If any one movie changed the music biopic game, it’s Walk Hard. Come on, you couldn’t watch A Complete Unknown without it popping into your head (and the same will happen with the Bruce biopic), as the comedy completely nailed the permanent style of the genre, so much so that it’s like they’re now playing off of Walk Hard rather than any other straight-faced biopic that came before it. And with the 20th anniversary of Walk Hard approaching, John C. Reilly is aiming to take your hand and step back on stage with the Hardwalkers.
Reilly recently appeared on Steve-O’s podcast, where he told the host there is a lot in store to celebrate Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. “We’re gonna release the soundtrack for for the 20th anniversary in 2027…I think Jack White wants to release it on vinyl. And we’re gonna do a concert tour. Dewey Cox and the Hardwalkers. As many dates and as big of places as we can do. That’s the idea for the 20th anniversary.”
A tour centered around Walk Hard actually has roots in the comedy’s release all thanks to the WGA strike of 2007-2008. “I did an eight-city concert tour when the movie came out, as Dewey Cox, with the Hardwalkers, and it was because there was a writers strike at the time and you couldn’t go on talk shows…I was like, ‘F*ck! We have a satire that we need to explain to people what it is a satire of but we don’t have any talk show appearances to explain. What are we gonna do?’” Thus, a screening of Walk Hard followed up but a set with John C. Reilly and friends!
Reilly offered more perspective on why a tour with Dewey Cox and the Hardwalkers could work for the 20th anniversary, saying that those catching the small tour dates had no familiarity with the songs other than seeing one screening. “Now, 20 years later…It is the most popular movie for musicians on a tour bus of all my movies. I come upon tour buses to visit friends and walk in and, ‘Oh, sh*t, you guys are watching Walk Hard right now!’”
Are you a fan of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story? What do you think its legacy is nearly 20 years later?
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