Bob Dylan addresses ‘A Complete Unknown’: What does he think about Timothée Chalamet?
Legendary musician Bob Dylan is an enigmatic figure, so what would he make of a biopic about his life and career? Well, a recent tweet from the singer-songwriter reveals that while he hasn’t seen “A Complete Unknown,” he’s not mad about it either.
“There’s a movie about me opening soon called ‘A Complete Unknown’ (what a title!),” says the Nobel Prize winner. “Timothée Chalamet is starring in the lead role. Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me.” One thing he’s sure to recommend, though, is the source material: “The film’s taken from Elijah Wald’s ‘Dylan Goes Electric’ — a book that came out in 2015. It’s a fantastic retelling of events from the early ‘60s that led up to the fiasco at Newport. After you’ve seen the movie read the book.”
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Chalamet plays Dylan in his early days, starting with a fateful meeting with Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) and Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) and leading to a controversial appearance at the Newport Folk Festival where his use of electric instrumentation sparked an angry backlash from folk music purists. Chalamet does his own singing and plays his own instruments in the film; his years-long commitment to the role has made him an Oscar contender for Best Actor.
This wouldn’t be Dylan’s first brush with Oscar, though. The musician himself won Best Original Song for penning the tune “Things Have Changed” for “Wonder Boys” (2000). Then Cate Blanchett earned a Best Supporting Actress bid for playing a version of Dylan in Todd Haynes‘ experimental 2007 biopic “I’m Not There.” A nom for Chalamet would make Dylan an uncommon biographical figure to earn nominations for multiple actors in different films.
The love between Dylan and Chalamet goes both ways. Dylan thinks Chalamet is “brilliant,” and fittingly Chalamet dedicated himself to the singer with a singular determination during the production: “I had three months of my life to play Bob Dylan, after five years of preparing to play him,” the actor told The Hollywood Reporter. “So while I was in it, that was my eternal focus. He deserved that and then more.”
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