Don Puglisi, based in Detroit, who has performed his tribute act Don Dylan for the last five years
What did you think of Chalamet’s performance in the trailer?
I thought it was good. And what I thought was good about it was he split the difference between the caricature of [puts on an extremely Bob Dylan voice] hyuuh—he split the difference where you really hear the performance and didn’t hear the caricature. I kind of wish Chalamet looked a little more like him, telling you the truth.
Any particular Dylan songs you’re keen to hear in the film?
“Masters of War” would be a great one; “With God On Our Side”, which I think is really my favorite song of his and a lot of people don’t know. “Visions of Johanna” would be amazing. [And] I want to see him and Joan Baez, [folk singer and Dylan’s on-off girlfriend]. I’m really looking forward to that drama.
Bill Lennon, who’s performed his act The Bob Dylan Story since 2016, and made a cameo as Dylan in a Deep Purple music video
What did you think of the trailer?
I think the song they’ve chosen is a really interesting one. [“A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”] is obviously a folk song, and his voice is therefore quite exposed, because it’s just him and the guitar. And I think it sounds really, really good. At that time, Dylan was quite unschooled on the guitar [and] sounded quite raw. And he captures that really well. I can’t wait to hear some of the other stuff. It would be interesting to see how he handles a song like “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”, because that’s got some quite fast fingerpicking in it.
Do you think there’s a good physical resemblance?
Especially when he’s got the shades on, it’s almost uncanny. I really like the way that when the camera pans to his profile when he’s singing, he’s got that intensity but [also the] boyish shyness of Dylan at that time.
How do you approach Dylan’s one-of-a-kind voice?
You’ve got to be a bit careful, because if you go for it too much, you can end up sounding like a parody. When I first started, I probably tried too hard. Now I’m more into getting the phrasing right, because Dylan has got a really unique way of phrasing his lyrics—it’s very conversational. Once you’ve got the phrasing, every now and again you can throw in a nod to that nasal twang.
Did Chalamet handle it well?
I don’t think anyone is ever going to sound exactly like Bob Dylan. With him, I think if I were to shut my eyes and listen, I would know that it wasn’t Dylan. But it’s certainly one of the better impressions I’ve heard over the years, if not the best. It’s about as close as you’re gonna get.
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