I didn’t think 2020 could cause more heartbreak, yet here we are. The Bob Dylan biopic set to star Timothée Chalamet in the titular role has been put on hold amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The James Mangold-directed [Ford V Ferrari, Walk The Line, Logan] film was set to explore Dylan’s controversial transition from acoustic to electric guitar in 1965.
The cinematographer for the project, Phedon Papamichel, revealed to Collider that the period-specific setting was proving to be difficult to execute amid coronavirus restrictions.
“We were going to do Bob Dylan with [director James] Mangold that didn’t happen, with Timothée Chalamet, about going electric in the ’60s.”
There may be a chance that the film will still go ahead in a post-coronavirus era if that day should ever come.
“I don’t think it’s dead, but it’s a tough one to pull off in a Covid-era because it’s all in small clubs with lots of extras in period costumes so you’ve got lots of hair and makeup,” explained Papamichel.
Timothée Chalamet previously approached director Joel Coen on advice on how to portray the folk legend. Coen drew inspiration from Dylan for his critically-acclaimed film Inside Llewlyn Davis.
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“He almost seemed weary of even talking about this stuff, it was so big and potent,” Chalamet explained in a previous interview with GQ.
Coen reportedly told Chalamet that “the truly incredible thing about Dylan was not so much the quality, which was obvious, but the quantity—the rapid amount of work in short succession, one groundbreaking album after another, in those early years.”
This isn’t the first highly-anticipated Chalamet project to be cucked by coronavirus. Last month, it was revealed that Denis Villeneuve’s Dune adaptation had been pushed back to October 21st of next year.
