Click to see a gallery of photos from the Nashville premiere of 'Country Strong' (this image of stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw: Scott Garfield/Screen Gems/File).
A popular yet struggling country singer with flowing blond hair stands on stage surrounded by cheering fans. Her opening acts have just left the stage and the singer, Kelly Canter, looks lost as she labors to make it through her song. Kelly is fighting her way through alcohol addiction, and she’s developed a reputation as an unreliable performer. Backstage, her husband/manager, James, argues with the tour promoter to save her remaining dates.
It’s a scene that could unfold on any day in this town. But can it be believable on film? The classic tale of a country music artist grappling with personal demons and a rocky marriage is hardly new to the movies, but Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw and writer-director Shana Feste embraced the challenge in the making of Country Strong.
The film, which also stars Leighton Meester, Garrett Hedlund and Nashville itself — the picture was shot entirely in the city and surrounding areas — opens here on Wednesday, Dec. 22 and nationwide on Jan. 7.
The project attracted Paltrow from the start.
“The whole movie, the script, kind of captivated me,” said Paltrow, who has chosen, because of her young children, to work only once a year at this point in her career. “I really thought it was beautifully written and intelligent and complex. I loved the fact there was this great character written for a woman my age. And this (role) was the one that kept haunting me, and I’m so glad I did it.”
So is Feste, although the director admits many people saw Paltrow as an unlikely casting choice to play the country superstar.
“I think everybody was surprised, and that’s what I love about her playing this role,” Feste said. “There were actresses on our casting list that might have made more sense to a lot of people, like ... Nicole Kidman and how she fits into this world. We’ve seen her in this world and I would die to work with Nicole Kidman, but then there’s something about Gwyneth Paltrow that’s really surprising and different. I knew she had the chops to pull this role off.”
Striving for authenticity
Paltrow said she worked harder than she ever had on a role to make her portrayal of Kelly authentic. Although she had sung on film before (she performed with Huey Lewis in Duets), she spent hours watching footage of Dolly Parton, Faith Hill and Shelby Lynne, and she learned to play guitar and took voice lessons three times a week so she could believably sing country songs.
“I don’t think the movie would work if we weren’t singing our own songs,” she said, “especially with country music,” which she called “real soul music.”
“You have to be so raw and there and true, and I don’t think you could fake it. I think that’s why Shana hired people she knew could sing, because she was determined to have it really be from the hearts and souls of these people. I think you could fake it more easily if it was pop, but you can’t do that in country music.”
The emotional aspect of the role also took a toll. Because of the nature of the character, she spent a large portion of the film acting drunk or in tears. Certain scenes left her feeling like “a shell of a human being,” but she said the role was one of the most satisfying of her career.
For all of Paltrow’s initial gusto for her part as Kelly, McGraw met the idea of playing James with as much resistance. He passed on the script twice before signing on.
“I didn’t want to put myself on screen in my own world,” said McGraw, who has sold more than 40 million country albums. “It’s hard enough to hide behind a character in another movie, much less a movie that’s set where everybody really knows me.”
He started to reconsider when he learned Paltrow and Hedlund (who worked with McGraw on the film version of Friday Night Lights) had committed to the project. After an at-home viewing of Feste’s previous movie, The Greatest, he made up his mind.
“I literally had a headache from crying so much,” he said. “It gave the script a different perspective for me, that if (Feste) was going to come at this script with the same sensibilities that movie had, and then Gwyneth and Garrett were involved, that was what turned it around for me.”
For McGraw, achieving a seamless marriage of music and characters was the key to the film.
“A lot of times in these kinds of movies there can be some great characters and the actors are great and you really buy into what’s going on … on the screen. Then the music starts and it doesn’t ring true and it falls apart,” he said. “Or there can be some fantastic music that you really enjoy and the rest of it really doesn’t matter. What works for this film, and why it’s so good, is that they complement each other so well. When the music started with these guys, it was just an extension of their characters. They really fit, and I don’t think you can separate the two.”
Nashville's role
Another critical factor in trying to make the movie believable was location. Feste originally planned to film in her onetime home state of Texas and had selected sites for filming, but McGraw helped persuade the director to shoot the movie here.
“There’s so many ways (the movie) could fall apart authenticity-wise, from the music to the actors’ singing,” McGraw said. “I think Nashville played an important part. Nashville is a character unto itself. There’s such a vibe in this city, and I think the soul of the city is country music, and if we didn’t have that sort of intangible thing there that sort of lingers on film ... it would have been just one more obstacle.”
After coming to town, Feste said she fell in love with the idea of filming scenes in locations that rarely made it onto the big screen and that she immediately recognized the value of shooting here.
“You walk into Nashville venues and it’s like walking into a church,” she said. “You just feel something in the air here. There’s a love of music that’s so contagious.”
Filming here not only made McGraw happy, it also meant jobs for many locals who work in movies (308 cast and crew members, plus more than 2,000 extras) in addition to 30 Nashville musicians, including Jim Lauderdale and Marshall Chapman, who appear in the film or on the soundtrack.
One artist who doesn’t sing in the movie? McGraw. Feste said it was important to treat him as an actor. The complexity of his character demanded it.
“His character is so raw and so complicated,” she said. “It’s so tortured. He has this love for his wife, but because of their past and because of what has happened, it would be impossible for any man to get over something like that. She pushes him in all the wrong directions, just crying out for help, and they are just constantly not connecting, and then when they do connect, it’s beautiful and it’s heartbreaking. Tim and Gwyneth have beautiful chemistry together.”
After filming was over, Feste went to see McGraw in concert, and she was glad she had waited until they were done shooting. Otherwise, she said, directing him would have been difficult.
“I would have been totally intimidated by him,” she said. “I saw him playing for all these fans and it was like, ‘Oh, my God, do I have a crush on Tim McGraw? What’s going on here?’ ”
The director hopes all those fans McGraw left swooning on his last tour will be among those who file into the theater to see this movie. But she thinks Country Strong will also appeal to a broad market beyond country music fans. The eclectic cast she assembled — the A-list actress (Paltrow), the heartthrob singer (McGraw), the trendy up-and-comer (Meester) and the rugged fresh face (Hedlund) — could help expand its appeal. At its core, Feste said, the movie is a love story punctuated by relatable country songs, so “anyone who loves a love story will love it.”
And in telling that story, Nashville played no small role.
“One of things we got from shooting in Nashville,” Feste said, “was a lot of heart.”
Reach Cindy Watts at 615-594-3027 or ciwatts@tennessean.com.
IF YOU GO
- Country Strong opens Wednesday, Dec. 22 at Carmike Thoroughbred 20 in Franklin (it opens Jan. 7 nationwide). Showtimes are 12:50 p.m., 3:50 p.m., 6:50 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. Check local listings for additional theaters and times.