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Bob Dylan a ‘Defining Force’ in Timothee Chalamet’s Career: Actor ‘Admires Everything About Him’
Timothée Chalamet has become Bob Dylan’s number one fan since playing him in No Direction Home, and a source exclusively tells Life & Style he’s quietly hoping to forge more of a friendship with the reclusive music legend in the years to come.
“Timothée has become a Bob superfan, he listens to his music all the time and takes a lot of pride in being well-versed in his more obscure songs,” the insider says. “He’s read every book about Bob and his career that he can get his hands on and admires everything about him from his fashion to his irreverent attitude to his mesmerizing song lyrics.”
Although the Dune actor, 29, lost out on an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the biopic to Adrian Brody, the movie has become one of the more important to him personally, the source notes. Timothée was offered the role at 23, when he claimed he didn’t know much about the musician, and spent five years preparing to play Bob Dylan, which included a gambit of challenges he had to overcome to portray him accurately on screen.
“Where does my heart and where does my soul fit into this?” the actor asked of himself regarding the role. “Can it fit into this, particularly with someone who was so masked,” he added.
There was also, surprisingly, a physical aspect. “I did all the work … physicality, behavior-wise. But something we haven’t really talked about, I also put on 20 pounds,” Timothée said during the January 20 episode of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
One thing the Call Me By Your Name star didn’t get to do, however, was meet his subject in person. The iconic musician, now 83, is notoriously reclusive and difficult to contact, preferring a life far outside of the spotlight of Hollywood, though he did give his thoughts on Timothée’s acting chops, calling him “a brilliant actor” in a post on X. “I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me,” he added.
“He totally accepts that Bob hasn’t wanted to meet him so far,” the source says, “but that hasn’t stopped him from hoping that one day he’ll get the chance to sit down and talk with him. The fact that Bob publicly complimented his talent as an actor is something Timothée is still giddy about, to date he says that was the best praise he’s ever gotten.”
In fact, Timothée called receiving such praise from Bob “one of the most affirming moments of my life,” he said.
“He’s a man of few words, so any of those words spent saying, ‘Hey, good job young man,’ I’ll take that with me forever,” the actor added.
Even without an Academy Award, the laurels Timothée received for his work on the film are enough to keep him inspired.
“Even though he missed out on the Oscar for this one,” the source continues, “there’s no doubt Bob has been a defining force in his career and a huge influence on him as an artist.”
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