To embody Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s biopic, the young Timothée Chalamet will have to master both singing and guitar. A hell of a challenge.
We can’t stop the young Timothée Chalamet anymore. After his major role in Duneswhich he will resume in the second episode, and that, also to come, of the young chocolatier Willy in Wonka by Paul King, the 27-year-old actor takes on a musical monument: Bob Dylan. Announced in 2020, this biopic had been postponed indefinitely since, due in particular to the health crisis.
Its director James Mangold, who is at the helm of the next Indiana Jones (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, in theaters on June 28, 2023), has just given some news: he confirmed this biopic on Bob Dylan and specified that filming should begin this summer, in August.
Double challenge for Timothée Chalamet
The other information released by James Mangold to the Collider site, is that Timothée Chalamet will sing himself in the film all the titles of the author of Like a Rolling Stone And Blowin’ in the Wind, which is no small feat. But he will have already trained in vocalizations for his role of Willy Wonka, several musical and sung scenes being on the menu.
In this biopic called for the moment Going Electric, James Mangold, known for his remarkable Johnny Cash biopic walk the line (2005), but also for Le Mans 66 (2019), planned to focus on folk bard Bob Dylan’s controversial decision to switch to electric guitar in 1965. Chalamet will therefore have to master both acoustic and electric guitar in addition to singing and embodying an iconic artist. become the voice of a generation.
Bob Dylan was once the subject of a Todd Haynes biopic in 2007. In I’m Not There, fantasized dramatic comedy, no less than six actresses and actors, including Cate Blanchett, interpreted it in turn. It was necessary to embody the committed American author, composer, performer, musician and poet, who was also awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016.