Devoted bluegrass fan Peter Sarsgaard is attached to star in a biopic of the country music legend Bill Monroe, the man who helped create the bluegrass genre. Sarsgaard (An Education) reportedly approached Oscar-winning writer Callie Khouri (Thelma and Louise) about helping to rewrite the first draft of the script, ostensibly with himself in mind as Monroe. While the bluegrass biopic is still in early stages of development, it will likely come together as a low-budget independent film, with Finn Taylor (The Darwin Awards) in the director’s chair.
The untitled project has been described as “a labor of love” for Sarsgaard, whose most recent roles as the villain in the big-budget Cruise-Diaz vehicle Knight and Day and the upcoming Green Hornet movie are decidedly less ‘indie.’ The Monroe biopic could be just what Sarsgaard needs to highlight his talent and finally lock down a well-deserved Oscar – although I’m not sure why Sarsgaard would want to work with Taylor, whose films have generally received middling reviews from critics.
Bill Monroe helped develop the bluegrass genre in a career that spanned more than half a century. The musician, whose best known songs include ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’ and ‘Uncle Pen’, has been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993, just three years before his death at age 84.
Bill Monroe (photo courtesy of CMT)
Source: The Wrap
