Timothee Chalamet says Bob Dylan’s approval of his casting in the biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’ “really, really affirming”.
Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan
The 28-year-old actor plays the 83-year-old music icon in the upcoming biographical drama film, and Chalamet is honoured that Dylan stated that he is "sure” Timothee will give a “completely believable” performance as the ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ singer in the film.
While Dylan may approve of his casting in ‘A Complete Unknown’, the ‘Dune’ star admitted he was unsure what the blues music legend thought of the picture as a whole.
When Deadline asked Chalamet how Dylan felt about ‘A Complete Unknown’, he said: “It’s hard to tell. He’s a mysterious, elusive figure.
“So I figured if he or his team didn’t want me to be a part of it, I would’ve known about that. But equally, I didn’t really know how involved he’d be.”
Chalamet added that while Dyan hadn’t seen the movie yet, the musician had been “creatively involved” with the project alongside director James Mangold, and “gave his input on the script”.
Even so, Chalamet emphasised ‘A Complete Unknown’ was never meant to give a completely accurate account of Dylan’s life.
He explained: “It’s an interpretation. This was a fable. This was not meant to be a Wikipedia fact-for-fact recreation of how it was. Otherwise, you might as well just watch the footage that exists.”
‘A Complete Unknown’ - which also stars Edward Norton as folk singer Peter Seeger and Elle Fanning as Dylan’s renamed university love interest Sylvie Russo - focuses on the life and career of Dylan from January 1961, when he moves from Minnesota to New York City, to his 1965 concert at the Newport Folk Festival, resulting in controversy over his decision to swap his acoustic guitar for electric instruments.
It is based on Elijah Wald's 2015 book 'Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties'.
The movie will also include scenes of Chalamet singing as Dylan, and the actor said it felt “better” and “more authentic” if he were to perform those sequences for real instead of relying on pre-recorded tracks.
He said: “When it came time to do it, it just was better live and it felt more lived in and more authentic. It caused a bit of a panic on set, but it was worth it.
“And Edward Norton was sort of like the devil in my ear, saying, ‘Do it live. You sound better live.’”
Even so, while Chalamet aimed to immerse himself in the world of ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ singer, the ‘Little Women’ actor refused to go completely method on ‘A Complete Unknown’, and credited his former co-stars Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac for helping him learn how to set the tone on set.
He told Rolling Stone magazine: “The great actors I’ve worked with, Christian Bale on ‘Hostiles’ or Oscar Isaac on ‘Dune’, were able to do that and guard their process, particularly for something that’s really like a tightrope walk.
“It was something I would go to sleep panicked about a moment of discovery as the character — no matter how pretentious that sounds — because I was on my phone or because of any distraction.
“I had three months of my life to play Bob Dylan, after five years of preparing to play him. So while I was in it, that was my eternal focus.
“He deserved that and then more … God forbid I missed a step because I was being Timmy. I could be Timmy for the rest of my life!”
Tagged in Bob Dylan Edward Norton Timothée Chalamet