How does it feeeeeel? To sing on your owwwn? Timothée Chalamet will apparently be doing his own singing in the upcoming Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, a title taken from Dylan’s iconic song “Like a Rolling Stone”.
As revealed by director James Mangold to Collider during the Star Wars Celebration this weekend, Chalamet is “of course” doing his own singing as Bob Dylan, which may be quite the challenge. Sure, a Dylan impression may sound easy, but to make it not sound like a parody or misguided attempt at authenticity may be an award-worthy task for the actor. It will certainly be drastically different from his take on Willy Wonka, in which he reportedly does his own singing as well.
Mangold also elaborated on the time frame of his upcoming Bob Dylan biopic, in which Timothée Chalamet will evidently play the legendary singer-songwriter as an up-and-comer in the folk music scene.“It’s such an amazing time in American culture and the story of…you know, a 19-year-old Bob Dylan coming to New York with like two dollars in his pocket and becoming…a worldwide sensation within three years, first, being embraced…into the family of folk music in New York and then of course kind of outrunning them at a certain point as his star rises beyond belief. It’s such an interesting true story and about such an interesting moment in the American scene.”
Surprisingly, Bob Dylan has yet to get the standard biopic treatment, although Todd Haynes’ 2007 film I’m Not There did channel Dylan on several levels, with the likes of Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Richard Gere, and Marcus Carl Franklin all playing variations of Dylan.
Production on the Timothée Chalmet Bob Dylan is expected to begin in August. Chalamet is now 27, not much older in age than when Bob Dylan went electric, a “Judas”-level betrayal of the folk music scene he had grown famous in.
How do you think Timothée Chalamet will do as Bob Dylan? Do you think focusing on one era of Dylan’s career will benefit the movie? Let us know in the comments section below!