(crowd cheering) Thanks for being here. Great to be here. You know, I, first of all I wanna say, I saw this movie, I'm gonna say it's like
a week and a half ago they got me a special screening. And I went with a couple
of the priests on our show and we were completely
blown away by this film. It's a tall order. I would say, playing Johnny
Cash and you just become him. And you forget that you're
an actor playing Johnny Cash which is the biggest hurdle in a biopic. So congratulations,
really an incredible job. Thank you. You gotta see this movie (crowd applauds) First of all I know... You know you've come on
the show a couple of times over the years and I know that one of the hardest things
I know that you love acting, you love inhabiting the
role you love the craft. Then you've got to go out
and talk about the movie which can probably get
a little boring for you. Cause people ask you the same
questions over and over again. Is there anything you're doing
this time around to sort of, keep yourself entertained as
you go through this process? (speaks foreign language) (crowd laughs) My question exactly. Yeah. No, I always, I have... (crowd laughing) That was for our Finnish audience I think. Yeah, no, I have I just create a special languages
that no one understands. I don't even understand it. Right right. You just, you,
you make up like kind of words and stuff just to do every now and then. You've actually been doing
this on this press tour. Is that right? Yeah a little bit mew mew (crowd laughing) (crosstalk) You're doing it for yourself, right? Well, me and two other people. Right. You know, I have a friend Michael and we call him "Mew mew." And he actually has a song that we've made up just for him. Just for him. "Mew mew gaga" song. Right. "Mew mew gaga" song. "Gaga." Yeah. That's very important. You did it very well, by the way. Not a lot of people can do it. And who have you been
trying to get to do it? I heard you try to, you went on, was it Ridges and? Yeah, Ridges. He was a champ. He did it and he did it very well. And the first thing... Did he know what he was
doing? How did this play? Yeah. No we went through
the entire song actually. He what he knew, he knows the
chorus, the bridge everything. Right. I'd love to see Ridges scream
"mew mew gaga mew mew." And he's such a high energy guy. Right. He also, he can add
a little "gika" or "jenga" with the two which is
nice. Just a little flavor. You know when they "mew
mew gaga" too much. I prefer not to go that
way. That's not me. That's more Ridges. I don't do that. I'm a strict "mew mew gaga" guy myself. Okay. Well, whatever
makes you comfortable. It's your show. You know what I mean? I don't wanna push anything on it. After The Wendy's thing, I don't know if it's mine anymore. It might be.. (crowd laughs) It might be gone now. Now
you had to, have not had to this I think has to be a thrill is present at the Country Music Awards which, you know, I mean,
you're playing Johnny Cash in the film and then
you're asked to present at the Country Music Awards. How was that? Did you enjoy it? Well, did you know how many people sat at Madison square garden? Do you know how many people are there? (crosstalk) Slightly more than what we
have in this room right now (crosstalk) A little bit more. Two and
a half million people. Wow. And not really (crowd laughs) But there was a lot.
That's what it feels like. And I walked out there and I
just, I didn't know what to do. And I saw Kris Kristofferson right away. And he gave me a thumbs up And I was like, "Well that's good." I don't know what that meant. I don't know how he knows
that it's gonna be okay. But somehow... There's something very calming about Kris Kristofferson. Yeah. No, it's true. I found that throughout my life, whenever I'm in a moment
of crisis, I look around and Kris Kristofferson appears. (crowd laughs) So he gives me a thumbs
up. He's like an angel He is. No, so that was good. And then I had to, you
know, we're presenting. And so we're. They go
through a list of names. It's on a teleprompter. And I was a little nervous but I got all of those names right. But Reese who I've worked
with for like a year, I got her name wrong. I called her Reeth on live television and she kicked me off of stage. Yeah. She can be vicious
I'm told. Yeah. She's tough. No she's a sweetheart. Well, you guys, I mean she
plays your love interest, June Carter Cash in this film. And I wanna talk about the movie now. First of all this great honor
you got to meet Johnny Cash, even before you made this film. Before you knew that you were
gonna be making this film. Is that right? Yeah. How did that come about? Well, I was invited over to dinner at his friend's house and went over and it was an amazing experience. I can't tell you what that's
like no words can describe what it was there. John and
June were just beautiful people. And they sang this song together and looked at each other's eyes and it was just beautiful spiritual. And then I had to leave and John stopped me as I was walking out. And he was a real fan of
this movie, "The Gladiator." And he said, I can't do his voice anymore. But he said, "My favorite
part is when you said, "Your son squealed like a girl when they nailed him to the cross and you're a wife moaned like a horse. They ravaged her again
and again and again." I love that part." (crowd laughs) We all remember that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean the most sadistic dialogue ever committed to celluloid. Right. That's what like
caught his attention. Well, he's an artist who went
to a dark place many times and he's fuscous. But he was amazed that that kind of him, just seeing him with with
June and this great love and then that's the
dialogue that he quotes and it's fascinating. You know, one of the
things you do in the movie in addition to, you
know, playing the music and singing it is that
you have in the movie, his deep baritone. And
I was just thinking, how did you do that? I mean, you could put a gun to my head. I could never get my voice
lower than like a helium squeak. But you have, I'd be like, "Hi everybody. I'm Johnny Cash." But you, I almost got that
role and that cost me. But you really you changed your voice and I'm wondering how do you do that? With vocal lessons, doing
working with a vocal coach. And it's the most humiliating
process I've ever endured because you do these
exercises, all these vowels. And you do like
"thethethethe," up and down. And it's so uncomfortable.
I can't tell you. And to transition as I hear this guy going "funkdy bangdy dingidy dingidy" up. You know how do you go
from that to I shot a man and really don't wanna
watch him die. It's strange. It's not getting you in the mood to sing a Johnny Cash song. It was very, very difficult. Well, we have a clip here.
This is a great scene actually. This is in the movie. Johnny Cash has gone through
this terrible problems with addiction. He's been gone for a while and then he wants to come back and he wants to appease this
idea to sing at Folsom prison. His record label says,
"That's a stupid idea, no one wants to see that,"
but he goes ahead and does it. And I think it's one of
the biggest selling records of all time when this came out. It sounds great. It seems
like an interesting movie. Yeah, thank you very much. I look forward to seeing it. I like to set up all the
clips myself. I just enjoy it. (crowd laughs) Anyway here's a little thing
I did called Walk the Line but take a look at this clip. My hats off to you now. Cause I ain't never had
to drink this yellow water you got here at Folsom. (crowd applauds loudly) (glass shatters) This song's for your warden. ♪ early that morning while
I'm making the rounds, ♪ ♪ I took this shout of cocaine
then I shot my woman down ♪ ♪ I went riding home then I went to bed. ♪ ♪ I stuck that lovin' 44 beneath my head ♪ ♪ got up next morning
and I grabbed that gun. ♪ ♪ took a shot of cocaine and away I run ♪ ♪ made a good run but I run too slow ♪ ♪ they overtook me down
in Juarez, Mexico ♪ (crowd applauds) I've heard from, you know
I think a lot of people and I thought I was very
familiar with Johnny Cash's work and a fan of his. I saw
this movie and I went home that night and I stayed
on the internet all night like getting more Johnny Cash songs and trying to look at rare footage. This movie makes you wanna
like revisit everything he did. Which is really cool. Walk the Line opens
tomorrow.Go see this movie. It's fantastic It's been an honor to
have you. Thank so much (crosstalk) (crowd applauds)
