Tom Hiddleston Discusses His View on Country Music, Role of Hank Williams

In preparation for his role as Hank Williams in the movie, I Saw the Light, Tom Hiddleston took the hands-on approach to his research by visiting the heart of country music in Nashville and getting to know more about the classic music genre.

Before heading out to Music City, Hiddleston decided to dedicate his whole thought process to the country legend in order to find the role he was set to play. Taking on a role of someone major in the country music industry, he dove into the background of the genre to fully understand the Williams lifestyle. He found, though, that country music just so happens to be similar to another familiar genre.

“What I find interesting about American country music is that essentially, as I understand it now, it’s folk music. And folk music wherever you are is an expression of the authentic soul of a country, whether that’s Scottish folk music, Irish folk music, English folk music, or Spanish folk music. When you get under the skin of a country’s folk music, you start to understand their instinctive rhythm,” he explained in an interview.

Hiddleston even got the opportunity to spend some time with Williams’ family and really relate to the real-life character he was about to take on.

“On the set, I met Jett Williams, who is the daughter of Hank and Bobbie Jett,” he explained. “There’s a scene in the film where Bobbie Jett tells Hank that she’s pregnant with his child. Jett was born four days after Hank died. Jett actually never met her father. She had a very complicated history where she didn’t actually know she was Hank’s daughter until she was quite old. I can’t remember exactly how old. I think she was in her 20s, or maybe in her teens. The day she came on set, we were shooting the scene where Fred Rose takes Hank to Hollywood to see if he wants to get into the movie game, and he doesn’t. It was a short scene, and I think Marc and Lizzie were actually shooting something so I was actually able to spend an extended lunch with Jett.”

The Avengers actor has recently received a lot of buzz over his relationship with former Nashville resident and pop star Taylor Swift. His film about the life of Williams, I Saw the Light, is available now on Blu-Ray, DVD and digital.