After numerous delays, due to last year’s strikes, “A Complete Unknown,” the Bob Dylan biopic from James Mangold, finally started production in March and wrapped up its shoot in May.
A quick turnaround has occurred. Not only has a trailer been released, but Searchlight has clearly seen the lack of buzzy titles this fall and decided to date “A Complete Unknown” for this coming December. Judging by the trailer alone, this has Oscar written all over it — I’m very impressed by Timothée Chalamet’s Dylan-esque singing of “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall.”
The cast is starry; Chalamet playing Dylan. Edward Norton (Pete Seeger), Elle Fanning (Suze Rotolo), Monica Barbaro (Joan Baez) and Nick Offerman (Alan Lomax) and Boyd Holbrook (Johnny Cash).
Here’s the synopsis:
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN follows 19 year old Bob Dylan’s arrival to New York City in 1961 seeking to find his hero, an ailing Woody Guthrie. He is embraced by the New York folk scene (Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and others) who recognize his talent. He finds gigs in downtown clubs and soon becomes a sensation, under contract at Columbia Records. The film follows Dylan’s ascendance into a cultural phenomenon, his strong relationships in the folk music world and his ultimate transition away from folk music, forming a band, confusing his fans and disappointing the music community who first took him in.
The Woody Guthrie part is interesting. Of all the musical influences Dylan had, Guthrie was the essential one. Dylan did in fact end up meeting Guthrie on January 29, 1961, only five days after he arrived in New York from his hometown of Minnesota. Guthrie could barely move or speak, let alone sing. Dylan played to his hero a new tune he had written called “Song to Woody”. It was met with the older man's approval and was eventually released on Dylan’s self-titled debut. It’s one of the mythic stories in music history and I absolutely adore that it’ll be featured in “A Complete Unknown.”
Dylan actually approves of the film — he’s also an executive producer on it. Mangold revealed in Josh Horowitz’s Sad. Happy. Confused. podcast that the singer personally annotated the script for ‘A Complete Unknown’ and has been very supportive of it.
We also know that Chalamet recorded most of the songs in a California studio. Yes, he’s doing his own singing — Chalamet reportedly hired vocal coach Eric Vetro for the film. Vetro is known for training Austin Butler for “Elvis’.”
Mangold (“Ford V Ferrari,” “Logan”) has described “A Complete Unknown” as “Altman-esque, an ensemble piece” that will involve a mosaic of artists such as Guthrie, Baez, Cash and Seeger. Former film critic Jay Cocks wrote the script. He’s only written five films in 30 years, including “The Age of Innocence,” “Silence,” “Gangs of New York,” and “Strange Days.”