True Stories 18: 00s—Ray and Walk the Line

There have been a lot of films telling the life stories of singers/musicians and there will be many more. But two iconic ones that were released within a year of one another were Ray [2004] by Taylor Hackford and James L. White that tells the story of Ray Charles's life, and Walk the Line [2005] by Gill Dennis and James Mangold that explores the life story of Johnny Cash.

Both men were extremely successful and both men had problems with drugs and/or alcohol. And both men had volatile relationships with women. Ah, the conflicts biopics are made of.

Ray tells the story of Ray Charles, an innovator of soul music who became a true icon. But a big part of his story is where he came from and the odds he faced because of being blind. Take a look at the trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXe5wAE1zzE

Most people in Ray Charles's time knew of him as a blind singer. But how did he happen to become blind? I venture most people didn’t know that. Well, the film tells us. It shows us Ray as a child, being told by his mother that he will go blind, thus preparing him for that. This lets the audience into the world of this little boy and shows us what he will have to face. So even though virtually everyone who sees the film knows Ray Charles, they’re now going to see what he had to go through to become the famous singer that we know.

Walk the Line tells the story of the country music icon, Johnny Cash. This film takes us from Cash’s beginnings as a singer/songwriter to fame and fortune and—in particular—his romance with the woman who would become his wife. Take a look at the trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTzE0ONcRFU

Not being a fan of country music, I mistakenly thought Cash had been in prison and became a star after that experience. It took the film for me to discover that the Cash/prison connection happened because he frequently did concerts for inmates in various prisons. But he took on the prisoner-type persona so much that I’d thought that was where he came from!

Both films have the advantage of time—both Ray and Cash had a long road to making it in the business. And we get to see both of them before they’ve succeeded. This is crucial. It’s rare that we just want to see the famous person when they’re already successful. The drama comes from seeing where they came from and how they managed to pull themselves up from their background, overcome their obstacles, to achieve success.

Whatever true story you’re contemplating writing, it’s a good idea to go back to before your main character gets involved in the meat of your story. Let us see where they came from, and what the impetus was to get them to a place where they’re a success.

Next week we’ll look at a film about a famous writer—but we’ll focus only on the event he’s involved in during a short period—a film that tells a true story but is really about the writer of that story: Capote.

Copyright © Diane Lake

09Oct22

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