Terrence Howard wants an Oscar so badly that he probably cries himself to sleep at night for not having one already. That's the only reason to explain why Terrence Howard is going to make a biopic about country singer Charley Pride, anyway.
Charley who? Oh, come on – you know who Charley Pride is. Burgers And Fries Charley Pride. Kaw-Liga Charley Pride. Come On Home And Sing The Blues To Daddy Charley Pride. OK, so we don't know who Charley Pride is either – but that isn't stopping Terrence Howard from being in a film about his life, since it's a golden rule that starring in a movie as a recently-dead singer is the fastest way to Oscar glory. And, yes, we know that Charley Pride isn't dead yet, so we're fully expecting Terrence Howard to pull off some Wile E Coyote-style assassination attempts on Charley Pride in the run-up to the movie's release.
There was a time when playing a singer in a movie biopic was a shortcut to a bunch of awards. Jamie Foxx played Ray Charles and won an Oscar, and Reese Witherspoon played June Carter and won an Oscar too – so people were always going to want to jump on the bandwagon. In the future we're going to be treated to a Marvin Gaye biopic, a Michael Hutchence biopic and a Bob Dylan biopic, which is fair enough because they all lived eventful lives. But when people start openly discussing a Missy Elliot biopic, a David Beckham biopic and – Lord help us – a Kevin Federline biopic, that's when you know you're at the arse-end of a fad.
Someone should really go and tell this to Terrence Howard, who's decided to star in a biopic of Charley Pride – a man we've never even heard of. Luckily, the internet is our friend and has told us that Charley Pride is a country and western singer who's had 36 number ones in his life and went on the Johnny Cash Show a few times. But there's more to Charley Pride than selling some records to rednecks, as Empire reports:
Pride’s story starts in Mississippi, with the young man dreaming of playing professional baseball. A stint in the Negro Leagues sated that until he joined the Army. Following his discharge, he moved to Montana and kept up minor league ball while working construction job. But music became his true calling once he moved to Nashville – between 1966 and 1984, 51 of his 54 single releases arrived in the top 10. But despite his great success, he constantly worried that many of his fans were racist whites.
Wow, a biopic and a study into racism – that Oscar is as good as Terrence Howard's already. Terrence will be hoping that the Charley Pride movie will help him to go one better than he did at this year's Oscars, where he was nominated for best actor but failed to win. But, even if playing Charley Pride doesn't win Terrence Howard an Oscar, at least the movie will be another step in making people forget that he was in that shitty Mariah Carey movie five years ago.
Read more:
Terrence Howard Has Pride – Empire
[story by Stuart Heritage]