Timothée Chalamet in Discussions to Play Bob Dylan for New Biopic

On Monday, Deadline reported that Timothée Chalamet is in talks to portray a young Bob Dylan during the time that Dylan was set to become folk music’s most influential artist. The film will center on Dylan swapping his acoustic guitar for an electric one, and the uproar that was caused by that decision. Ask your parents or maybe at this point(?) your grandparents about that. 

The movie is yet to be given a title, but is reportedly being referred to as Going Electric. 

Deadline further reports that Searchlight Pictures, which is the studio set to release the film, has already closed a deal with its director, James Mangold. Mangold has directed The Wolverine, Logan, and most recently Ford v Ferrari, among several other films. Stretching further back, and far more relevantly for this write-up, Mangold wrote and directed the 2005 Johnny Cash-biopic Walk the Line, which starred Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon.

Additionally, the real Bob Dylan is set to be working with Searchlight and Mangold on this future film.

As for Chalamet, negotiations are currently taking place between Searchlight and his representatives. Currently his schedule calls for him to make his London stage debut in Amy Herzog’s Pulitzer-nominated play, 4,000 Miles. That’s set to run from April 16 through May 23, with Chalamet expected to do Going Electric after that. Other 2020 projects on the Little Women actor’s plate include the yet-to-get-a-release-date Searchlight film The French Dispatch, as well as the adaption of the sci-fi novel Dune, which is slated to come out in December. 

Deadline writer Mike Fleming Jr. adds that Chalamet is taking guitar lessons for both an acoustic and electric to acquaint himself with those instruments, though it’s not clear if he’ll actually sing Dylan songs or not. 

This project was acquired by Searchlight after a regime change at HBO led to that network losing control of it. Dylan’s music rights are also part of the package.