Timothée Chalamet: “Protest songs have their place more than ever today”

In the lounges of the Bristol in Paris, surrounded by Edward Norton, Monica Barbaro and James Mangold, the actor who plays Bob Dylan spoke about this role which could mark a turning point in his career.

Second round. After a thunderous preview at the Grand Rex, it’s time for the press conference. In the cozy salons of Bristol, Timothée Chalametblack sweater dotted with green polka dots and washed blue jeans, responds with his perfect French to journalists’ questions. The Franco-American actor came to defend A complete strangerthe highly anticipated Bob Dylan biopic directed by James Mangoldwhich focuses on the singer’s most politically engaged period.

He has been living with this project for a long time. “I was contacted for the first time in 2018, when my career was launching”confides the actor, who does not hesitate to describe this film as “the most important of my entire career”. This spread out production allowed him to delve deeply into Dylan’s world, particularly the pivotal period of the early ’60s that the film covers. “There was little documentary visual material on Dylan at that time”explains Chalamet, juggling French and English with ease. “Even historians, Bob Dylan fans, know this period a little less well.” This relative absence of references, paradoxically, offered him a certain freedom of interpretation.

But on set, the immersion was total for the whole team. “We really put ourselves in the world of the 60s”says the actor with enthusiasm, charming smile and absolute concentration. “I even turned off my phone to immerse myself in the world of the 60s.” An investment which shines through on the screen and from which Chalamet seems to take legitimate pride.

The political dimension of the film also came up in discussions. Asked about the resonance between Dylan’s protest songs and contemporary America, Chalamet is inexhaustible. “In the 60s, young artists like Bob Dylan or James Baldwin thought that art would change things” he analyzes. “It’s different today because there is still a cynicism that is stronger. And the obstacles are perhaps greater than what existed in the 70s.”

He continues his reflection on artistic commitment: “THE protest songs of that time, the fight for civil rights, all of that resonates differently today. Maybe there’s a need for a new voice, a new way to get the message across.” An observation that takes on its full meaning as the film is released in a politically divided America.

“Timmy is a brilliant actor”: Bob Dylan supports his biopic, he even invented a scene

The evolution of his relationship with music is also very revealing. “I really grew up with pop music that was on iTunes in 2008-2009”he smiles. The project led him to delve not only into the world of Dylan, but into an entire musical era that he knew little about. He then establishes unexpected parallels: “I knew a little about his Rock period, less his Folk songs. And because of Dylan, I began to discover more obscure songs from the Beatles or the Stones. As well as the music of the New Wave in France. You could say that it had nothing to do with 60s music from the United States, but it’s the same spirit, the same attitude.”

The question of a possible meeting with Dylan was inevitable. “I would have liked to meet him, and this desire is still present, confides the star. But I also wanted to respect his reserved nature: Dylan is not someone who seeks public exposure or who multiplies new relationships.”

Edward Norton, also present at the Bristol, returned to Dylan’s legacy. The actor who plays Peter Seeger, the keeper of the Folk Temple, claimed that “Dylan’s true testament is that his work contains multitudes of facets. His work is so vast and spans so many decades that it reflects our own evolution in life. There are times when certain dimensions of what he did take on a particular meaning Later, you may connect to another part. Monica Barbaro confirms: this multiplicity of “facets”is found in the diversity of interpretation that Mangold’s film allows. “Each reading of the film is unique and deeply connected to each person’s personal relationship with music and art history. James is so strong that he does not seek to impose a particular point of view. On the contrary, he lets each viewer have their own experience of the film and their relationship with Bob.”

For James Mangold, who had the opportunity to meet Dylan during the preparation of the film, the approach was clear: there was no question of making “a Wikipedia entry or timeline”therefore to remain faithful to the facts. He wanted to capture a feeling, an atmosphere. The director reveals an enlightening conversation with Dylan about his decision to go electric: “It was not so much a desire to change culture as a desire to no longer be alone on stage, to play with other musicians.” A perspective that guided his own staging, seeking to show the human behind the icon.

And Chalamet concludes on a note of nuanced hope: “It would be nice to have a figure who takes the plunge like Bob Dylan, but even I worry that there is always an ulterior motive, a certain cynicism. Even if you make a film with high ethical ambition, people risk always seeing a corporate side to it.” A complete stranger promises to be not only an ambitious biopic, but also a reflection on the power of art to transform society, yesterday as today.

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Here is the official synopsis: New York, early 1960s. At the heart of the bustling musical and cultural scene of the time, an enigmatic 19-year-old young man arrives in the West Village from his native Minnesota, with his guitar and a extraordinary talent who will forever change the course of American music. While he forms intimate relationships during his rise to fame, he eventually feels stifled by the folk movement and, refusing to be put into a box, makes a controversial choice that will have global repercussions …

The film directed by James Mangold with Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton, Monica Barbaro, Ellen Fanning will be released on January 29 in France.

Timothée Chalamet already played Bob Dylan on the set of Dune