TERRENCE HOWARD - PROUD COUNTRY FAN HOWARD WANTS TO PLAY PRIDE

Oscar nominee TERRENCE HOWARD has his sights set on playing country legend CHARLEY PRIDE in a new biopic, so he can pay tribute to his grandfather. The actor became a huge fan of country music after his truckdriving granddad turned him onto the likes of Pride and KENNY ROGERS during cross-country trips when he was a kid. And now Howard, who bears a resemblance to smooth-voiced Pride, is desperate to follow pal JAMIE FOXX's lead and play a musical great on the big screen. He says, "I really wanna do Charley Pride right now because I love him. "I like country music because my grandfather, when I was a little kid, used to sometimes let me travel across country with him - he was a truck driver. "In the Mid-West (America), all you'd hear was country songs and he started telling me the meanings of these songs. "I think the first song I heard that I really remember was COWARD OF THE COUNTY by Kenny Rogers, and that was so strong - sometimes you've got to fight when you're a man, but sometimes you don't have to."