After Bob Dylan praised Timothée Chalamet‘s performance as a younger version of himself in forthcoming film biopic A Complete Unknown, the actor took to social media to acknowledge his gratitude.
Sharing Dylan’s post on X, formerly Twitter, Chalamet wrote, “Floored. I am so grateful. Thank you Bob.” The actor also confirmed that he has wrapped his next film, Marty Supreme, and is now on his way to Minnesota (to which A Complete Unknown director James Mangold replied, “Congrats pal! See you soon!”).
Yesterday, Dylan offered his first public comment on the film, out Dec. 25. “There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!),” the musician wrote. “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. 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.”
Although Dylan hasn’t spoken previously about the movie, which also stars Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, and Monica Barbaro, he was apparently involved in its production. In Brian Hiatt’s recent Rolling Stone cover story on Chalamet, the actor revealed that Dylan met with Mangold several times and went through every line of the screenplay. “Jim has an annotated Bob script lying around somewhere,” Chalamet said. “I’ll beg him to get my hands on it. He’ll never give it to me.”
“I felt like Bob just wanted to know what I was up to,” Mangold told Rolling Stone. “ ‘Who is this guy? Is he a shithead? Does he get it?’ — I think the normal questions anyone asks when they’re throwing themselves in league with someone.”
Chalamet himself has been relatively quiet about his work on A Complete Unknown. In October, he shared a video showcasing his performance of Dylan’s song “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” filmed for the movie. Chalamet’s recording of the 1965 classic is the fullest offering so far of the actor’s take on Dylan’s singular singing voice. The previously released trailer for a Complete Unknown just included snippets of his renditions of songs like “Girl from the North Country” and “Like a Rolling Stone.”
The actor told Rolling Stone that he worked with vocal coach, a guitar teacher, a dialect coach, a movement coach, and even a harmonica guy to prepare for the role. “I had three months of my life to play Bob Dylan, after five years of preparing to play him,” Chalamet said of his focus. “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!”
