A biopic about a country music legend is set to star another country singer.
Rolling Stone reports a Randy Travis movie is currently in the works, with Clay Walker set to play Travis. The film is titled “Forever and Ever, Amen,” after Travis’ hit song and 2019 memoir of the same name.
The project was announced Wednesday at the Grand Ole Opry with Travis’ family on board.
“I’m so glad that this story is going to get told because it deserves to get told,” the singer’s wife, Mary Travis, told People magazine. “This is what we prayed for — for somebody who would tell Randy’s life story just as he lived it.”
According to Rolling Stone, writer-director Andrew Hyatt (“Sight”) will helm the biopic after Randy Travis approached him with the idea. Three different actors will play Travis at different ages, with Walker playing the singer in his 40s and 50s — though performances will still use Travis’ voice.
“I look at Randy’s life, and I see redemption. This is a man who’s overcome all those challenges. He’s survived it all. Everybody knows that golden voice of his, but I think this movie is going to endear him to people in a whole new way,” Walker said.
Walker, who previously acted in the 2013 faith-based film “Alone Yet Not Alone,” is a country music singer known for hits like “She Won’t Be Lonely Long,” “If I Could Make a Living” and “What’s It to You.” He collaborated with Travis on the song “Feels So Right” in 2010.
Travis, 65, has limited singing and speaking ability after a near-fatal 2013 stroke led to being diagnosed with aphasia. The Grammy-winning singer and Country Music Hall of Famer is known for songs like “Three Wooden Crosses,” “Deeper Than the Holler” and “Forever and Ever, Amen,” plus appearances in movies and TV shows like “National Treasure: Book of Secrets,” “Matlock,” “Touched By an Angel,” “Black Dog” and “The Rainmaker.”
A release date and other film details, including additional cast members, have not been announced.