EXCLUSIVE: The journey to bring Bob Dylans formative story to the screen took more than a decade.
The Searchlight film tonight competes for eightOscarsincluding Best Picture.
What was the process in getting him to play ball here?
Timothée Chalamet on the set of ‘A Complete Unknown’Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
He started talking to me about Bob Dylan and really believed there was a story there.
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You inferred Dylan can be difficult, but his story is an inspiring one.
He is influenced so many people over such a long period.
L-R: Fred Berger and Alex HeinemanCourtesy
I was like, wow, this is so generous.
I said, so how did you get the rights?
He said, oh, I dont have any rights.
Alex and I both come from the New York School of Producing.
The daunting challenge began.
DEADLINE: Judging from his performance of obscure Dylan songs on SNL, that changed.
BERGER: Now hes the lead disciple in the church of Bob.
Bob has changed his life.
And when someone tried to box him in, he was able to shatter that and reinvent himself.
That really hooked Timmys curiosity and Alex sent him a ton of material to immerse himself in.
He shared with us that the rights were tied up at HBO.
Hed been developing a script with Jay Cocks, the twice Oscar nominated writer.
He was working on the same timeline of Bobs life, and we agreed to try doing it together.
DEADLINE: Why did he trust you?
We kept meeting with him every three months, developing the approach.
And luckily we partnered with him and Bob Bookman and Searchlight.
This loose marriage catalyzed with the entrance of Jim Mangold.
None of this had any real concreteness until Jim came to play.
They asked what does he want to do next?
He said, well, I might want to get back to aWalk the Linemusic story.
Hes like, oh my God.
We happened to all be in Toronto.
Timmy, Alex and I sawFord v Ferrarithere.
And then we were off to the races, we were making a movie.
Its 2019, lets go.
And Covid had other plans and suddenly many false starts later we started shooting in 24.
DEADLINE: Dylan must have had countless movie overtures.
So he understood that was happening and approved that version of the movie.
The two of them had a collaboration understanding, and Jim is the one who got Bobs ultimate approval.
BERGER: Bob is a fan of Jims work, and they met several times.
They just went through it all.
Bob felt comfortable that there was a steady hand in place.
Theyre just all part of a fable that surround him.
Even his own autobiography is poetic but also elusive.
All these colorful characters that were literally changing the culture, rewriting it and changing the world ultimately.
Jim brought in this kind of ensemble piece to go into the movie that supported Bob and the world.
DEADLINE: Did Timothee ever play for Dylan?
BERGER: Timmy and Bob have never met, hes never played for him.
Jeff Rosen, weve spoken to him every day for the last seven years probably.
And we were really nervous to play Timmys music or even Jones or Petes for Jeff.
Hes spent his entire life alongside Bob in recording studios and concerts.
Jeff watched Timmy play in front of this crowd as Bob.
I could see him get very emotional and was like, wow, this kids unbelievable.
He was very candid with us.
He didnt expect to be blown away.
Bobs voice is so hard, and his essence is so hard.
So that moment, I know we told Timmy later Jeff was there and he was blown away.
HEINEMAN: Timmy was rehearsing in Dune outfits and Wonka outfits.
Those are three different Bob Dylans, musically and as a human.
BERGER: We never felt bitter.
There was a lot to process.
The pain was thatMoonlightwas robbed of their moment.
We were prepared to lose that night.
We were prepared to win that night.
We all felt terrible thatMoonlightdidnt get to have their clean celebration, the beautiful part of that moment.
And we spent a lot of time hanging out with theMoonlightteam.
They had been our closest friends from Telluride to that moment.
Youre in that race, but we really were so close throughout the whole journey.
And we were so hungry to show people that wasnt true and we did that.
So that was really special.
And it was a weird time because producers like to be in the shadows.
What its really all about, and that includes this movie, is to try and touch the culture.
Bob Dylan did that, andLa La Landdid that to a much smaller way.
La La Land changed the lives of everyone involved and it was the most joyful experience Ive ever had.
