Timothée Chalamet wants the world’s next musical biopic to build on its predecessors. The actor, set to play Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s forthcoming film A Complete Unknown, said he’d love for Austin Butler‘s Elvis to make a cameo in the movie.
“I was kind of wishing we could create a musical cinematic universe,” Chalamet told NME.
Butler earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic. “I’ve been picking Austin’s brain nonstop,” Chalamet said of his Dune: Part Two co-star as he prepares to film A Complete Unknown. “Let’s let my film come out before I’m so lucky as to get included with Austin, he did such a phenomenal job,” he added when Chalamet and Butler were asked about their processes for transforming into two musical icons.
Chalamet also pointed out that his wish for a musical multiverse didn’t necessarily feel too far-fetched: “There is an Elvis character in the Johnny Cash biopic [2005’s Walk the Line],” he said. “I can’t speak from Elvis’ perspective, but deep in the Bob Dylan lore now, he had tremendous respect for Elvis and Sun Records.”
Butler said he had enjoyed speaking with his co-star about their mutual experiences. “Timothée works so hard, and it’s just so cool to get to discuss process and talk through things. I can’t wait for that film,” he said. “I wish I could be on set every day to just watch the magic happen.”
In April last year, Mangold confirmed Chalamet would, like Butler, do his own singing for the role. The actor last proved his vocal chops in December’s Wonka, which took the box office by storm upon its release.
“It’s such an amazing time in American culture, and the story of a young, 19-year-old Bob Dylan coming to New York with, like, $2 in his pocket and becoming a worldwide sensation within three years — first being embraced into the family of folk music in New York and then, of course, kind of outrunning them at a certain point as his star rises so beyond belief,” Mangold said of the upcoming film. “It’s such an interesting true story and about such an interesting moment in the American scene.”
