When I see an actor portraying some famous person, I always wonder about their actual process. How did they approach the task? Did they do tons of research? Talk to people who knew the person? Practice in front of a mirror getting their voice and physicality aligned with how that individual spoke and walked? It can be a staggering and often daunting assignment to take on the role of being a renowned person for a film, play, or TV series. (I often pondered how the actors in the much-praised TV series The Crown managed to be so astonishingly like the members of the British royal family.) That did not stop Boyd Holbrook, however. He "became" Johnny Cash for the buzzy Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown. And he did a great job.
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Per People, Holbrook candidly discussed that amazing transformation via a video. It also featured director James Mangold and actor Timothee Chalamet, who was cast as Bob Dylan.
Boyd Holbrook Took Great Pains To Be As Authentic As He Could As Johnny Cash
In the video, Holbrook, 43, details the method he used to be Cash so convincingly. He said he "did a voice coach, singing coach, about two hours a day for five months, just immersing myself in him, his voice." Holbrook seems to have done everything imaginable to get his iteration of the famous singer just right.
Holbrook acknowledged that it involved "carving out sort of this hollow tree within myself to get that resonance, which was a process, man. It took me a long time to do that. Dyed my hair brown, put on some more weight, put on a [fake nose], and we even had spacers behind the ears. But playing make-believe at this level is pretty high.
Director James Mangold Worked With Another Actor Years Ago Who Successfully Played Johnny Cash
Director Mangold is no stranger to guiding an actor though the process of portraying Cash. He did it for Walk the Line with Joaquin Phoenix twenty years ago with truly exceptional results. He said in the video that he made the correct choice by picking Holbrook for the plum but demanding role. Mangold "just felt Boyd would have fun with this."
Chalamet also warmly lauded Holbrook as Cash. He said per the video that "Boyd made it his own. It feels just as authentic and true as Joaquin Phoenix's performance as Johnny Cash."
