In “A Complete Unknown,” an Academy Award-nominated movie directed by James Mangold released in December 2024, Timothée Chalamet stars as a young Bob Dylan gaining and adjusting to fame in the early ‘60s.
Even though Chalamet has acted in several other Academy Award-winning and critically acclaimed movies like “Dune” and “Call Me By Your Name,” he said that playing Bob Dylan was the proudest role of his career, and it wasn’t easy.
Playing an icon like Dylan is a huge undertaking. However, Chalamet rose to the occasion, transforming into Dylan’s character. Every single aspect of Dylan, from his gravelly voice to his skills on the guitar, Chalamet has down.
Chalamet prepared for 5 years to become Dylan, hiring a guitar teacher, vocal coach, dialect coach, movement coach, and even a harmonica coach. Chalamet even practiced guitar for hours a day while he was on the sets of movies like “Dune” and “Wonka.”
Dylan is not an easy person to play. His elusive and introverted personality has given him a reputation for being cold and even rude throughout his career.
The filmmakers do not attempt to gloss over Dylan’s problematic character in the film. From his tumultuous relationships with Sylvie Russo and Joan Baez, to defying Pete Seeger’s wishes and not playing folk music at the Newport Folk Festival in ‘65, the movie does not shy away from spotlighting some of his bad moments while still letting his redeeming qualities shine through.
Dylan’s songwriting talent, unique voice, and humble beginnings as a carnival worker in Minnesota are all qualities that make him so loveable throughout the film.
One of the best moments in the movie is Dylan’s performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. While performing, Dylan decides he’s tired of only playing his old hits, so he defies Pete Seeger and all of Newport Folk Festival’s wishes, and plays his new album’s songs with an electric guitar instead of an acoustic one, much to the crowd’s disappointment.
Although Dylan gets heckled and abused by the crowd to the point where he has to leave the stage, this was the moment that revolutionized Dylan’s music forever. After this happened, Bob Dylan was no longer just a folk artist, he was a rock star, completely unconfined to an acoustic guitar or genre.
The portrayal of Bob Dylan’s experiences with others in the movie is what makes it so great. By focusing less on Dylan himself, his background remains somewhat of a mystery throughout. Though this sounds like the opposite of what a biopic should do, it was the perfect choice. Choosing to shed light on Dylan’s effect on others, whether it is for a sick Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez, or the crowd at Newport in 1965, the film was able to convey what has hooked people on Bob Dylan and his music for generations.
Maybe you like Bob Dylan, maybe you don’t. You could think he was the best musician of all time, or you could think he is a complete jerk. No matter what, you can’t deny his musical genius, and this comes through in the movie. Chalamet’s ability to be truthful to Bob Dylan’s character while embodying his talent is what makes “A Complete Unknown” the best movie of 2025 so far.
