Posted in: Movies, Searchlight, Sony | Tagged: a complete unknown, walk hard
Director James Mangold didn’t let Walk Hard deter him from taking on A Complete Unknown, and being the subject of satire is part of being in the industry.
Article Summary
- James Mangold embraces satire, undeterred by Walk Hard’s jabs at musical biopics.
- Walk Hard’s spoof doesn’t deter Mangold from directing the Bob Dylan film, A Complete Unknown.
- Mangold believes trope and tradition enrich storytelling, advocating for earnest movies.
- Filmmakers shouldn’t fear satire; it doesn’t signify the end of a genre’s relevance.
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There is always this idea that filmmakers whose work becomes the target of satire must be really angry about the entire thing. Most of the time, they are just fine with it, and that seems to be the case with director James Mangold. When it was announced that he would be directing the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, people quickly pointed out that this wasn’t the first time Mangold had made a biopic about a musician. He made Walk The Line in 2005, and two years later, in 2007, Sony Pictures and Columbia released Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. The film drew inspiration from Walk The Line, so it was only a matter of time before someone would bring up the movie to Mangold as he did press for A Complete Unknown. As he explained to Entertainment Weekly, he thought the movie was funny and didn’t see it as an obstacle to returning to the musician biopic genre at all.
“I found Walk Hard hilarious,” Mangold replied. “But I also never understood why satire would negate making the real thing anymore. I wasn’t frightened off any more than Robert Eggers should be frightened of making a monster movie in the face of Young Frankenstein or if another filmmaker might be frightened of making a Western in the face of Blazing Saddles. It’s unfair to say that if someone makes a satire of a genre, it somehow has put a tombstone in the genre for all time. That seems a little ludicrous to me.”
Mangold explained he didn’t believe Walk Hard had any impact on people falling out with the genre and that it was just part of the natural em and flow, saying, “That was just that they had run their course for that moment.” When it comes to being afraid of satire or being worried that it would keep people away, Mangold thinks people need to remember that none of this is bad, and you don’t want to be “satire’d out” of exploring different stories or genres.
“We live in an age of such irony that sometimes there’s good cliches to avoid, but there’s also some things that we should hold on to,” Mangold said. “Trope is not a negative word if you look it up. … There are traditions that are beautiful to uphold. For those of us who are in the ‘making movies that mean it’ business or the earnest [movie business]. I remain resolutely optimistic and idealistic in my work. I don’t want to be satire’d out of telling the stories. Just because they have echoes in other stories, that doesn’t mean they’re not relevant.”
So, for anyone looking to create some sort of beef between Mangold and Walk Hard, there isn’t one. He knows that being the subject of satire is part of being in the industry and isn’t letting it get in the way of the journey he’s on with A Complete Unknown.
A Complete Unknown: Summary, Cast List, Release Date
New York, early 1960s. Against the backdrop of a vibrant music scene and tumultuous cultural upheaval, an enigmatic 19-year-old from Minnesota arrives in the West Village with his guitar and revolutionary talent, destined to change the course of American music. As he forms his most intimate relationships during his rise to fame, he grows restless with the folk movement and, refusing to be defined, makes a controversial choice that culturally reverberates worldwide. Timothée Chalamet stars and sings as Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown, the electric true story behind the rise of one of the most iconic singer-songwriters in history.
A Complete Unknown stars Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Boyd Holbrook, Dan Fogler, Norbert Leo Butz, and Scoot McNairy. It is directed by James Mangold and produced by Fred Berger, Alex Heineman, Peter Jaysen, Bob Bookman, Alan Gasmer, Jeff Rosen, Timothée Chalamet, and James Mangold. A Complete Unknown will be released in theaters on December 25th.
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