Timotheé Chalamet says he learned to play 30 Bob Dylan songs for upcoming biopic

11 November, 2024

Timotheé Chalamet

Timotheé Chalamet has said he learned to play 30 Bob Dylan songs in preparation for the upcoming biopic in which he plays the legendary folk musician.

The Dune star is set to play the music icon in upcoming film A Complete Unknown, which will chart Dylan’s controversial switch from acoustic to electric guitar in the mid-’60s. The film will be released in US cinemas on December 25, with a UK release to follow on January 17.

Last month, the first full trailer for the film was released, including a scene from Dylan’s infamous appearance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where he was booed for veering away from folk and into a new rock-influenced direction.

Now, in a new interview with The Zane Lowe Show on Apple Music 1, Chalamet has opened up about the work he’s done to prepare for playing the iconic singer, including learning to play 30 Dylan songs.

He told Lowe: “For the movie, I had to learn 13, let’s say, or something, but in total, I could probably play 30. So Tim Monich was a dialect coach. That’s who I worked with for years on this. Worked with a harmonica coach for five years. And then, worked with a woman named Polly Bennett, who’s a movement coach that actually we got more out of just working on the script together than anything physicality related.

“And then, for my own spirit-gathering, for lack of a better metaphor, I retraced Bob’s steps through Chicago and Madison, Wisconsin. And I started in Hibbing, in Duluth. And I spent about a week where he is from in Minnesota.”

He went on to stay performing Dylan’s songs live on set is where he felt most assured. He explained: “It was the most unique challenge I’ve taken on, but where my confidence came through is eventually doing all the music live.”

The actor also said he could relate to Dylan’s dreams of becoming a big star somewhat too, saying: “I’ve had a life experience, I want to say it’s weird, but I can relate to some of these things he went through. So Bob wanted to be a rock and roll star, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, that was, depending on your point of view, the sort of rice crispy pop rock and roll music that was saturated and marketed to kids in the late ‘50s. Equally, I wanted to be a big movie actor.”

You can watch part one of the interview in full above. Part two of the interview arrives in December.

Recently, Chalamet gave a preview of the film by dropping his version of one of Dylan’s most iconic tracks, ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’, originally released on the 1965 album ‘Bringing It All Back Home’.

Chalamet showed off an impressive Dylan take on the song, and an accompanying video had clips of him replicating Dylan’s famous promo in which he tosses away cue cards with lyrics from the song. The clip also includes footage of Chalamet in character on set, and some behind-the-scenes glimpses.

Edward Norton co-stars in A Complete Unknown as folk singer Pete Seeger, Elle Fanning plays Dylan’s girlfriend Sylvie Russo and Monica Barbaro portrays Joan Baez.

The film is directed by James Mangold, who also helmed the acclaimed Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line. Mangold also co-wrote the film alongside Jay Cocks (Gangs of New York, The Age of Innocence).

In a recent interview with NME alongside his Dune: Part Two co-star Austin Butler, Chalamet said he would have liked Butler’s version of Elvis Presley, from the Baz Luhrmann hit Elvis, to appear in A Complete Unknown.

In other news, Chalamet recently showed up at his own lookalike competition in New York City, among around 900 other wannabe Chalamets. A top prize of $50 (£39) in cash and a trophy was on offer for the winner – although it is unclear whether Chalamet himself was eligible.

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