Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a 2007 American music comedy film written and produced by Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan, directed by Kasdan and starring John C. Reilly. The plot echoes the storyline of 2005's Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line and 2004's Ray Charles biopic Ray; Walk Hard is also a parody of the biopic genre as a whole.

As Walk Hard heavily references the film Walk the Line, the Dewey Cox persona is mostly based on Johnny Cash; but the character also includes elements of the lives and careers of Roy Orbison, Glen Campbell, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Donovan, John Lennon, James Brown, Jim Morrison, Conway Twitty, Neil Diamond, and Brian Wilson. The film portrays fictional versions of artists Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles; additionally, some artists playing themselves, including Eddie Vedder and Ghostface Killah. In addition, the film parodies or pays tribute to the musical styles of Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Van Dyke Parks with Brian Wilson, and the seventies punk rock movement.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (soundtrack)

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 2007 film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

Production

It was almost like a Manhattan Project for songwriters," says Bern. "It was the most fun thing I've ever done.

The cast and crew recorded 40 original songs; 33 are featured in the movie. Singer-songwriter Dan Bern and Mike Viola (of the Candy Butchers) wrote most of the film's songs, including "There's a Change A' Happenin'", "The Mulatto Song" and "Hole in My Pants". Marshall Crenshaw wrote the title tune and Van Dyke Parks penned one of the 1960-styled psychedelic jams, "Black Sheep".

Singer Angela Correa provides the voice of Darlene Madison Cox (played in the film by actress Jenna Fischer), as she did in the feature film.

A number of critics noted the unusually high quality of many of the individual songs on the soundtrack, how well they reflected the styles and times they were attempting to spoof, and how well they stood on their own as quality compositions. The soundtrack was nominated for both a Grammy and Golden Globe Award and was nominated and won the Sierra Award for Best Song in a Motion Picture from the Las Vegas Film Critics Society.