In a new GQ interview, Timothée Chalamet shared some new details about his preparation for portraying Bob Dylan in the forthcoming biopic James Mangold directed, A Complete Unknown.
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It was recently announced that Chalamet will be singing as well as acting in the movie. He tells the magazine that to prep for the project, he hired the same “entire team” that worked with his Dune: Part Two co-star, Austin Butler, on Baz Luhrmann’s Oscar-nominated biopic Elvis (2022).
[RELATED: Timothée Chalamet to Sing in Impending Bob Dylan Biopic]
“There’s a wonderful dialect coach named Tim Monich. Vocal coach named Eric Vetro. Movement coach named Polly Bennett,” Chalamet explained. “I just saw the way [Butler] committed to it all—and realized I needed to step it up.”
Vetro, who also helped Chalamet on the upcoming musical Wonka, told GQ about the actor, “He does everything with such a playful air, but there’s always that core of real seriousness where he is gonna nail it.”
Vetro added that Chalamet’s approach to the role isn’t about trying to mimic the folk-rock legend, “It’s taking on all the characteristics of Dylan’s voice and his mannerisms and his speech patterns, and bringing that into the music—so that when you hear Timothée do the music, what you’re really getting is the essence of Bob Dylan. You’re not getting an impersonation of him. It’s breathing new life into that voice that we know so well.”
Chalamet was first announced to be taking the lead in A Complete Unknown in 2020. According to IndieWire.com, the film reportedly will focus on Dylan’s effect on the 1960s folk community, including his infamous performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where he upset many folk purists by playing part of his set with an electric rock band.
Chalamet told GQ that after he wrapped up filming the Dune sequel last December, he spent a lot of time at his Los Angeles home preparing for A Complete Unknown, “Dylan-ing hard,” as he referred to it, including rereading the songwriter’s 2004 autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One.
“You need your ability to imagine, your ability to observe, and your ability to experience,” Chalamet said of his focus on getting ready for the role. “And if any one of those is compromised, your ability to create is compromised in some way.”
Chalamet has not met Dylan yet, and he admitted that when he first signed on for the role three years ago, he didn’t want to, “for superstitious reasons.” Now, however, he “would love to.”
Meanwhile, Dylan recently launched a new North American tour leg that’s mapped out through a December 3 concert in Evansville, Indiana. Check out all of the dates at BobDylan.com.
