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Timothée Chalamet tells all on his recent role as music icon Bob Dylan

The in-demand actor rocks in this year’s most anticipated biopic

Hollywood is buzzing that Timothée Chalamet will become the youngest person to ever win an Oscar for Best Actor for his impressive performance as music legend Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.

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The 29-year-old talent chats to Woman’s Day about playing the Like A Rolling Stone icon in the film, in cinemas Thursday…

How did the process of playing someone as iconic as Bob begin?

For me, it started with the music before there was even a start date. This started, really, during COVID, when I was bored and heard this song, Ballad Of A Thin Man, the live version that is in the Martin Scorsese documentary. That was my way in. I dove into his music from there. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. To this day, I discover new music. What we see in this movie is just a small chapter of his life.

You sing and play guitar as a young Bob in this movie. Why was it important for you to perform live?

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Because if I can actually do it, why should there be an element of artifice here? I’m proud that we took that lead.

Timothée Chalamet driving a car as Bob Dylan
“It’s really about trying to honour this man,” says Timothée.

What makes Bob’s performing style unique?

It’s a lot of down strokes. His strumming pattern in the early ’60s was very different. I have heard some people say his guitar playing peaked in the ’80s and ’90s – that he was getting better, in other words. The two craziest things to me are how the purists are hard on his guitar playing or are hard on his voice.

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How did you go about learning how to sing and play like him?

I’d drive to a little studio that’s totally off the map in Burbank, California, where I worked with Nick Baxter, who was the musical supervisor. We would do some tracks mimicking Bob exactly, but because I have a golden playlist with 12 hours of unreleased Bob Dylan music, I would be like, “Well, he actually did it this way on this take…” and Nick would go, “Well, I don’t have that reference!”

Is it true that you haven’t actually met Bob despite him being involved in this project?

I’ve never met him, no. I would love to. My feeling for the last four years has been, God forbid I meet him and he was like, “No!” That is honestly my fear. But I would love to meet him now. I have seen him live. He was absolutely brilliant. It was magical. It was spectacular.

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Bob Dylan leaning against a window with sunglasses on at night in 1966
The real Bob in 1966.

Do you know if he has heard you sing any of his songs?

There was some rumour that he would come and listen to the music, but I don’t know.

Has he made contact with you in any other way – a note maybe?

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No, that would be the least Bob thing ever! He made modifications to the script. He has lines that are his in the script that I relished. There was one I remember mentioning to Jim Mangold, the director. I said, “This is good, man! Where did you come up with this?” He goes, “Bob put that in.” He still has the Bob-annotated script. I am going to ask Jim for it! He won’t give it to me, but I want it.

Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning acting in A Complete Unknown
Elle Fanning co-stars as Bob’s girlfriend Sylvie Russo.

What was your connection to Bob before this role came to you?

My connection to his music was basically non-existent. I had a friend of my dad’s who was one of these Dylan-obsessed fans and had one of his early black-and-white portraits on the wall. So I was familiar with the face of Bob Dylan. But when they approached me with this project, it was at a time when my career was emerging. I was having to be very obedient about doing press and media for the first time. Watching him in press conferences from 1965 in San Francisco and seeing how he would do it, I was like, “Wow! I’ve never seen anything like this.” It was very inspiring.

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On Dune, you worked with Austin Butler, who of course played Elvis Presley in a biopic. Did you ask him any advice about how to play a music legend?

I’ve been picking Austin’s brain nonstop. But let’s let my film come out before I am so lucky as to get included with Austin. He did such a phenomenal job. I will be lucky to do anything to compare with him. But I’m deep in the Bob Dylan lore now and I know he had tremendous respect for Elvis.

Timothée Chalamet with girlfriend Kylie Jenner
With girlfriend Kylie Jenner at the Golden Globes, where he was nominated for Best Actor.

You mentioned your golden playlist of unreleased tracks. How do you sleep at night knowing those are in your possession?

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Yeah, it’s not easy. I feel so deeply respectful of his world, of Dylanologists. I don’t want to be flippant.

You’ve played Paul Atreides in Dune, then Willy Wonka and now Bob. Which of those roles has given you most sleepless nights?

All three! There’s something about when you embark on a story that’s 100% original and you’re really shining your flashlight into the dark. Willy Wonka, Paul Atreides and Bob Dylan, these are dangerous characters to go near. People are rightfully very protective of them because they already exist in a significant cultural, if not emotional, place. There are many people who don’t want you to go near them, understandably.

A Complete Unknown will be available to stream in New Zealand on Apple TV+ soon.

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