Well, now that he's got some free time on his hands since "Akira" is on hold for the foreseeable future, Garrett Hedlund is gonna sing for his supper.
It looks like the Coen Brothers watched "Country Strong," as they are impressed enough by the actor's singing voice to cast him in their '60s folk music scene flick, "Inside Llewyn Davis." Trading a mindless remake for a Coen Brothers movie? Not bad. Plot details are under wraps, but what we do know is that the film is loosely based on the life of Dave van Ronk, an American folk singer who presided over the ‘60s Greenwich Village scene, that included people you might have heard of like Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Joni Mitchell. And in keeping with the secrecy, there is no word on the role he'll play.
Hedlund showed himself to have a decent voice in the Gwyneth Paltrow movie singing "Chances Are," and he joins a cast mostly of Coen newcomers including Justin Timberlake, Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, F. Murray Abraham, Jeanine Seralles and John Goodman. Lensing is set to gear up very soon and this production is moving fast. The plan is to have the Scott Rudin produced movie on the festival circuit by the fall, and while there is no distribution lined up yet, that's where those deals will likely be made. We presume it will factor into the Oscar race on some level, so our guess is limited release this year, followed by a wider rollout in 2013.