If there ever was a video which would convince me that James Mangold’s “A Complete Unknown” will have some issues then it’s certainly this one.
On April 15, Timothee Chalamet, who plays Dylan, was spotted in New Jersey filming a scene for the film alongside actress Monica Barbaro (“Top Gun: Maverick“) who looks miscast as folk singer Joan Baez.
If you can’t quite make out what song the duo is singing, it’s Dylan’s wonderfully sad “Girl from the North Country.” Barbaro and Chalamet are strumming their guitars and singing together — he later plays the harmonica.
Chalamet, who is doing his own singing for the film, doesn’t sound like Dylan. There’s none of the nasal delivery that the iconic singer was, and is still, known for. Rather, Chalamet is crooning. Dylan was not a crooner. Barbaro, who seems to also be doing her own singing, can’t replicate Baez’ high octave notes. They should have just used the original recordings.
Shooting on “A Complete Unknown,” is currently underway in New York City and New Jersey, and the first set photos of Timothée Chalamet as the legendary singer-songwriter recently emerged online.
So far, the footage we’ve seen seems to be taking place during the troubadour phase of Dylan’s career, probably when he first arrived to the New York folk scene, in 1961. He would record his first album a year later, 1962’s “Bob Dylan.” There’s also been some brief snaps of Chalamet’s Dylan circa 1965 when “Bringing it All Back Home” hit the shelves.
Mangold’s film is supposed to cover Dylan from his early beginnings up until around the time he went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.
Filming on “A Complete Unknown” is supposed to go on until May. I would assume a 2025 release is being eyed by Searchlight. Coincidentally, next year we’re also getting Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic and, maybe, potentially, Ridley Scott’s ‘Bee Gees’ tackling.
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