Bob Dylan has high hopes for Timothée Chalamet's portrayal of him in 'A Complete Unknown'.
'A Complete Unknown' star Timothée Chalamet has received the seal of approval of Bob Dylan himself
The 83-year-old music legend has hailed the 'Dune' star, 28, "a brilliant actor" and is "sure" he will be "completely believable" as the 'Like a Rolling Stone' hitmaker in the upcoming film.
He told his X followers: “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."
Dylan also invited fans to read the tome the movie is based on, 2015's 'Dylan Goes Electric' by Elijah Wald, to compare notes with 'A Complete Unknown'.
He added: “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."
Dylan has been super supportive of the flick and director James Mangold revealed that he gave him notes on the script over the course of many face-to-face meetings.
The 60-year-old filmmaker told the 'Happy Sad Confused' podcast: "I've spent several, wonderfully charming, days in his company, just one-on-one, talking to him.
"I have a script that's personally annotated by him and treasured by me. He loves movies. The first time I sat down with Bob, one of the first things he said to me was, 'I love 'Cop Land'.'"
Edward Norton features in 'A Complete Unknown' – which is released in cinemas later this month - as folk singer Pete Seeger and revealed how Chalamet was "relentless" in immersing himself as the music icon.
Norton told Rolling Stone magazine: "He was relentless. No visitors, no friends, no reps, no nothing. [Chalamet said] 'Nobody comes around us while we’re doing this.'
"We’re trying to do the best we can with something that’s so totemic and sacrosanct to many people. And I agreed totally — it was like, 'We cannot have a f****** audience for this.'
"We’ve got to believe to the greatest degree we can. And he was right to be that protective."
The movie tells the story of how Dylan shakes up the folk music world by plugging in his electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 and Mangold explained that it is "not really" a biopic.
The 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' director said: "By the way, it's not really a Bob Dylan biopic.
"The reason Bob has been so supportive of us making it, is it's about, as in all cases I think the best true-life movies are never cradle to grave but they're about a very specific moment.
"In this case, it might sound Altman-esque, but it's a kind of ensemble piece about this moment in time, the early 60s in New York, and this 17-year-old kid with $16 in his pocket hitchhikes his way to New York to meet Woody Guthrie who is in the hospital and is dying of a nerve disease."
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