As you’re surely aware, the new Judd Apatow musical biopic satire, “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” is due in theaters on December 21 and has a host of musical guests including the White Stripes’ Jack White, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Veedder, Jewel, Ghostface Killah, Jackson Browne, Lyle Lovett and actors playing the Elvis, the Beatles and Buddy Holly.
The soundtrack sounds like a sprawling effort, either a mess or an epic depending on the execution, but either way there’s going to be a lot of music. Billboard reported that Lyle Lovett (with Ghostface and Jewel) have recorded the title track of the film and Rolling Stone has reported that Marshall Crenshaw wrote it. Apparently songwriters Dan Bern and Candy Butchers frontman Mike Viola wrote much of the film’s songs.
Now Entertainment Weekly is reporting that ‘Walk Hard’ lead John C. Reilly has recorded more than 30 songs in character — which the filmmakers hope to collect onto a CD set titled A Box of Cox. “They say all rock stars want to be actors, and all actors want to be rock stars. ”I fit strongly in that [latter] category,” Reilly told EW.
The magazine also spoke with producer Judd Apatow and we’ve cribbed their small QA as the interview is not online.
Did you enjoy just being on the writing end after directing “Knocked Up”?
“Walk Hard” was so enormous, and complicated. Every time I’d walk on set I’d look at [director] Jake Kasdan and say, “Thanks God it’s you and not me. I’m going to go to my trailer and take a nap.
One does get the impression that the current comedy troupe you’ve corralled is a lot like hanging out in the most fun dorm.
Comedy people just like each other. It’s fun to call Justin Long and say, “Hey, Do you want to play George Harrison?” And then shockingly, Long has an incredible Harrison impression. Who has a great George Harrison impression?
You’ve already had a banner year. Do you feel this movie is going to hurt or help your legacy?
I assume 2007 will be seen as a solid year in my career followed by a very quick, stunning flameout. And everyone will say, “I guess he was out of gas. That’s what he had to offer.” And it’s over. But at least it ends with us telling a very important story that we all can learn from.