While later this year he’ll star in the chaotic musical world of Wonka, the next film set Timothée Chalamet will set foot on is that of A Complete Unknown, the Bob Dylan biopic in which he’ll play the lead role.
The Searchlight Pictures film was first announced way back in summer 2020, after getting sign-off from Bob Dylan himself. James Mangold — who previously worked on Girl, Interrupted and the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line — is set to direct and has confirmed that Timothée will be singing Bob Dylan classics in the movie! BRB, just thinking about Timothée with a guitar singing “Blowin’ in the Wind”.
As the rest of the cast list for the movie begins to take shape — both Elle Fanning and Benedict Cumberbatch have been confirmed to be joining the production — here’s everything we know about A Complete Unknown, including its plot, music and release date.
What is the plot of A Complete Unknown?
Timothée Chalamet is set to play Bob Dylan in the period of his life and musical career where he traded in his acoustic folk background for rock ’n’ roll. In our genreless present day where artists often explore a new sound with every album, that might not seem like a big deal, but back then people were absolutely raging about it. When Dylan 2.0 was debuted during a 1965 performance, he was reportedly met with such a cacophony of cheers and boos that he walked off stage after just three songs. The movie is said to span from the 19-year-old Bob dropping out of college in 1960 and the rapid assent to stardom that followed, to the 1966 motorcycle accident that irreparably changed his voice.
“It’s such an amazing time in American culture and the story of Bob — a young 19-year-old Bob Dylan coming to New York with like $2 in his pocket and becoming a worldwide sensation within three years,” Jason Mangold said in an interview with Collider.
Who will be joining Timothée in the cast of A Complete Unknown?
Elle Fanning will be playing the role of Sylvie West. Deadline describes the character as “Dylan’s early ’60s love interest, university student and artist”, so we can expect to see some sparks fly between her and Timmy’s Bob. Exciting!
Another of Bob’s love interests, “queen of folk” musician Joan Baez, will be played by Monica Barbaro (Top Gun: Maverick). Meanwhile Benedict Cumberbatch is set to play Pete Seeger, an early influence on Bob’s sound, musicianship and activism, who also helped facilitate Bob’s debut album.
While we don’t yet know who else is in the cast, Jason did reveal folk musician and activist Woody Guthrie, along with other people in the scene at the time, would all feature in the movie.
Is Bob Dylan involved in A Complete Unknown?
Bob Dylan has been involved quite extensively in the screenwriting process for the film, director James Mangold has revealed. In an interview with Josh Horowitz on his Sad. Happy. Confused. podcast, James said that he had “spent several, wonderfully charming, days in Bob’s company. It was one on one talking to him. I have a script that’s personally annotated by him,” adding: “He loves movies. The first time I sat down with Bob, one of the first things he said to me was ‘I love Cop Land’,” in reference to James’ 1997 movie.
Is there a trailer for A Complete Unknown?
Not yet! The biopic is not set to start filming until August and so hopefully we will get some behind-the-scenes photos and sneak peaks from set this summer.
Subscribe to i-D NEWSFLASH. A weekly newsletter delivered to your inbox on Fridays.
Will Timothée sing Bob Dylan songs?
Not only has Timothée himself recently posted a picture of his harmonica case to his Instagram story, suggesting he’s been learning the instrument for the role, in the aforementioned interview with Collider, director James Mangold has confirmed that Timothée will “of course” be singing Bob Dylan classics himself for the movie.
According to World of Reel, Timothée has reportedly hired vocal coach Eric Vetro to help him emulate the iconic musician. Eric recently helped Austin Butler permanently embody Elvis and so who knows, maybe Timothée will have a folky twang to his voice forever more. “I haven’t stopped preparing, which has been one of the greatest gifts for me,” Timothée told Variety in 2022. “It’s been a wonderful experience getting to dive into that world.”
Does A Complete Unknown have a release date?
Production is set to begin in August 2023, meaning it will be a long time before we get to finally watch Timothée sexily strumming a guitar. But, as we said, his musical era is very much upon us! Here’s hoping we get the return of his high-school rap alter ego Lil’ Timmy Tim too.
This story has been updated with new details and republished.