In A Complete Unknown, Timothée Chalamet and co-star Edward Norton made an effort to include as many nods to their real-life characters as possible.
At Tuesday’s Los Angeles premiere of the James Mangold-directed Bob Dylan biopic, which debuts Dec. 25 in theaters, Chalamet told Deadline his and Norton’s “conversation was endless” on how they wanted to honor Dylan and Pete Seeger in the film.
“We were so into the songs, it was more like, how can we get ‘Death of Hattie [Carroll]’ in the movie,” recalled Norton. “The best thing is when you enjoy the raw materials of it all enough that you want to put more in it than there’s any room for. I think we wanted more Bob, more Pete, more Joan [Baez] in there than you could fit into one movie.”
Chalamet added, “That is perfectly said. We were like a menace to Jim because we were always trying to sneak stuff in and honor these amazing artists. My favorite thing about Edward in the production of this movie and also after this, is he really wanted to honor the spirit of Bob — who is alive and well — and Pete Seeger through this press, and not compromise why we’re ultimately there, the sort of pure values that you kind of have to when you’re putting a movie out there. But I think Edward’s always been very clear-sighted about that.”
Mangold also raved about working with Chalamet to bring his portrayal of Dylan to life in the movie. “The relationship between director and an actor is really super important,” he told Deadline. “And when you’re on set, you’re in front of, not just dozens but hundreds of people. So, it gets hard to find the space to kind of chew on a problem or solve a question. And what’s great is if you have the energy late at night to talk, you go over everything, and by the time you hit that studio floor the next morning, me and him are in lockstep.”
A Complete Unknown follows an enigmatic 19-year-old from Minnesota who arrives in NYC in 1961 with his guitar and revolutionary talent, destined to change the course of American music. He forges intimate relationships with music icons of Greenwich Village on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking and controversial performance that reverberates worldwide.
The film also stars Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash, Will Harrison as Bob Neuwirth and more.
