Randall Miller’s upcoming Midnight Rider, an adaptation of Gregg Allman’s biography My Cross to Bear, is the only music biopic that 2014 needs, and the final casting choices are being made as it heads into production. The latest three actors to join the band are Bradley Whitford, Eliza Dushku and Joel David Moore, who join William Hurt, Tyson Ritter and Wyatt Russell, among others. I never thought of any of these people when the project was first announced, but I’m going for it.
Co-screenwriters Miller and Jody Savin’s Unclaimed Freight Productions are behind this pic, which will focus on Allman’s life at two very different stages. Tyson Ritter will play the legendary musician when he was in his younger days, forming the Allman Brothers Band with brother Duane (Russell), whose died in a motorcycle accident at 24, stunting what would have been an even more astonishing career. Moore will star as Bill McEuen, the band’s first manager that first heard the brothers’ music under the name Hour Glass and took them to record in L.A. Dushku will star as the Southern gal who served as the inspiration for one their more classic tracks, "Whipping Post."
Hurt will play Allman in his mid-60s, as he comes to the realization that he has to give up the lifestyle he’d grown so accustomed to, or he wouldn’t be around to enjoy it for much longer. This is where Whitford comes in as Michael Lehman, the current manager whom the rocker credits with helping that life change turn into a reality. I want to know what alcohol companies will be on hand lending their name to the boozing that will no doubt occur.
Whitford has been all over the place in the last couple of years, and has had a string of true story films, starring as Nicky Gant with Moore as Joey Ramone in Miller’s 2013 film CBGB and playing Don Dagradi in Saving Mr. Banks. He can currently be seen on Drunk History repeats and on ABC’s Trophy Wife.
Dushku has been doing a lot of voicework over the years, most recently as She-Hulk on Disney XD’s Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., and hasn’t starred in a live feature since 2010’s Locked In. She’ll soon be seen in John Suit’s graphic novel adaptation The Scribbler. Moore, who has a recurring role on Fox’s Bones, is starring in Adam Wingard’s Sundance thriller hit The Guest and the upcoming Stephen King adaptation Grace.
Open Road Films will be distributing the film domestically, and according to THR, it’s set to start shooting February 24, in Savannah, Georgia. Now get your blues on with this live performance of "Whipping Post."
