‘A Complete Unknown’: See Teaser Trailer for Bob Dylan Biopic Starring Timothée Chalamet
A Complete Unknown, the new biopic starring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, has released its first teaser trailer.
Per Searchlight Pictures, “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.”
The film also stars Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez and Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo. (Rolling Stone notes that director James Mangold confirmed that Fanning’s character “is simply a renamed version of Dylan’s real-life girlfriend of that era, Suze Rotolo.”)
Currently, there is no exact release date, but the film is slated to hit theaters in December, which means Searchlight Pictures is setting up A Complete Unknown for some potential Oscar buzz.
A Brief History of A Complete Unknown
This Bob Dylan biopic has long been in the works. News of Chalamet cast as Dylan dates back to January 2020. At the time, the biopic was titled Going Electric.
In October 2020, the Dylan biopic was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael told Collider then, “I don’t think it’s dead, but it’s a tough one to pull off in a COVID-era because it’s all in small clubs with lots of extras in period costumes, so you’ve got lots of hair and makeup.”
In April 2023, director James Mangold confirmed Chalamet would be singing in the film and not lipsync to any Dylan recordings. Mangold further noted the film, which is based on Elijah Wald’s 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric, will chronicle Dylan coming to New York in his late teens to pursue music.
The film received some funny press in April when the first piece of footage from filming surfaced. The clip showed Chalamet and Barbaro performing together as Dylan and Baez. When the clip surfaced, the internet didn’t necessarily think Chalamet looked like Dylan. Instead, many think the actor looks like a different Rock & Roll Hall of Famer: Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong.
Timothée Chalamet as Billie Joe Armstrong on the set of the Bob Dylan biopic.
Photo credit: Bobby Bank/GC Images pic.twitter.com/qdmXOWCvbE
Meanwhile, Spin wrote, “Hope you had the time of your life playing Bob Dylan in the upcoming biopic A Complete Unknown, Timothée Chalamet.”
