Timothée Chalamet will do his own singing in that Bob Dylan biopic
Unlike some musician biopics, this one might not be a total cheat
It’s been years since Hollywood realized that Timothée Chalamet has that same kind of dark, floppy hair that Bob Dylan had when he was a young man and Logan director James Mangold decided to cast him in a Dylan biopic, and while we didn’t hear anything about that for a long time (there was a global pandemic and Mangold got the call to make a new Indiana Jones), the project’s existence was re-confirmed late last year. Now, with The Dial Of Destiny nearing his rearview mirror, Mangold is ready to start talking about the Dylan biopic (the working title is Going Electric, which is not good).
Appearing at Star Wars Celebration (because he’s now also making a Star Wars) and speaking with Collider, Mangold teased that the film will start shooting in August and that Chalamet will “of course” be doing his own singing. That’s good, because it’s always really dumb when the star of one of these biopics just lip-syncs, but at the same time, Dylan isn’t known for having a… lovely singing voice. You could probably pull anyone off the street to star in a Bob Dylan biopic and “I have to do my own singing” would be pretty low on their list of concerns.
But hey, that’s why it matters that Mangold is committed to making Chalamet sing. If he weren’t going to sing, what would be the point? You can’t just dress a talented actor up in the right costume, create an allegedly terrible workplace environment, and then wait for all of the Oscars to roll in. When the project was first announced, pre-quar, nobody would say whether or not Chalamet would be singing, but in that update last year he noted that he’s been preparing for the role ever since he was first attached to it. That would give him plenty of time to perfect his ehhhhhs and eiiiiiis for singing Dylan’s songs.