Bob Dylan isn’t just one of the most influential singers in American history, he’s such a cultural figure it has frequently made him the subject of movies. The latest, A Complete Unknown, stars Timothée Chalamet in a biopic led by director James Mangold.
A passion project of Mangold’s, A Complete Unknown charts Dylan’s unexpected rise from a 19-year-old Minnesota musician to headlining concert halls and sold out stadiums. The film is based on Elijah Wald’s book, Dylan Goes Electric!, about Dylan’s contoversional move to electrically amplified instrumentation.
Joining Chalamet in the cast are Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Boyd Holbrook, Norbert Leo Butz, Dan Fogler, and Scoot McNairy. Mangold directs and co-wrote the script with Jay Cocks.
We’ve seen Chalamet’s musical ability in the past but he gets to show off more of it here, performing Dylan’s songs himself. No small feat that’s sure to invite criticism from Dylan die-hards, of which there are obviously many.
SYNOPSIS: 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.
A Complete Unknown opens in theaters this December via Searchlight Pictures.
