Cathy Konrad saw a photograph of Joaquin Phoenix that brought to mind the coiled energy and underlying emotion of the young Johnny Cash in the 1950s and 60s. The resemblance transcended the physical. “There was just something in Joaquin’s eyes,” says James Mangold, who agreed that Phoenix was perfect choice to play the young J.R. Cash. “He just had that same sense of searching for something. Joaquin has the honesty that is so much a part of who John was.”
Following his instincts, Mangold cast Phoenix without further meetings. It turned out that Johnny Cash was also a fan of Phoenix’s performance as Emperor Commodus in Gladiator, for which Phoenix received an Oscar® nomination.
In pursuing the role, Phoenix went with his gut. “When I heard that James Mangold was directing a movie about the life of Johnny Cash, I wanted to do it without even reading the script,” the actor recalls. “I just had a really good feeling about it, and I liked the idea of playing such a complex man who led an incredibly rich life.” Phoenix didn’t know a lot about Johnny Cash’s early years as a rock and roll pioneer, and the actor found the story to be very revealing. “Many people only know Johnny Cash as the ‘Man in Black,’” he says. “It was exciting for me to learn about his early years and his breakthrough at Sun Records, just as rock and roll was taking off.”
Phoenix was drawn to Cash’s deeply human contradictions. He based much of his portrait on June Carter’s observation that Johnny had two distinct personalities: the man she called John and an alter-ego she named Cash. Cash was the wild, obstinate, ego-driven man who was drawn to the dark side of human life; John was the honest, vulnerable and deeply searching man within.
From the minute he got the part, Phoenix began carrying a guitar. He immersed himself in Johnny Cash’s life and music, reading his autobiographies, watching documentary footage of his earliest recorded performances, and listening to every Cash recording. Though Johnny Cash passed away before Phoenix had a chance to work directly with him, the actor was pleased that Cash had approved of the casting. “I was excited by how heavily involved Jim Mangold had been with John in writing the script and how Jim was determined to get it right,” says Phoenix. “That really meant a lot. It took some of the pressure off, because John was someone whose integrity you could always sense. People appreciated John’s genuineness.”
Phoenix knew if was going to get inside the soul of Johnny Cash, he would first have to get inside the soul of the musician. Cash’s stage mannerisms and guitar style had to become an organic part of Phoenix’s performance. Recalls Mangold: “One of the things John told me about whoever was going to play him was, ‘I just hope they know how to hold a guitar. You don’t hold it like it’s a baby and you’re frightened it’s going to break. You grab it by the neck.’ So I knew that Joaquin had to approach his guitar like it was something he had lived with all his life – and that’s what he did.”
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