Going Electric

Timothée Chalamet is set to play Bob Dylan
By Alex James Taylor | Film+TV | 8 January 2020
Above:

Timothée Chalamet by Fabien Kruszelnicki, HERO ISSUE 13 / t-shirt by
DSQUARED2 FW15; socks from VANS; sweatpants stylist’s own

(Top image from HERO 13 / photography Fabien Kruszelnicki / Fashion Zarina Humayun

Timothée Chalamet news is always big news, but this latest announcement is bigger than most: the 24-year-old actor is reportedly set to play Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s (Ford v Ferrari/Le Mans ’66) upcoming biopic about the legendary musician.

Titled Going Electric, Deadline reports that the story will document the defining moment in musical mythology when Dylan went electric, trading in his acoustic and electrifying his signature folk musings. This shift in Dylan’s sound is often pinned down to one particular show at Newport Folk Festival in 1965, when, brandishing a solid-body electric guitar, he “plugged in” and – according to reports – was met by boos and cries of “traitor” amongst the stunned audience. A year later at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, one fan shouted “Judas!” Dylan’s response? “Play it fucking loud.”

While the deal isn’t completely finalised, if it does come to fruition, Chalamet will join an impressive line-up of actors who have previously taken on the role of Bob Dylan, including Cate Blanchette, Christian Bale and Heath Ledger in Tidd Haynes’ 2007 biopic I’m Not There.

Prepare yourself for the upcoming project by queuing Dylan’s 1965 classic Like a Rolling Stone, below. And play if fucking loud.


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