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January 29, 2025
Timothée Chalamet playing Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown” (Photo Credit: Chris Vinnicombe)
The most anticipated biographical movie of the year, “A Complete Unknown,” covers singer-songwriter folk musician Bob Dylan and his rise to fame, from when he first met two extremely prominent musicians in the 60’s, Pete Seager and Woody Gutherie, all the way to when Dylan began to move away from the folk genre as a whole. The movie glides over Dylan’s relationships with the women he dated, including his well-known back and forth temptress relationship with folk musician Joan Baez.
Some of Dylan’s most known songs are, “Blowin’ In The Wind” and “Like A Rolling Stone.” The movie covers the process of Dylan’s songwriting process before these songs were released. The film itself has brought folk music back to its roots of a younger audience and, for that, it is extremely influential.
Timothée Chalamet wore his role of Bob Dylan on his sleeve. Chalamet learned to play the guitar, as well as the harmonica, in preparation for the excessive shoots of him strumming and fingerpicking guitar at his shows. “Based on interviews I have seen, he took a lot of time researching and learning about Bob Dylan,” said Atacasdero High School senior, Charlie Beck, who went and saw the film when it first came out, “that kind of commitment to a role is something that I think makes a huge difference in an actor's performance.”
Chalamet being casted in the role of Dylan seemed not so surprising at first, as he tends to be casted in everything these days, but Chalamet really did prove how versatile he is within the characters he plays. “I thought he was going to do really bad because I can only see him as Timothée Chalamet,” said MBHS senior Dylan Chappell, “but he did a really good job at embodying Bob Dylan.” Whether it be the distinct singing and speaking voice, or purely Bob Dylan’s mannerisms - this was no easy role for anyone to play.
For fans of Dylan, the movie was a complete surprise to how similar in character Chalamet portrayed him. “The first time I watched it I left crying because it changed how I looked at so many of his songs, and I never would’ve thought about his songs in that light,” said Chappel. The film was emotional to say the least, simply just with the projection of how much Dylan’s character changed throughout the movie
The troubled folk musician who had an ever-lasting relationship with Dylan, Joan Baez, was played by actress Monica Barbaro. When Barbaro was on screen, you almost forgot she wasn’t Baez with how the actress’ singing voice sounded so similar to Baez’s. The film brought Baez’s music to a younger audience than it previously was associated with; now people have begun to discover more of Baez’s songs, as well as her covers of Dylan’s. “The actors did a good job at singing and replicating the feelings that the original songs have,” said Beck, “specifically I feel that Monica Barbaro’s voice fits the sound of the songs I have heard from that genre and time period.”
The movie was directed and put into motion fantastically. “The filmmakers created a feeling that you weren’t watching a new movie but rather were watching footage taken back during that time that movie takes place,” said Beck. The presentation of Dylan’s infamous wardrobe from being a starving artist, transitioning to him playing major sets at Newport Folk Festival truly showed the character development of Dylan, as well as the personality changes he went through.
Timothée Chalamet and Bob Dylan being compared side by side (Photo Credit: Getty Images)
“Aesthetically it definitely encapsulated that 60’s, coming up on the 70’s feel,” said Chappel. Through the setting, costuming, and dialogue it almost felt like you were being thrown into a time machine. For a movie that ran a time of two hours and 20 minutes, it was completely a rewatchable and extremely memorable film, helping reconnect folk music to the world.
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