Mr. Chalamet Man, Play a Song for Us

Timothée Chalamet is going from Barb to Bob. He’s starring as Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown, out December 25. Finally, we can see the results of Chalamet’s extensive prep for the role, which apparently included jamming out to “like a 12-hour playlist” of unreleased Dylan songs. A Complete Unknown centers on the fateful Newport Music Festival during which Dylan went electric. The moment has been depicted previously in Todd Haynes’s I’m Not There. Also kinda in Factory Girl? But let Li’l Timmy T sing you a little something anyway …

Ladies and gentlemen, the trailer.

Timothée Chalamet slips into the rock-star lifestyle and a pretty good vocal impression. He covers “Girl From the North Country” and “Like a Rolling Stone” in A Complete Unknown’s latest trailer, which follows Dylan’s emotionally tumultuous rise to superstardom after he leaves Minnesota to “catch a spark” in New York. He smokes, sings, and seems to be caught in a love triangle — all while grappling with what kind of music he wants to make. Some people want to turn his electric set down, but he wants to play it loud. Witness the BDE (Bob Dylan energy) in the full clip above.

What do we know so far?

Filming wrapped by early July, with photos showing Chalamet on set standing by a car in sunglasses and reading on a bench.

Mangold previously slipped Deadline deets on the project at Cannes last May while promoting Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, with the director announcing that Benedict Cumberbatch would be playing folk legend Pete Seeger in the film. Seeger was on the ground floor of Dylan standom, supporting the singer before he got famous and inviting him to Newport in the first place. However, reportedly due to scheduling conflicts, Ed Norton ended up stepping in as replacement — and there are pictures of him strumming a banjo to prove it.

Who else is in the cast?

Joining Chalamet and Norton will be Top Gun: Maverick’s Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez and Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, a fictionalized Dylan paramour of the early ’60s. Boyd Holbrook will do his best Johnny Cash, the director revealed in a new interview with Rolling Stone. Deadline also reported a slew of other additions, including Scoot McNairy, Dan Fogler, Will Harrison, Charlie Tahan, P.J. Byrne, Eli Brown, Nick Pupo, Big Bill Morganfield, Laura Kariuki, Eric Berryman, David Alan Basche, Joe Tippett, and James Austin Johnson. No character details were disclosed in this casting dump. Sadly for Chalamet, Austin Butler still isn’t onboard.

Is Timmy really singing live?

Now we have proof. On December 6, Chalamet released the first two songs from the soundtrack: covers of “The Girl From the North Country” (with a little vocal assist from Barbaro) and the era-defining “Like a Rolling Stone.” Both are shortened versions of Dylan’s classics. In these official soundtrack versions (snippets of both are featured in the film’s trailer), Chalamet’s voice doesn’t quite match the gravelly vibrato of Dylan’s (then again, whose could?), but Chalamet makes the songs his own rather than going for pitch-perfect re-creations of the originals. You can listen to both below.

Mangold confirmed Chalamet and Barbaro recorded live takes as Dylan and Baez in a July interview with Rolling Stone. “But it’s not [like] if one of our actors hit a bad note, I don’t have an alternative take or the ability to replace that one beat,” he said. “If Timmy’s brave enough to stand out there and make himself vulnerable, throwing himself at this, I should be brave enough to stand behind the camera and shoot.” Plus, multiple COVID-related production delays and false starts gave Chalamet and Barbaro time to hone their musical chops. “Timmy was a partner in this,” Mangold said. “He very much wanted to.”

What does Bobby D. think about the whole thing?

Dylan had been awfully quiet about the film, but that changed on December 4, when he acknowledged its existence for the first time on X. “There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!),” he wrote. It’s not exactly an endorsement or a denunciation, nor does it appear that Dylan has even seen the movie yet. “Timothee 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.” Dylan also recommended reading the “fantastic” book that A Complete Unknown is based on, Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric.

“Timmy,” in turn, responded that he was “floored” and “grateful” for Dylan’s kind words. And if you were wondering: Yes, Club Chalamet was sure to thank “Bob” just as quickly.

What’s the release date?

The release date for A Complete Unknown is not a complete unknown. Mangold accelerated the postproduction schedules to arrive onscreen this Christmas, December 25.

This post has been updated.