On Oct. 8, 2024, the official trailer for “A Complete Unknown,” a new biopic about Bob Dylan, was released. The film, directed by James Mangold, stars Timothée Chalamet as the lead role of Dylan. Elle Fanning and Monica Barboro star alongside Chalamet as potential love interests.
The release of the official trailer has been a long time coming for Dylan and Chalamet fans alike. In January 2020, it was first announced that Mangold would be collaborating with Searchlight Pictures to direct a Bob Dylan biopic starring Chalamet.
The film follows Dylan’s rise to fame in the 1960s, focusing on the time he spent in New York’s West Village. The trailer opens with imagery of New York, as Chalamet is seen walking the streets with his guitar case in hand. Edward Norton, who plays American folk singer Pete Seeger asks him, “You tramped all the way from Minnesota, why is that?” to which Chalamet responds profoundly, “I wanted to catch a spark.”
The first half of the trailer follows Dylan through his performances and encounters with other musicians in New York during the early 1960s. Chalamet can be heard singing Dylan’s 1963 song “Girl from the North County” in an impeccable Minnesotan accent, resembling the nasal, flat and snarly singing voice of Dylan.
Barboro, who plays Joan Baez, Dylan’s musical partner and girlfriend at the time, is seen performing alongside Chalamet on stage. The two met in 1961 and soon became a very notable pairing in folk music at the time for their distinctive vocal styles. Baez’s sweet soprano voice soars above and in-between the flatter, more nasally tones of Dylan’s singing. Baez helped launch Dylan’s career, after having established herself as a very successful and prominent folk singer in 1960.
However, the two went their separate ways when Dylan left her to embark on his own for his 1965 tour of England, an event artfully captured in D.A. Pennebaker’s 1967 documentary film “Don’t Look Back.”
It will be interesting to see how the film depicts Dylan’s complicated relationship with Baez, and if she will receive more recognition for her accomplishments as a singer and her role in launching Dylan’s career, which is often overlooked in retellings of Dylan’s life.
The trailer takes a turn as Dylan finds himself escaping from a crowded room. Chalamet states, “Two hundred people in that room and each one wants me to be somebody else, they should just let me be.” This segues into the second half of the trailer, filled with themes of self-discovery and independence, revealing the main plot of the movie: the Dylan Goes Electric Controversy.
By the mid-1960s, Dylan had become an iconic figure in the folk-revival scene. He was known for the poetic, politically charged and culturally sensitive lyrics in his songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “The Times They Are A-Changin” and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” These songs, as well as the rest of his discography, had all, up until the time, been acoustic. This was one element of his work that his traditional folk fans were not ready to see go.
Consequently, it was no surprise that when Dylan went electric during his set at the Newport Folk Festival, it sent his fans into a frenzy, creating one of the biggest musical controversies in history. This performance was Dylan’s first debut usingan electric guitar and amplifier. While some embraced this change, Dylan was initially met by the overwhelming cries of angered fans from the audience, who felt betrayed by their folk music icon.
This iconic moment in music history is captured in the trailer during a reenactment of Dylan’s 1965 electric set, as yelling, shouting and even fighting can be seen in the audience.
Mangold is following in the footsteps of his predecessors Martin Scorsese, Pennebaker and Tom Haynes, directors who have all produced fascinating films exploring Dylan’s life in unique and creative ways.
The film features cameos of some of Dylan’s most notable musical counterparts: Barbaro as Baez, Norton as Seegar and Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash. Fans of this genre may enjoy seeing some familiar faces brought to life on the big screen.
Overall, the film’s tackling of issues like the “Dylan Goes Electric Controversy,” Dylan’s role in folk and rock music and even his personal relationships, could bring a new perspective to his relationship with Baez.
“A Complete Unknown” reaches theaters on Dec. 25, 2024.
Victoria Thompson can be reached at [email protected]
