On Thursday morning, James Mangold was celebrating eight Oscar nominations for his film A Complete Unknown. He watched the announcement at 5.30am L.A. time on his cellphone “with one bar of data” because he was without power due to the L.A. fires. “We were evacuated a couple weeks ago,” he said. “Our house is fine, but we have been without power and even gas for extended periods.”
Mangold, who directed and co-wrote the Bob Dylan biopic with Jay Cocks, spoke to Deadline while sitting in traffic on the 101 freeway after taking his children to school. He had spent the early morning texting with his cast and was “thrilled” at the announcement, he said. “[Timothée Chalamet] is in rehearsals for Saturday Night Live. We’re all in separate parts of the world, but we’re all ecstatic.” (Chalamet is set to host and perform as a musical guest on SNL this coming Saturday January 25th.)
“This project’s really unique in that we’ve all been together working on this film for almost six years,” Mangold continued. “This movie hasn’t been gestating as a development project. It’s been gestating as a fully-cast, written movie that was delayed by Covid and then industry strikes and cast schedules, and we all hung together and have become friends as well as creative partners. So there’s just huge mutual joy to see so many elements of our film getting honored by the Academy today.”
Mangold was quick to credit the dedication and determination of acting nominees Timothée Chalamet in the role of Bob Dylan, Edward Norton as Pete Seeger and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez. He said of them: “Timothée has put so much work in for so many years and been at my side talking to me for all these years working on this film. Edward, who is one of the finest actors of his generation, who came in and just nailed Pete Seeger, and of course Monica. This is just a huge platform for her talents and her skill and dedication, because let’s remember, singing was brand new to her when we cast her in this movie in 2020. And the time between now and her getting the role has, for all of them, been a kind of bootcamp of getting up to speed that you rarely see on movies, that kind of preparation and dedication for so many years, getting ready to do something. And I think you can see it on screen.”
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in ‘A Complete Unknown’
Now, looking to the future for L.A., and the much-needed return to production, especially following the tragic fires, Mangold said, “It’s an ongoing struggle in this town and a tragedy for many who I love and admire. I feel lucky that my abode is fine, but I feel the loss for so many, so much, in terms of production in Los Angeles. Of course I shot Ford v Ferrari here. I love making movies here, and there’s no better bastion of talent behind the camera in front of the camera than in Los Angeles. So I certainly hope we get more production in the years ahead.”
Asked whether he felt the Oscars should go on, Mangold said he was “thrilled with the honor”, but that what happens next should be “whatever people decide is most appropriate.”
He did point out that awards serve an important purpose in championing films that don’t have a built-in following and that need support in order to be seen and to keep the storytelling industry going. “Obviously, one of the things the Oscars does for many of our movies, not only my own, but my peers’ who I also share congratulations and admiration for, is that many of these movies need the support of the awards process and the publicity that comes from it to find an audience. The adult-oriented movie with adult themes and sophisticated themes is a rarer and rarer bird. For all the ways we can be snarky about the awards process, the reality is that this process does create a platform for films that don’t come pre-installed with a publicity machine attached to them; to get a platform for exposure and an audience to pay to see them, which is so critical if we want to keep making movies that aren’t just bubblegum films.”
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