Sissy Spacek had been on the fence about starring in Coal Miner’s Daughter, the biopic about country music legend Loretta Lynn. The Texas-born Spacek had envisioned a career as a folk singer but then started landing acting gigs, thanks to guidance from her cousin Rip Torn. As Coal Miner’s Daughter director Michael Apted sought his lead, Lynn herself was drawn to a photo of Spacek, convinced that the actress was the right choice without having even seen her work, including her star turn in 1976 horror classic Carrie.
At the time, Spacek went to one of Lynn’s concerts with the intention of turning down the role. But after the show, she found herself captivated as Lynn scolded the drummer for playing too loudly. “She was ragging on her band, and I was just dumbstruck,” Spacek recalled in a 2018 interview. “I thought, ‘I have to play this woman!’ And I’m so grateful that I did, because we’re still very close.” (Lynn died at 90 in 2022.)
The feature focuses on Lynn’s path to success, which included a childhood of poverty and becoming a bride at 15. Spacek did her own singing and worked with Lynn for a week in a Nashville hotel to nail the performer’s Kentucky dialect and guitar style. Universal released Coal Miner’s Daughter on March 7, 1980. Critics sang Spacek’s praises, and the film’s $67 million box office haul ($264 million today) made it the year’s seventh-highest-grossing title. It earned seven Oscar noms including best picture, with Spacek winning for best actress.
Spacek, who stars opposite Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson in this year’s Die My Love, told THR in 2011 that she considers Coal Miner’s Daughter to be her most challenging project “because of the music and because I had to capture Loretta’s rhythm. But I wasn’t as afraid to show the film to Loretta as I was to Loretta’s fan club.”
This story first appeared in a December stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
