What the Early Reviews Are Saying About the Dylan Biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown (Photo: Searchlight Pictures)
Nearly five years after the film was first announced, the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, is finally set to open on Christmas Day 2024. The movie, from Searchlight Pictures, is directed by James Mangold, who also wrote the screenplay with longtime film critic Jay Cocks, based on Elijah Wald’s book, Dylan Goes Electric! It stars Timothée Chalamet, who was 28 years old during the filming earlier this year. A Complete Unknown is set during Dylan’s days as a Greenwich Village folk singer in the New York City music scene of the early ’60s, culminating with his decision to play a transformational electric set at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, which at the time was seen as one of popular music’s most shocking events. The film takes its title from the iconic lyric from 1965’s “Like a Rolling Stone.” Dylan himself commented on the movie on December 4. See it below, and watch the trailer and several on-set featurettes below.
Mangold is no stranger to directing music biopics, having filmed 2005’s Walk the Line, with Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. His impressive resume also includes directing many Hollywood blockbusters and stars: the fifth Indiana Jones movie in 2023 (with Harrison Ford), several films in the Marvel universe, Ford v Ferrari (with Matt Damon and Christian Bale) among his prestigious filmography.
Those within the film industry who have seen early screenings of A Complete Unknown are already touting Chalamet for an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. The actor does his own singing and reportedly hired the same coach who prepped Austin Butler for 2022’s Elvis. (The latter was nominated, but did not win, for his performance as the King.) The New York City native has shown considerable growth in the past decade in big roles in Wonka, Little Women and Dune and Dune: Part Two. Chalamet received an Academy Award nomination for 2017’s Call Me By Your Name.
Though no reviews for A Complete Unknown have been posted yet, those who enjoy tracking them will want to bookmark the film’s Rotten Tomatoes page.
One “fairly prominent” observer is Dylan himself. And while many have been fleeing the social media platform Twitter/X, the Bard has been posting there relatively frequently since Sept. 25 with some curious observations. None was more striking than his comments about the movie on Dec. 4.
There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!). 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. The film’s taken from Elijah…
— Bob Dylan (@bobdylan) December 4, 2024
Several hours later, Chalamet acknowledged Dylan’s tweet.
Floored.
I am so grateful.
Thank you Bob https://t.co/u9tuAE1vpf— Timothée Chalamet (@RealChalamet) December 5, 2024
The Guardian quoted a prominent attendee who was at one of the Hollywood screenings. “Timothée Chalamet slides into Bob Dylan with an effortless yet focused determination,” wrote Variety’s senior awards editor, Clayton Davis. “He is fearless in some hypnotic moments.”
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown (Photo: Searchlight Pictures)
Chalamet is joined in A Complete Unknown by Edward Norton as Pete Seeger and Elle Fanning as a character based on Suze Rotolo, Dylan’s girlfriend in those early days in the Village. Such key figures in Dylan’s sphere are portrayed, including Albert Grossman, Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie, Alan Lomax, Bob Neuwirth, Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield and others. Actress Monica Barbaro is also being singled out for praise as Joan Baez.
“It was important for me to sing and play on set,” says Chalamet, “because it was in the spirit of the movie to do it live.”
“I had goosebumps,” says Fanning. “You can see how much love and how hard he’s worked and how much he cares about getting this right.”
Related: Our interview with author Elijah Wald on his book, Dylan Goes Electric
Wald’s book is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
7 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationFinally something worthwhile to see on the big screen .
This looks and sounds, beyond my wildest expectations quite simply GREAT!
I took a medical school classmate to hear Bob Dylan sing in 1964.
His immediate response was “This guy get’s paid to sing like that !!”
He bought a copy of the record as we left the store.
For all the naysayers that always quote ‘but he can’t sing’ go and get educated. It’s what he says…not how he sings! The man is a stone cold genius!
At least in the early days, Dylan always hit the notes on key and you could understand every single word he sang. That’s more important than vocal quality sometimes.
And he’s responsible for Hendrix deciding HE could sing, because as Hendrix once said, if THAT guy can get out there and sing, I can too.
I have never been able to stand to listen to Dylan’s voice. He “sings” like a dog with its hind leg caught in a barbed wire fence. I’ll give him his due, though: he’s a terrific songwriter. A horrible singer, but a great songwriter.