Dark glasses and curly hair. Guitar and cigarette clouding his face. From that smoke a voice, which interpreted songs that marked entire generations. And they continue to do so. And that voice belongs to Bob Dylan, an icon of world music and style – who does not follow trends and seasons – far from the spotlight, as he says ‘A Complete Unknown’: James Mangold’s biopic of Robert Allen Zimmerman, aka Bob Dylan, played by young star Timothée Chalamet, arriving in theaters on January 23 con The Walt Disney Company Italia. “The work has been long, over five and a half years, but I feel that it is not finished yet.” But in the meantime Dylan’s blessing arrived: “Timmy is a brilliant actor, I’m sure he will be completely believable in my part. Or in the part of a younger me. Or some other version of me,” the artist wrote on his profileReceiving a pat on the back from a legend of few words like him is not only reassuring but it’s a dream come true, in fact it goes beyond my wildest dreams“, commented Timothy.
Produced by Searchlight Pictures, the film is set in New York in the early 1960s. Against the backdrop of a vibrant music scene and tumultuous cultural upheaval, an enigmatic 19-year-old from Minnesota arrives in the West Village with his guitar and a revolutionary talent, destined to change the course of American music. As he forges deeper bonds during his rise to fame, his restlessness with the folk movement grows, and by refusing to be labeled, he makes a controversial choice that resonates culturally around the world.
“Every chapter of Bob Dylan’s life is interesting, it’s an incredible thing,” explains Chalamet. “You could make a film about every period of his journey. If they offered me to play him every 10 years through a biopic dedicated to every moment of his life, I would absolutely do it“, admits the actor, who during Covid lived with the fear that the film would not see the light of day: “the film was postponed for a long time, first the pandemic and then due to the actors’ strike. Now I feel relieved”, recalls the protagonist.
In the film a ‘touch’ of the real Bob Dylan: “He told us how he experienced certain moments of his life from an emotional point of view”, for example “he always wanted to be part of a band” and “the transition from folk music to rock’n’roll, which created a rift in him. He felt alone and frustrated in his life as a folk singer, alone on stage “, says director Mangold, who underlines how these insights from Dylan on his emotions enlightened him.
Also in the cast is Monica Barbaro, who plays the other folk icon Joan Baez. Like Chalamet, she too had to learn to sing and play: “Joan Baez didn’t give me any real advice. I asked her questions about things that I hadn’t been able to find an answer to from what I had read and in the documentaries that I had seen”, says the actress. Barbaro-Baez shared the film with Elle Fanning as another Dylan love, Sylvie Russo. A woman, whose name is fictitious at Dylan’s request: “She was not a public person and deserved not to be exposed to the spotlight,” Mangold explains.
Fanning explains how it’s “hard to love someone who will always choose their art, but without her I don’t think he would have written as many songs.” In the film “I chose not to represent her as a jealous girlfriend, hers is a desire that has not been fulfilled. When she sees Joan and Bob singing together she understands that she will never have that connection with him”conclude.
