During The Hollywood Reporter Writers Roundtable, James Mangold reveals what intrigued him the most when deciding to write for 'A Complete Unknown.' Plus, he shares Bob Dylan's reaction when he first read his writing.
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00:00Well, I love Bob Dylan, but it wasn't that that isn't good enough reason to make a movie. In fact, it's a terrible one
00:08But I loved this the idea of
00:13framing a
00:14Movie within this story this moment. I mean because one of the you know, I
00:20Make I've made a lot of different kinds of movies and people in conversations like this use all sorts of kind of genre
00:26Descriptions like biopic would be one and it's like well, it's not really a genre really
00:31I mean if you're being scientific you is a is a movie about Jesse James a biopic or a Western
00:37Is a is a movie about if I made serpico
00:40Is that a cop movie or a biopic meaning it's a kind of bullshit description that doesn't at all describe
00:45What's actually functioning in the narrative or what context or vernacular the story is being told in it just describes in a kind of media
00:53Framing way true story based on some reality, which is frankly true for most of our fucking movies anyway
00:59so the
01:02What was intriguing to me was
01:05Was getting back to the world of making a movie about an artist again
01:11in a time without cell phones, which is another really wonderful thing and and
01:16and
01:18that the music was powerful and that when I
01:22Learned about this book and this project coming together. It also already came
01:28with Bob and his music and I and and so that
01:34one of the battles because I've tried to do this over the years before with in a couple of places and
01:39That March to kind of get all those folks together
01:45For a journey is really hard and and so that part was amazing
01:50And then the fact that this story was a story
01:54But the real palpable thing was when I
01:58The searchlight guys talked to me about acquiring this book and these existing materials on it
02:04when I was taking Ford Ferrari to Telluride it was on a plane with them and
02:09I literally took what they had and I didn't even they didn't offer it and I had no deal
02:14But I just started writing the movie in
02:17Colorado and and and then I was writing the movie in Toronto and by the time and then Timmy
02:25Met me in Toronto when the movie was premiering there, which is this is a period of like what is Toronto Telluride 10 days apart?
02:31so the and and the thing came together just
02:36through my
02:37Absolute conviction that I had to do this and even if they didn't want me
02:42And what I'd be and the fact that the writing was coming so fast
02:48Mainly because I saw that
02:50That what existed the writing that that existed on it while really good was avoiding most of the really juicy stuff
02:58Which I found out was because it was an edict from from the Dillon camp
03:03That this had to be strictly about the music nothing else and I didn't pay attention to that. I didn't even have a deal
03:09I just wrote about everything else and the music shit and the and
03:15Maybe this is too long a story
03:17But then the I did make a deal I did but the script flew out of me and then we were gonna just make it
03:23we had a window with Timmy and this is 2019 and then Kovat hit and
03:29and
03:31When Kovat but we were also having a moment where where?
03:34Bob's manager and others were concerned where I had gone and
03:40With the script and when Kovat hit Bob's tour was canceled and
03:47Apparently he asked his manager. Let me read this thing that you're worried about and he liked it
03:53and that kind of in the interim changed everything and what happened over the Kovat period was I had a series of meetings with him and
04:02and talked about what I was doing and where I was going and
04:07And this long story gets the point of what I thought was, you know when I first sat down with Bob
04:13I mean one of the first things he said was like I really like that movie Copland and that was like
04:27And he knew it like he knew the movie like and you're talking about a movie that came out in 1997 and
04:34and
04:36But then he turned to me at that moment like we all do when we get down to the subject and he goes
04:42so what's this movie about and
04:45It was that question you're asking all of us and I actually I'd written furiously
04:51But I hadn't ever thought about this kind of thesis question and in the moment alone in his coffee shop with him. I
04:59said
05:02It's about a guy who's choking to death in
05:06Minnesota and
05:09Has to escape and
05:11runs away and
05:15Reinvents himself
05:18Leaves behind all his family and friends finds new ones
05:24Becomes wildly successful as he blossoms as an artist
05:28And starts choking to death and runs away from all his family and friends and
05:34he smiled and
05:37there was a kind and and
05:39The but to me it was also a kind of breakthrough moment with him of me knowing the kind of thing
05:47You need to know as a writer
05:49But you also need to know as a director
05:51Every day when you're on set because shit will throw you off and you have to keep reminding yourself. What's my story?
05:57and and and and when you don't know that that's when you really when your DP is suggesting shooting through a
06:06Christmas ornament
06:17No for rock videos for rock videos for German expressionist bands, it's great idea, but the but anyway, whatever that's that's my little
06:26You