NASHVILLE, March 24 (UPI) -- Nashville native Reese Witherspoon is fighting to keep her latest film, a Johnny Cash biography, from being shot in Louisiana instead of Tennessee.
Reese, who will play the late singer's wife June Carter Cash, and her mother, Dr. Betty Witherspoon, are lobbying Gov. Phil Bredesen to keep the film "Walk the Line" in Cash's former home state, the Nashville City Paper said Wednesday.
"Both Reese and her mother have been adamantly pushing for this movie to come to Tennessee," Tennessee Film and Music Commission executive director David Bennett said.
Louisiana, a state with a film commission that boasts an aggressive tax incentive program, also wants to host the movie, which chronicles the early years of Cash's rise to stardom.
Ultimately, the decision regarding cost versus authenticity will be in the hands of the production company and Fox 2000's vice president of finance, the newspaper said.
"Signs" and "Gladiator" star Joaquin Phoenix will portray Cash in the film.
