Over on the www.IWalkedtheLine.com forum, we’ve been discussing (on a thread called “Searching for truth”) the whole issue of the producers of the “Walk the Line” movie fabricating the whole storyline of tension between Johnny and his dad. I guess the only question that remains about the “Daddy doesn’t love me” story being added to the film, is why did the producers feel the need to add that?

The answer is: they needed a vehicle to explain Johnny’s drug troubles (what might have driven him to that kind of despair). The truth is… the truth of what really fueled his addiction didn’t fit nicely into the script. They had to come up with something…

Vivian always said she knew exactly what drove Johnny to drugs…. that when the success came and June started pursuing him, he succumbed to her advances, the affair started, and he was riddled with guilt. Completely tortured by what he had done. That began the devastating cycle of him drinking and taking drugs to escape the guilt, and this just made him even more susceptible. “Ego-dystonic” is the psychological term for what she said Johnny suffered from. He had such strong moral convictions against all of the things he was doing.

Anyway, the fact of June having fueled the addiction (as well as supplying his drugs, and having a drug problem of her own) didn’t “fit” into the love story they were trying to tell. That’s why they had to make up the “Daddy doesn’t love me” scenario for the film. I’m the first to agree it was a great film. It just wasn’t true.