“The worst thing we could’ve done with a Bob Dylan biopic is sanitize it, is make it sound clean,” Chalamet told Stephen Colbert on The Late Show Thursday night
Timothée Chalamet stopped by The Late Show Thursday night in full promo mode for his Dylan Biopic A Complete Unknown, describing the film to Stephen Colbert as “a humble bridge, a gateway to anybody who’s not a fan to discover” Dylan’s music.
“The worst thing we could’ve done with a Bob Dylan biopic is sanitize it, is make it sound clean,” Chalamet, donning a blue suede jacket and striped pants evoking Dylan’s mid-60’s look, told Colbert. “This was a man from iron ore country. You here the coal country in his voice. I didn’t want to be a New Yorker recording in Los Angeles decimating that music. I wanted to honor that legacy, this is an American hero, one of the fantastic artists of our time.”
Chalamet called Complete Unknown “the movie I’m absolutely the proudest of in my career.” He prepped for the role for five years, delayed because of the pandemic in 2020 and Hollywood strikes last year. The Late Show aired a four-year-old clip of Chalamet in his full Paul Atreides wardrobe on set for the first Dune film, with Chalamet practicing the Dylan song “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” with some new Dune-inspired lyrics.
He recalled playing all the songs live to camera while shooting the movie, a riskier move given the inconsistencies in playing live versus using pre-recordings. Co-star Edward Norton encouraged him to play live, telling him it sounded better.
Chalamet’s vocal coach Eric Vetro spoke with Rolling Stone last week, digging deepr about what it took to train Chalamet to sound like Dylan.
“We would do normal exercises that I would give to anyone just to strengthen their voice, widen their range. That’s how we would start,” Vetro said. “Then we would start bringing him into probably a little bit more what you would call front-nasal exercises. And then as we would continue, I’d start to try to get him to think, “How would Bob do this exercise? If he was going to take a voice lesson, how would he do it?”
A Complete Unknown will come out on Christmas day.
