Come gather round people, wherever you roam, a Bob Dylan movie musical is headed our way. While A Complete Unknown, James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic with Timothée Chalamet, may be a while off yet (especially if a certain Swamp Thing project comes to pass), in the meantime the brilliant jukebox musical Girl From The North Country is headed from Broadway to the big screen.
Variety revealed that Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Chlöe Bailey (sister of The Little Mermaid’s Halle Bailey), Till’s Tosin Cole, Woody Harrelson, and Olivia Colman will be leading the cast for the adaptation of Conor McPherson’s stage show, which the playwright is also set to write and direct. Set in Duluth, Minnesota during the Great Depression, McPherson’s musical takes some of the greatest works from Dylan’s songbook – the likes of ‘Forever Young’, ‘All Along The Watchtower’, and ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ – and uses them to tell a soulful story about a group of wayward Midwestern travellers whose lives intersect at a ramshackle guesthouse.
Girl From The North Country originated at London’s Old Vic in 2017 before going on to enjoy successful runs on the West End, Broadway, and in Australia, and was met with Dylan’s own seal of approval. “To be associated with Conor is one of the highlights of my professional life,” Dylan said in a statement when the play premiered. “It goes without saying the man is a genius for putting this thing together and I’m thrilled to be a part of the experience. My songs couldn’t be in better hands. The play had me crying at the end. I can’t even say why. When the curtain came down, I was stunned. I really was.”
The Banshees Of Inisherin producers Blueprint Pictures are backing the film, which hasn’t yet received a confirmed release date. Hopefully there’ll be less lopped-off fingers featuring in this one – it’d make the whole musical thing a little bit more difficult.