Timothée Chalamet singing as Bob Dylan in ‘A Complete Unknown’ gets mixed reviews
He’s tangled up in blue.
The first trailer for the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” starring Timothée Chalamet was released on Wednesday.
In the trailer, Chalamet, 28, can be heard imitating Bob Dylan’s distinctive vocals, singing “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.”
Fans took to social media to express mixed reactions to the “Wonka” star taking on the role of the legendary musician.
“Your singing is PERFECTION. Bravissimo !!!” one fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“If Bob Dylan had looked liked Timothée Chalamet he would have been too powerful. They are toying with forces they do not understand,” another fan joked, while a third fan wrote, “Everyone updating their Oscar predictions to include Timothée Chalamet now.”
Not all reactions were positive, however, as one fan remarked, “Hearing Bob Dylan’s voice come from Timothee Chalamet is so… I can’t take this seriously I’m sorry,” and another viewer wrote, “A Razzie Nom is coming.”
The movie follows Dylan’s early years in New York City and his rise to fame in the 1960s. “The Great” lead Elle Fanning co-stars as Dylan’s then-girlfriend, Sylvie Russo, Edward Norton co-stars as Pete Seeger and Boyd Holbrook plays Johnny Cash.
Oscar-nominated director James Mangold told Rolling Stone that he thought Chalamet’s performance was “miraculous.”
He added, “And there were also moments where it felt like something was getting channeled. I don’t mean in mimicry. I mean in feeling.”
Mangold continued, “But there were also moments where Timmy would come up to me and go, ‘I think I lost Bob a little’ or I’d say, when that happens, ‘You’re losing him a little bit.’ And that was our code for drifting too much into yourself and not carrying some of those affectations and mannerisms that are part and parcel of being him.”
Mangold told the outlet that he thought Chalamet showed Dylan’s “almost genetically predisposed discomfort with what his own great achievements then bring upon him and that, in terms of people wanting things, transactional relationships, or relationships that are tainted by the immense power and talent.”
When the real Bob Dylan, 83, asked Mangold what the movie will be about, Mangold recalled telling the legendary musician, “It’s about a guy who’s choking to death in Minnesota, and leaves behind all his friends and family and reinvents himself in a brand-new place, makes new friends, builds a new family, becomes phenomenally successful, starts to choke to death again — and runs away.”
Mangold told the outlet that Dylan replied, “I like that.”
The trailer ends with Dylan performing a song for Seeger and his family, as Seeger’s daughter tells Dylan that his song is a “good start.”
“Timmy really carries this character from a 19-year-old boy telling tales of working on the carnival into this person that we recognize as an icon,” said Mangold.
“Timmy finds the path to carry us there. It’s going to be impossible for people in trailers or teasers or photos to see, but the way he grows this character is a real act of acting brilliance in my opinion.”
“A Complete Unknown” does not yet have an announced premiere date.
