The First A Complete Unknown Trailer Showcases Timothée Chalamet’s Bob Dylan Soundalike Singing
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Willy Wonka, Paul Atreides…Timothée Chalamet is racking up the iconic roles. And as you can see in the first A Complete Unknown trailer, he’s now fully transformed himself into another icon: Bob Dylan. (You may remember a previous Bob Dylan film, 2007’s I’m Not There, but this Bob Dylan film is not that Bob Dylan film.)
Read on for everything we know about Timothée Chalamet’s new movie.
Who is Bob Dylan?
Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his folk albums. He is responsible for such songs as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Like a Rolling Stone.” Many consider him to be one of the greatest songwriters of all time, and he has both a Pulitzer and a Nobel for his lyrics.
Who is making this movie?
James Mangold (Walk the Line, Girl, Interrupted) directs from a script he wrote with Jay Cocks (De Lovely, The Age of Innocence).
What is it about?
Per Deadline, the film tracks Dylan’s rise from teenage musician to global figure, its climax set in 1965 when he controversially went electric. Mangold told Collider that he considered 1965 to be “such an amazing time in American culture…A young 19-year-old Bob Dylan coming to New York with two dollars in his pocket and becoming a worldwide sensation within three years. First being embraced into a family of folk music in New York and of course kind of outrunning them at a certain point as his star rises so beyond belief…It’s such an interesting true story and about such an interesting moment in the American scene. Different characters from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan to Pete Seeger to Joan Baez—they all have a role to play in this movie.”
Who else is in it?
In addition to Chalamet, the cast includes Elle Fanning as Bob Dylan’s girlfriend Sylvie Russo, Top Gun star Monica Barbaro as musician Joan Baez, Nick Offerman as Alan Lomax, Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, P.J. Byrne as music promoter Harold Leventhal, and Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash.
The A Complete Unknown cast also includes Eli Brown (Gossip Girl), Nick Pupo (Daisy Jones & The Six), Scoot McNairy (Halt and Catch Fire), Will Harrison (Daisy Jones & The Six), Joe Tippett (Waitress on Broadway), Charlie Tahan (Ozark), Dan Fogler (Fantastic Beasts), Laura Kariuki (The Wonder Years), James Austin Johnson (SNL), and Eric Berryman (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel).
May we see some set pics?
You may.
Is Timothée Chalamet actually singing?
Yup. And according to IndieWire, the actor also took guitar lessons for the role. One thing he can’t do “for real,” unfortunately, is be a short king. Bob Dylan’s height is five foot seven, while Timothée Chalamet’s height is an unchangeable five ten.
Can I hear him please?
Sure. In the first A Complete Unknown trailer (well, teaser), released on July 24, Chalamet performs “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” and his voice, while close enough to Dylan’s, is also recognizably Timmyish.
The trailer doesn’t give too much away, though it does tease a love triangle between Dylan, Russo, and Baez.
When is the Bob Dylan biopic release date?
No specific date has been set, but Searchlight Pictures is aiming for an awards-friendly December release.
This post will be updated.
Originally Appeared on Glamour