Benedict Cumberbatch has been cast as folk singer Pete Seeger in the upcoming Bob Dylan biopic.

James Mangold, the director of the upcoming Searchlight Pictures film, titled A Complete Unknown, recently revealed the casting decision to Deadline at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

Following a screening of his latest movie Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Mangold told the outlet that the Doctor Strange star had been tapped to portray the former Weavers member opposite Timothée Chalamet as the Like a Rolling Stone icon.

Seeger has been credited with helping to facilitate Dylan’s first record label contract and inviting the singer to perform at the Newport Folk Festival, kickstarting the now-legend’s career. Seeger died in 2014 at the age of 94.

In addition to Cumberbatch and Chalamet, A Complete Unknown will star Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, and Elle Fanning as Dylan’s early ’60s love interest, university student and artist Sylvie Russo.

Folk singer Woody Guthrie has also been named as a character in the biopic, but the actor cast for that role has not yet been announced.

Jay Cocks has adapted the script from Elijah Wald’s book Dylan Goes Electric.

The film has been scheduled to start production in New York in August.

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