Sean Penn will record audiobook for Bob Dylan’s ‘Chronicles: Volume Two’ shortly
Hollywood actor Sean Penn has revealed that he is “about to” record the audiobook for Bob Dylan‘s highly anticipated memoir, Chronicles: Volume Two.
The first book in the series, Chronicles: Volume One, was released in late 2004, and Dylan’s legion of fans have been awaiting a follow-up for over 20 years. It focused on three specific parts of his career, and was always planned to be part of a three-part series, but the second and third iterations have never materialised.
During an interview with Rolling Stone in 2012, Dylan confirmed that he is “always working on parts of it” and said he’d already completed chapters on The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and Another Side of Bob Dylan.
Now, Penn, who read the audiobook for Chronicles: Volume One, has provided an update during a recent episode of The Louis Theroux Podcast.
They were discussing Timothée Chalamet, who portrayed Dylan in the biopic A Complete Unknown, with Penn confessing, “I actually haven’t seen his movies yet”.
Theroux then said, “Speaking as the voice of Bob Dylan, because you read his audiobook, didn’t you?” Penn replied, “Yeah, I think I’m about to do the second one actually.”
Penn then confirmed it was “Chronicles 2” but said he has yet to read the book because “I wait until I record it.”
Chronicles: Volume Two is currently available to pre-order from Waterstones with a tentative release date of December 31st, 2030, but Penn’s comments suggest it will be released before then.
On his writing process, Dylan told Rolling Stone in 2012: “It would definitely start with records. I stumbled into a strategy of going into the future and into the past … The whole early part of the first Chronicles was supposed to be based on some old record – maybe Another Side of Bob Dylan … Someplace in the 1960s.”
He continued: “I was going to use that [record] and then I could go into the future. Well, what happened was that I … kind of just stayed there, and didn’t really go into the future. When I started writing about the early days in New York, I found it all extremely interesting. When you start doing that, it amazes you what you uncover without even trying.”
The legendary singer-songwriter conceded, “I don’t mind writing it, but it’s the rereading it and the time it takes to reread it – that for me is difficult.”
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