Timotheé Chalamet has been offered the title part in Disney’s Ichabod, a live-action take on Washington Irving’s The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow.
Timotheé Chalamet may have missed out on his first Oscar win last night, but the actor has reportedly been offered the lead role in Disney’s next big live action project: a reimagining of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, a story that already boasts a couple of notable cinematic interpretations.
Disney has already adapted the story once before in the 1949 animated anthology feature, The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr Toad. However, Paramount’s 1999 live action version of the tale is the one that most film fans will remember. Directed by Tim Burton, it remains a deliciously Gothic treat.
Johnny Depp played the role of Ichabod Crane in Burton’s film, it’s easy to see how Chalamet could fit the part, with the title suggesting that his character will be front and centre. The timing of this leak (via DanielRPK) is rather interesting. With Chalamet missing out on an Oscar last night, we wonder how the actor is viewing the trajectory of his career after his recent Screen Actors Guild awards speech when he stated he wants to be an all-time great.
Does that mean taking more awards-friendly roles like that of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown?
At the moment, Chalamet seems to be doing a good job of balancing those kinds of films with leading parts in huge blockbuster films such as Dune and Wonka. The actor is signed up for sequels to both, which means if he does take the lead role in Ichabod as well, he’s going to have to keep pretty busy if he wants to slide in a few more parts that could make him a perpetual contender in the annual awards race.
Not that you need awards to be considered a ‘great’, of course. But given that Chalamet made that statement while clutching a gong and giving an acceptance speech, it seems clear that he sees critical garlands as important in some way. The actor called them ‘fuel’ so we’re curious to see how the next stage of his career unfolds following what has been a brilliant few years for him.
We’ll bring you more on Ichabod as we hear it, including if this is the version that in-demand screenwriter Lindsey Beer was reportedly working on back in 2022.
If you want to reminisce on what a fun film 1999’s Sleepy Hollow was, it was covered on the Film Stories Podcast a while back.
