“A Complete Unknown” was released in theaters on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 2024. The film chronicled the early life of Bob Dylan and in its opening weekend in the U.S. and Canada, the film grossed $11,655,553, bringing in people from all generations.
The story of Bob Dylan drew in older generations, but the actors such as Timothee Chalamet and Elle Fanning attracted the younger generations to the film, allowing the movie to reach a wider audience.
The movie showcased the rise of Dylan and some of his most influential moments, from when he first set out to start his music career to his performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
Dylan was heavily involved in the making of the script, and he made many modifications to the script that often ended up on the screen. Dylan even tried to sneak a fake story into the script.
“Finding a fine line between reverence to what happened and also the Bob truism that nothing is true and everything is interpretive [was a key component of the film],” stated Timothee Chalamet in an interview with IMDb.
The film indeed uses the “Bob truism” throughout the movie. Slyvie Russo, played by Elle Fanning, is Dylan’s first serious girlfriend in the film but is a fictional character. She’s based off of Suze Rotolo, who heavily influenced Dylan to become the artist he is today and introduced him into New York’s political scene. In the 1960s, folk music was often used as a way to speak out about different social issues. His introduction to those issues and their relevance influenced the writing of his music. Dylan wished for her character’s name to be changed to preserve the idea that out of almost all the real-life characters featured in the movie, Rotolo was the only one who wasn’t a celebrity. Fanning’s performance as Russo captivated just how much Rotolo had influenced Dylan’s music career.
Throughout the creation and filming of the movie, the actors and writers tried the best they could to capture the personalities of the people being portrayed and the era when it all happened.
Chalamet often spoke with Dylan about playing him in the movie. Monica Barbaro, who played Joan Baez, often spoke to Baez and was able to connect with her in an effort to truly portray her.
“I had a crowd of people follow me everywhere I went to boo any time I used electricity,” joked Chalamet in an interview with The Onion.
Despite his joking, Chalamet was very committed to his role as Dylan. To get into the time period the movie was set in, Chalamet was rumored to not use his phone for three months.
“The biggest journey was the music and the voice, and also I’ve never had my phone off the entire movie. I had three months to play this guy, and the rest of my life I never get to play him again,” commented Chalamet on the This Past Weekend W/ Theo Von podcast.
Chalamet learned to play the harmonica and how to sing like Dylan, immersing himself in the world of Bob Dylan to do the best job he could in the film. In the movie, you can see his efforts paying off.
The movie starts with Dylan visiting Woody Guthrie and running into Bob Seeger. Dylan captivates their attention by playing a song for them and is in turn given a chance at a music career by Seeger. Dylan begins playing at shows and starts becoming famous. He meets the people who will have an extreme influence on his life, like Baez and Russo, but eventually starts pushing them away in his pursuit of fame.
Dylan goes to perform at the Newport Folk Festival 1965 and creates musical history by playing his first concert with electric instruments.
The movie is well made and accurate to the story. The actors, Dylan himself and people involved with the filming tried their best to make the movie great.
Since the release of the movie, “A Complete Unknown” has been nominated for the Golden Globes and Academy Awards and has received eight Oscar nominations.
All the award nominations have been well deserved for this movie. The movie accurately showed the most influential moments of the Dylan story and made it so Dylan himself was satisfied with the movie. Chalamet and the rest of the actors did an amazing job portraying the music stars they were playing. The singing was well imitated and accurate to how the real life artists sang. Overall, the movie was a biopic that will be thought of for years to come.
A Complete Unknown is now available to rent on multiple streaming services.