Jewel, June Carter Cash [PHOTOS & VIDEO]: 'Foolish Games' Singer on Playing Johnny Cash's Wife in Lifetime Movie 'Ring of Fire'

Alaskan singer-songwriter Jewel Kilcher (professionally known by just her first name) was recently cast in the Lifetime original film Ring of Fire as June Carter Cash. With this movie premiering next week, the singer-turned-actress has been promoting the film and recently sat down for an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. In this interview she talked about how she prepared for the role, saying, "I needed people to forget about me."

Though the film Walk the Line told the story of June Carter and Johnny Cash's romance, Ring of Fire tells it from June's point of view. Actress Reese Witherspoon won the Academy Award for her portrayal of June Carter Cash, so there is a bit of pressure on Jewel for taking on this role.

"A lot of the time she's portrayed as a woman that married the famous Johnny Cash, but she was a famous artist in her own right, and famous before marrying Johnny," Jewel said.  "She gave up quite a big career to focus on being a wife and making her marriage work. She was a modern woman -- she was divorced and supporting two children -- but did something very traditional when she met Johnny. It's an interesting dichotomy."

When asked about researching her role, Jewel said that she grew up as a fan, but like most fans did not know the personal life of June. She drew on a lot of comparisons between herself and June as well, but ultimately wanted the performance to be true to the late singer.

She said, "It was really important for me to transform into June because I am a famous singer in my own right, and I wanted to make sure to avoid people turning on the TV and asking, 'Why is Jewel wearing a brown wig?' I needed to be able to disappear into June, and make people forget about me as a singer and get tucked away into the story of her."

Here are some photos from Jewel's Twitter account of her in costume as June Cater Cash:

Click here to read the rest of the interview. Ring of Fire premieres at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Monday, May 27, on Lifetime. Check out a clip from the movie right here: