Timothée Chalamet Is Bob Dylan As He Sings In First Biopic Trailer

1 month ago

Everything you need to know before it hits the cinemas

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What a varied career the world’s favourite French-American actor is cultivating. Aside from 2020, Timothée Chalamet has starred in at least one buzzy flick every year since 2017, spanning Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird to Little Women and Dune to Wonka last Christmas. But here’s a new frontier: a musician’s biopic. And who better for Chalamet to embody than Bob Dylan? Spotted on set in spring, filming has finally wrapped on A Complete Unknown and the first trailer has landed. Here’s everything to expect.

A Complete Unknown: Trailer, Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Directed by James Mangold (with a varied portfolio spanning Girl, Interrupted [1999] and Ford v Ferrari [2019]), A Complete Unknown was first announced in January 2020, with Chalamet cast as Bob Dylan. Back then, it had the working title ‘Going Electric’ thanks to the film’s main strand: Dylan’s controversial switch to electric guitars. In fact, released on 24 July 2024, the first trailer was released exactly 59 years after Dylan performed his first concert with electric instruments at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

The pandemic naturally put a pause on the film’s progress, but Chalamet spent this time researching Dylan, visiting his former homes and working with the same team of vocal and movement coaches that helped Austin Butler transform into Elvis Presley for the 2022 film Elvis.

Edward Norton and Timothée Chalamet in A COMPLETE UNKNOWN

What Is A Complete Unknown About?

A Complete Unknown is an upcoming Bob Dylan biopic, specifically centred around the musician’s controversial switch to electric guitars. We will get a glimpse into Dylan’s rise to fame on the folk circuit, leaving Minnesota and arriving in New York with big dreams, rapidly becoming one of the greatest American musicians of all time.

The official synopsis reads: ‘Set in the influential New York music scene of the early 60s, A Complete Unknown follows 19-year-old Minnesota musician Bob Dylan’s (Timothée Chalamet) meteoric rise as a folk singer to concert halls and the top of the charts – his songs and mystique becoming a worldwide sensation – culminating in his groundbreaking electric rock and roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.’

Looking at the trailer, it seems Dylan’s relationship with artist Suze Rotolo between 1961–64 will also be explored; Suze is the unnamed woman on the album cover for The Freewheelin Bob Dylan (1963). That said, we are told Elle Fanning’s character, Sylvie Russo, is based on Suze (and an amalgamation of other love interests) rather than an accurate portrayal of one woman.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first Bob Dylan biopic: Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There (2007, starring Christian Bale, Ben Whishaw, Heath Ledger, and Cate Blanchett) also explored the musician, though in a much more conceptual manner, using six actors to explore different facets of his life.

Elle Fanning and Timothée Chalamet in A COMPLETE UNKNOWN

Is It Based On A Book?

Yes, A Complete Unknown is based on Elijah Wald’s 2015 book, Dylan Goes Electric!, adapted for the screen by Jay Cocks and director James Mangold.

Does Timothée Chalamet Sing In A Complete Unknown?

Yes, that is Timothée Chalamet’s voice in the trailer, and the Oscar-nominated actor sings throughout the film, transforming into Bob Dylan thanks to help from vocal and movement coaches. No stranger to performance, Chalamet also sings in Wonka (2023).