a lesser extent) is a dumping ground for garbage movies. Yes, there are some good movies released at that time, but they’re not common, and with the press this movie gets, I doubt this movie will be one of those rare early-year gems.
October 18, 2015 @ 7:49 am
That’s terrible news, it’s going right up against Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice…. Have a feeling that its going to bomb at the box office..
October 18, 2015 @ 12:12 pm
Can they please make a movie about the life of Keith Whitley already! I know Tim McGraw would be willing to act in it.
October 18, 2015 @ 1:49 pm
Back around 2008 actor David Keith was ready to pull the trigger on a Keith Whitley movie. However things fell through when a businessman failed to provide financing for the movie. David Keith sued, but not sure where the lawsuit ended up. I would love to see a Keith Whitley movie made.
October 18, 2015 @ 12:19 pm
Is there any chance they are using this extra time to re-edit the film?
October 18, 2015 @ 12:34 pm
This has been known to happen in situations where a release date is pushed back and there also have been cases where they have reshot some scenes. The only thing is this usually happens in cases where the movie has not been seen by the public at film festivals.
Regardless, it is usually a big time sign that there are serious issues and the studio knows it.
October 18, 2015 @ 1:15 pm
And even though they’re saying Tom Hiddleston isn’t available to promote the film (and if so, why wasn’t this worked out in the beginning?) he was at the Nashville premier last night.
I wouldn’t blame them if they did use the time to do some re-editing. But yes, at this point with all the premiers already happening, it would be pretty rare to see this done. Maybe Sony Pictures knows there’s a problem, but the producer/director/screenplay writer doesn’t.
October 18, 2015 @ 1:41 pm
Yeah, it’s my understanding that it is standard contract language for the star to be required to promote the film. Many times the star will fly in from some other movie set and sit for the interviews and appear via satellite on various media outlets and then return to their current filming. So him being unavailable doesn’t sound like a believable excuse.
When movies are moved from the end of the year to early the next year it is usually an admission that this isn’t going to be an awards contender so they are hoping to make some money back in a less competitive time of year.
Not a good sign.
October 18, 2015 @ 2:03 pm
Tom Hiddleston singing Hank
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW4Pn3Whh5w
October 19, 2015 @ 6:10 am
It will be interesting to see if it is re-edited. I think some of the reviews have pointed to a pacing issue and that the film drags. Chopping and pasting can sometimes help but you can’t add what isn’t there. The screenplay itself is the likely culprit in this case based on reviews so far.
The stills do look great and costuming seems spot on. Even the guitar models varying from Gibsons to Martins is correct. And while the film may fall short of some expectations there are some categories for Oscars that could be up for consideration ala sound editing, costuming, etc. That could help make it into theaters so that those kind of efforts don’t go unnoticed or rewarded.
October 19, 2015 @ 10:52 am
As a guitar player myself, I do appreciate historical fidelity to using the right guitars. That said, in the 9th still above, I’m bothered by that metal buckle on the strap on the Gibson Southern Jumbo; the strap may be historically accurate, but that metal is going to take a bite out of the guitar’s binding.
October 19, 2015 @ 8:11 am
I am having the same problem I had when watching “Saving Mr. Banks.” I didn’t see Walt Disney, I saw Tom Hanks playing Walt Disney. I don’t see Hank Williams, I see Loki playing Hank Williams.
October 23, 2015 @ 1:57 pm
His performances/film in general appear to have all the luster and excitement of a used furniture store. It’s so bad it’s almost good, or not… This is the sad thing about society 2015 Trigger is constantly pontificating on. That it thinks it can spend its way toward quality so and so forth, or in this case, that and something like a chain being only as strong as the weakest link. Listening to Hiddleston perform these tunes makes me feel profoundly embarrassed for the entire process of million dollar spending only to come out with this horror show. To think of all the shoes they could’ve sent to Syria instead or whatever.
I guess on the bright side, it creates a foil to reflect on why Hank Williams was good. And while often Hanks songs were in the key of Hank, not terribly different one to the next, he had such amazing tremelo, tenor, presentation, presence, a certain I don’t know what, society gave it all thumbs up. Yet these biopics fail almost exclusively, probably because they usually end up making the performer look like a jackass to a whole new generation of kids, and don’t only if you just walked out of a cave. There’s so much they could’ve done beyond using the original suits, to dirty-up and authenticate this film, starting with some shocking scenes of what it might’ve been like to be raised in a cathouse with a mom like his. I could go on and on. But my god, sadly, Tom H couldn’t sing convincingly enough to free himself from a wet paper bag. And I suppose it only reinforces how the higher ups wouldn’t know authenticity if it jumped up and bit them on the ass either. And Rodney Crowell’s daughter for consulting?!? It’s hard not to get fed up with the lack of authenticity 2015 ‘Merica when it keeps getting rammed sideways down our throats.
And Taylor Swift, you should indeed be bussing tables in the nearest Waffle House.