Is Bob Dylan a good singer? Timothée Chalamet, who plays him A complete unknownwhich opens December 25th, didn’t hesitate to give his opinion on the film in a previously unpublished portion of his interviews for our latest cover story. “I think he’s a fantastic singer,” he said, citing Dylan’s recordings of “Blind Willie McTell” and “Mama, You’ve Been on My Mind” as evidence. “Music is subjective and art is subjective. For me he has one of the most beautiful voices of all time.”

To learn to sound like Dylan, Chalamet hired Eric Vetro, who has become Hollywood’s most popular vocal coach. Among other things, he worked with Austin Butler for Elvis and with Jeremy Allen White for the Springsteen biopic, which is in production Free me from nothingnessand with Monica Barbaro, who plays Joan Baez A complete unknown. In our extensive interview, Vetro, who also shares some of his coaching secrets in a new BBC Maestro Masterclass, explained how he helped Chalamet transform – and why he had to ignore some of his own instincts along the way.

Bob Dylan has a very distinct voice. He is a great singer, although perhaps not on a technical level. It must be a fascinating challenge for a singing teacher – it’s not like trying to get someone to play Celine Dion. It’s something very special.
I’ve done it a few times. I worked with Renée Zellweger back then (the Judy Garland biopic) JudyAustin Butler when he did Elvisand Hugh Jackman when he played Peter Allen The Boy from Oz on Broadway. I ask myself: “What is the essence of this person?” What characterizes their voice?” The tone, the way they pronounce words, all of that. We try to work on the essence of the person and not an imitation to be. There is such a big difference.

In the case of Timothée Chalamet, he is probably the epitome of charismatic. I swear he has some kind of energy field around him. When he enters the room, everything changes. It’s so amazing. I guess you’d say it’s that elusive it factor that everyone always talks about, but his performance is just off the charts.

You had worked with Timothée Wonka first, but that also overlapped with his preparation to play Dylan. Did you keep the projects completely separate?
When it was Wonkawe were very clear about this distinction because the voices are so different. We were fortunate to have more time than we had to work on Dylan Wonka. We talked about, “Okay, the next thing I’m going to work on is Dylan,” but we didn’t start until he was done with it Wonka.

With Wonkait was just a matter of making it as natural as possible so it didn’t sound like he was suddenly on Broadway. He actually communicates and talks and his feelings come out.

How did you prepare to understand Dylan’s voice?
I just started listening to him, but with a different ear. When I listen to people these days, I can’t help but think, “Oh, if they worked with me, what would I do?” When I was much younger, I didn’t do that as much. When I listened to Bob Dylan years ago, I noticed that he had a very unique voice, not what you would call a classically beautiful voice. It was more about listening to the words, the music and the message.

When Timmy said he wanted to work with me on the Dylan film, I started listening with a completely different ear. This is obviously due, on the one hand, to the nasality of his voice, and, on the other hand, to the way he pronounces his words. I find it so interesting that he sounds young and old at the same time. Even when he was young, he had the energy of an old soul.

What type of exercises would you give Timothée to help him get where he needs to go?
We did normal exercises that I would give to anyone just to strengthen their voice and expand their vocal range. This is how we would start. Then we would start to get him probably a little bit more into what you would call front nose exercises. And as we went along, I tried to get him to think, “How would Bob do this exercise?” If he were taking singing lessons, how would he do it? How would he feel about that? Would he want to do it? Would he be interested?”

Can you explain these nose exercises specifically?
Say “I, I, may, may.” Imagine it nice and forward, right in front of your face, in what you would call your face mask, and say “I, yay yay.” ” I, yay, yay.” See, that’s very nasal, it’s very forward. You could also say “I, yes, yes, yes, yes.”

For me it was always about finding the right balance to get enough of that sound to sound like Bob Dylan, but not make it a caricature of him.

Did Timmy ever appear in the role?
I would see Timmy turn more and more into Bob. Then he started, when he came in, he would just start talking like Bob, and there was no need to acknowledge it – it just happened naturally. I remember the first day he came in with a guitar and the harmonica holder around his neck. And I was impressed by how natural everything looked. It looked like he had been doing this forever. Just like Bob Dylan would.

I’ll tell you a story. I have an assistant/craftsman, Josh. One day Timmy was early and waiting outside. Josh went over and said, “What are you working on?” And Timmy told him he was working on the Bob Dylan movie and he asked him what his favorite Bob Dylan song was. And Timmy just started singing and playing while he stood on the driveway. When Josh told me this story, I was initially so touched that Timmy was so kind and generous and that he was so kind. But I also thought, “Here we go. He really becomes Bob Dylan,” because you could see where Bob Dylan would do the same thing. I thought, “This movie is going to be fucking great because he really does his homework and knows what he’s doing.”

You also worked with Monica Barbaro on her portrayal of Joan Baez, which posed a completely different challenge.
This was because Joan Baez not only has a very distinctive voice, but it’s also not easy to sing like that. She has this high soprano and also a very pronounced vibrato. This can be difficult for someone to understand in general, especially someone who has never sung before. But Monica is similar to Timmy in the sense that she is very hardworking. She always brought a book to take notes on everything I told her.

We would listen together and figure out where the vibrato is stronger or heavier. Where is it a little less? Where is her voice a little stronger? Joan Baez has a pretty strong and aggressive attack on music. It is not a gentle or reserved performance.

The difference between their approaches to folk singing was quite significant.
Oh my god, totally. Bob’s language seemed more natural, more like speaking, more like talking, more like telling a story than Joan’s. Especially in today’s world, if you listen to them – I don’t think people thought all that differently back then than they would today. Because Joan’s voice is so different in today’s world. How many pop singers do you know who sound like that? Joan has a bit of that operatic quality, not just the tone or the vibrato, but the delivery, the strength of the delivery, the breath support. With Bob, on the other hand, he didn’t take a deep breath. It wasn’t like, “I’m going to put my voice in the back row.”

Since Dylan smokes so many cigarettes, I imagine that affected his breathing capacity?
Yeah, and this came up in another movie recently where someone said, “Oh, you should smoke a lot of cigarettes so your voice is rough.” And I thought, “No, that’s not a healthy way to go about it.” .” We can achieve that sound without harming your voice.” Because by the way, Bob smoking cigarettes will affect his voice differently than me smoking cigarettes, or you smoking cigarettes. Just because we do the same thing doesn’t mean we sound the same. We have different vocal cords.

Have you also looked into Dylan’s influences like Woody Guthrie?
I did that because I didn’t remember Woody Guthrie that much. As I listened, I thought, ‘OK, I get that.’ You can hear it in (Bob’s) voice, he’s adopting some of his mannerisms, the way they talk, the way they don’t give him as much air support . It’s a little bit down her throat and then a little bit up. So you can hear how it would have turned into its own voice.

From what I understand, there is now much more knowledge about how to produce hoarse vocal sounds in a healthy way without damaging the voice.
Now everything is different. I’m so old – I’ve seen so many styles and lifestyles come and go. People are much more aware of their physical and mental health. I worked with a singer many years ago who, without looking, shook a bottle of pills, shook a bunch in his hand, put it in his mouth, and then drank it down with Patrón. Back then it was more the norm that you smoked and drank, sang loudly and screamed and screamed and then went to the doctor and got cortisone injections when you had a big concert and your voice was gone.

I understand you are currently working with Jeremy Allen White on his portrayal of Bruce Springsteen?
Yes, I have already worked with him for several months. It’s going absolutely great. He is fantastic. I love working with him and he really captures it beautifully. This is another case where we need to work on getting a confident sound – you don’t want to actually damage your voice to get that sound.

Did you gain a new understanding of what Dylan was doing vocally through the process with Timothée?
I feel like he felt the need to express what he was thinking or feeling and I think that’s where his magic came from. He didn’t do it out of ego. He did it out of this real compulsion to express certain thoughts and ideas. His intensity drew you in. You could feel this sincerity.

I think Timmy captures that because Timmy is that kind of person too. There were so many times that I got goosebumps because I thought to myself, “Wow, I really understand what Bob Dylan is all about” – not a caricature of him, not an imitation, but I really feel like I am in Bob’s presence . When (Timmy) sang the songs, I kind of thought, “Oh, I understand them better.”

That’s probably a good sign because I think one of the purposes of the film is to introduce young viewers to Bob Dylan.
I think it will work because I had to give up my desire to make people sound better and better. That’s my whole life, to make someone sound like they have a better voice, a beautiful voice. But this experience with Timmy overrode that. So if it convinced me, I think it will convince a lot of people who want to listen to Bob Dylan now.