JOHNNY CASH - CASH BIOPIC POISED FOR SHOOTING

Preparations for the upcoming JOHNNY CASH biopic are proving so successful, producers hope to start shooting the movie in June (04).

WALK THE LINE - starring JOAQUIN PHOENIX as the country legend who died last year (03) and REESE WITHERSPOON as his fellow singer wife JUNE CARTER CASH - is expected to cost studio giants 20TH CENTURY FOX $27 million (GBP15 million), and bosses are eager to get cameras rolling as soon as possible.

The movie aims to chronicle the star's life, from his beginnings on a cotton farm in Arkansas in the late 1940s, to his early stardom with SUN RECORDS in Memphis alongside ELVIS PRESLEY and JERRY LEE LEWIS.