James Mangold: Timothee Chalamet will sing the role of Bob Dylan
Mangold also revealed that filming on the musical biopic is expected to begin in August.
2023 is going to be a huge year for James Mangold. He’s heading to Cannes next month for the premiere of Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Fate, and it was recently announced that he’ll be directing a new Star Wars film. He also plans to work with James Gunn-led DC Studios on a “Swamp Thing” movie. But before he gets back into the blockbuster business, he plans to shoot Bob Dylan’s long-awaited movie “Totally Unknown” with Timothée Chalamet this summer.
Mangold and Chalamet have announced that they want to team up on a Bob Dylan project in 2020. Originally titled “Going Electric,” the project focuses on Dylan’s early years as a folk music icon and the subsequent backlash he received when he introduced elements of rock. and rolls into his sound on the albums “Bringing It All Back Home” and “Highway 61 Revisited”.
In a new interview with him CollisionMangold offered fans an update on the film’s story and revealed that production is slated to begin this August.
“It’s an amazing time in American culture, and it’s the story of a young 19-year-old Bob Dylan who arrives in New York with about two dollars in his pocket and within three years becomes a world sensation—first for his family. folk music in New York and then of course overtake them at some point as his star rises incredibly,” Mangold said. “It’s a very interesting true story and it’s about such an interesting moment in the American scene.”
When asked if Chalamet would sing himself as Dylan, Mangold bluntly replied, “Of course!”
While news of yet another classic rock biopic in a post-“Bohemian Rhapsody” world often elicits groans, it’s worth remembering that Mangold is pretty good at directing. Johnny Cash’s biopic Walk the Line is considered by many to be the gold standard of the genre, Reese Witherspoon won an Oscar for her performance, and Joaquin Phoenix received a nomination for his role as the country legend. If “A Complete Unknown” is anything like “Walk the Line,” even the famously hard-to-please Dylan fanbase will likely be satisfied.
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