Crazy Heart is a 2009 American musical (Musical film)-drama film, written and directed by Scott Cooper (Scott Cooper (director)) and based on the 1987 novel of the same name by Thomas Cobb. Jeff Bridges plays Bad Blake, a down-and-out country music singer-songwriter who tries to turn his life around after beginning a relationship with a young journalist named Jean, portrayed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Supporting roles are played by Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, Beth Grant and child actor Jack Nation. Bridges, Farrell, and Duvall also sing in the film. The films main character is based on a combination of Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard. Cooper initially wanted to do a biopic on Haggard but found the rights to his life story were too difficult to obtain. The novel on which the film was based was actually inspired by country singer Hank Thompson (Hank Thompson (musician)). The film has been described as "half Urban Cowboy, half The Wrestler (The Wrestler (2008 film))."Attribution neededdate=May 2010

Filming took place in late 2008 (2008 in film) in Albuquerque, Galisteo, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Houston, as well as in Los Angeles, California. Producer and songwriter T-Bone Burnett co-composed with Stephen Bruton, Ryan Bingham and others original music for the film. The film was produced for $7 million by Country Music Television, and was originally acquired by Paramount Vantage for a direct-to-video release,cite news author= Cieply, Michael (Michael Cieply) coauthors= authorlink= title=A Surprise Gets Buzz for Oscars date=2009-11-18 publisher=The New York Times Company url = work =The New York Times pages = accessdate = 2010-01-26 language = cite weburl=title=Crazy Heart -- Film Review accessdate=2010-02-27 last=Honeycutt first=Kirk date=2009-11-29 work=The Hollywood Reporter but was later purchased for theatrical distribution by Fox Searchlight Pictures. It opened in limited release in the U.S. on December 16, 2009.