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James Mangold reveals Bob Dylan ‘personally annotated’ movie biopic script

James Mangold called his meeting with Bob Dylan “wonderfully charming”.

James Mangold has revealed Bob Dylan “personally annotated” a script for the upcoming movie biopic.

During a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the director gushed over the Like A Rolling Stone singer’s support of his upcoming biopic A Complete Unknown.

“I’ve spent several, wonderfully charming, days in his company, just one-on-one, talking to him,” Mangold revealed. “I have a script that’s personally annotated by him and treasured by me. He loves movies.”

The Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny filmmaker explained that Dylan has been “so supportive” of the film because it isn’t “really a Bob Dylan biopic” as it focuses on “a very specific moment” in the songwriter’s life.

The story follows a young Bob Dylan, played by Timothée Chalamet, as he navigates the folk scene in ’60s New York and shakes things up by plugging in his electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

“The best true-life movies are never cradle to grave but they’re about a very specific moment,” Mangold stated. “It all has tremendous relevance even now because of the way we are all so tribalised with rules about what our music should be, about what our rules are, how we speak, how we express ourselves. And Bob from the beginning has always been someone who is always pressing against those boundaries.”

A Complete Unknown also stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Elle Fanning, and Monica Barbaro.

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