The Thing Called Love (1993) (Widescreen/ Director's Cut)

New Yorker Miranda Presley (Samantha Mathis)--no relation to the King--buses it to Nashville and arrives with her guitar and the dream of making it big in country music. She meets other twentysomethings at the Bluebird Café, a popular local nightspot/talent showcase: Linda Lou Linden (Sandra Bullock), a sweet, talentless southern girl who becomes Miranda's roommate; Kyle Davidson (Dermot Mulroney) a Connecticut Yankee with country dreams and crush on Miranda; and River Phoenix as James Wright, a moody, talented musician to whom Miranda is drawn. These four hopefuls struggle with life and love as they try to achieve success. Various country stars, including Trisha Yearwood and Pam Tillis, appear as themselves, and K.T. Oslin plays Lucy, the talent gatekeeper at the Bluebird Café. Mathis, Phoenix, Mulroney, and Bullock all performed the vocals for their characters' songs. The film, directed by Peter Bogdanovich (MASK), marks Phoenix's final performance. The young actor died in 1993.