From director Allison Anders, the Lifetime original movie Ring of Fire (premiering on May 27^th), recounts the meteoric rise to fame for June Carter (in what is a truly remarkable and impressive performance by Jewel), first as part of The Carter Family – the First Family of country music – and then as a star in her own right.  Along with taking a personal look at her first two marriages and her life with her children, the film also showcases her infamous courtship with Johnny Cash (in an equally impressive performance by Matt Ross), and illustrates how his drug addiction affected their lives.

During this recent exclusive interview with Collider, actor Matt Ross (American Horror Story, Big Love) talked about how he came to be a part of this film, his desire to work with Allison Anders, how playing someone as iconic as Johnny Cash scared him, all of the research that he did, how impressed he was by Jewel, as an actress, what it was like to do the live performance scenes, his decision not to do his own singing, and how much of an understanding he has now of Johnny Cash, the man.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.  

Singer Jewel is nearly unrecognizable with long brown hair, straight teeth (!) and blue eyes in her role as June Carter Cash in an upcoming Lifetime movie.  The film, The June Carter Cash Story, was announced in May and started filming in Atlanta shortly afterwards.  It’s based on the book Anchored in Love: An Intimate Portrait of June Carter Cash, which John Carter Cash wrote about his mother.  The last person to portray June was of course Reese Witherspoon, who won an Oscar for it in 2005′s Walk the Line.  But critics love a physical transformation, and Jewel getting veneers (temporary or permanent, we do not yet know) goes a long way into creating June’s signature look.  For more on the project and some pictures of Jewel in costume from the set, hit the jump.