In 1961,Bob Dylan hitchhikes to New York City to meet his music idol,Woody Guthrie, who is dying slowly ofHuntington's disease. Dylan meets Guthrie in the hospital with Guthrie's friend, the folk singer and activistPete Seeger. Dylan performsSong to Woody, a song he wrote for Guthrie, impressing Guthrie and Pete. Pete invites Dylan to stay with his family, introducing him to New York City'sfolk scene.
Following a performance byJoan Baez, Pete introduces Dylan at an open mic club attended by industry executives. Dylan flirts with Baez and impresses the crowd, prompting the music managerAlbert Grossman to take him on as a client. Dylan begins work onan album but is forced byhis label to record mostly covers and traditional folk songs. The record's sales are poor, frustrating Dylan.
Dylan meets Sylvie Russo at a church folk music night, charming her with his contrarian opinions and tales of working at a carnival. The two begin a relationship, and he moves into her apartment. Before leaving on a 2-month college trip toRome, they argue; Sylvie is upset by his aloof and opaque nature, especially about his past. Despite this, she encourages him to record his original music.
Influenced by political and social unrest, such as theCuban missile crisis andJFK's assassination, Dylan produces a series of socially conscious folk songs. This draws much attention, including from Joan Baez andJohnny Cash. Bob's album begins to sell and he receives his first royalty check for $10, 000. Baez and Bob begin an affair and collaboration, while Cash becomes his "pen pal".Dylan brings Sylvie to the 1964Newport Folk Festival., hoping to rekindle his relationship with her. Upon watching Dylan duet with Baez on "It Ain't Me Babe", Sylvie realizes she will never be comfortable in their relationship and says goodbye.Having achieved fame but not artistic freedom, Dylan laments that he is beholden to the expectations of the industry and fans. On tour with Baez, Dylan and Baez argue over his ego and his refusal to play his popular songs instead of new material, and Dylan walks offstage mid-performance.
The committee demands Dylan play only folk music, and Pete reminds Dylan that his own life's work is on the line. An intoxicatedJohnny Cash encourages Dylan to play the electric show, and Dylan goes through with his plan. The crowd reacts with vitriol. The committee, including Pete, attempts to cut the sound, but is stopped by Grossman and Pete's wife,Toshi. Dylan refuses a request from the festival organizers to perform a folk song as an encore, but relents when Cash offers him his acoustic guitar.
The next morning, on his way out from Newport, Baez catches Dylan and remarks that he has won the freedom he wanted. Dylan visits Guthrie and listens to a recording ofSo Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh, one of Woody's songs, before leaving town on his motorcycle.
Producers Fred Berger and Alex Heineman started discussing the film in 2017, as they did not own any rights to Dylan's story they met withliterary agent Bob Bookman, who introduced them to longtime Dylan manager Jeff Rosen.[16] Heineman and Berger were looking for the lead and reached out to the team of, at the time up-coming actor,Timothée Chalamet, Chalamet had just finished filmingCall Me By Your Name (2017) and the producers were struck by his versatility and physical resemblance to the artist. The actor was reluctant about taking the role as he was not familiar enough with Dylan and had to be convinced by his agentBrian Swardstrom to attend the meeting.[16] Berger and Heineman met with Rosen every three months to develop the project, Rosen had previously written a script with Jay Cocks in 2011 forHBO but production had stalled. They took that script and partnered with Rosen, Bookman andSearchlight Pictures to produce the film. DirectorJames Mangold came on board after a meeting with Searchlight's producers en route to the46th Telluride Film Festival. Mangold was interested in doing another music biopic and read Cocks' script on the plane; he liked it so much that he started writing without a deal in place. Mangold's involvement was key in convincing Chalamet to finally sign on to the film.[16]
In January 2020, Mangold was announced to be writing and directing abiopic aboutBob Dylan, specifically centered on thecontroversy surrounding his switch to electric guitars, withTimothée Chalamet cast as Dylan. At this time, the film was referred to asGoing Electric.[17] By October, cinematographerPhedon Papamichael stated that the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic had put the project into doubt.[18] Nevertheless, Chalamet learned to play the guitar and harmonica, and spent time researching Dylan during the pandemic, visiting the former homes of Dylan in New York City and consulting directorJoel Coen during this time.[19][20][16] Mangold had also met with Dylan several times about the film, and stated that he annotated the script while also providing notes to Chalamet.[21][16] The finished script was partly based onElijah Wald's bookDylan Goes Electric! as well as on Mangold's talk with Dylan,[22] and Dylan himself also added lines and a scene to the film.[23] In an October 2023 interview, Chalamet stated he was working with the same team of vocal and movement coaches that worked withAustin Butler for his performance inElvis (2022).[24] Dylan's life had previously been portrayed before inTodd Haynes's biopicI'm Not There (2007), which presented more of an experimental aspect using six different actors depicting various facets of Dylan's public personas.[25]
In November 2022, Chalamet stated he was still attached to the film and actively preparing for it, the project having gained momentum again after stalling.[26] In February 2023, the film was officially titledA Complete Unknown and Mangold was to begin work on the project following his obligations toIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023).[27]Monica Barbaro entered final negotiations to portray Joan Baez in April.[28] In May,Elle Fanning was cast to play Sylvie Russo,[29] a character based onSuze Rotolo,[30] with Mangold announcingBenedict Cumberbatch would portray Pete Seeger in the film.[31] Barbaro was also confirmed for her role, beginning singing and guitar lessons to prepare.[32] Mangold stated in July that the film was not necessarily focused on being a Dylan biopic, but anensemble drama in the vein ofRobert Altman.Boyd Holbrook andNick Offerman would also join the cast at that time, though Offerman was later replaced by Norbert Leo Butz.[21] In October,P. J. Byrne was noted as being cast.[33] Holbrook appeared as Johnny Cash, whose life story had previously been told by Mangold inWalk the Line (2005) withJoaquin Phoenix in the role; Mangold admitted to casting Holbrook due to their past collaborations and feeling the film could reveal another side of Cash's life, as his previous biopic focused on hisorigin story.[34] In January 2024,Edward Norton was revealed to portray the role of Seeger, replacing Cumberbatch, who left due to scheduling issues.[35] Additional casting was announced in March.[4]
In April 2023, Mangold stated thatprincipal photography would likely begin in August 2023 in New York City andMontreal,[36] but filming was postponed in July due to the2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[37] By early 2024, filming was scheduled to begin in late March 2024, and was expected to occur throughoutNew Jersey, with scenes set in New York City being filmed inJersey City andHoboken.[38][39] Filming began on March 16.[40] Production wrapped by late June 2024.[41][30][42]
Norton said that during the three months of principal photography, Chalamet was "relentless" in staying immersed in his role as Dylan, not having contact with friends or visitors on set.[43] Chalamet was often referred to as "Bob" on set by Mangold and was listed as "Bob Dylan" on the setcall sheet.[43][44] Chalamet abstained from cell phone use allowing him to fully engage in the character without modern distraction.[45]
According to producerFred Berger, Chalamet sang 40 Dylan songs in the film while also playing guitars andharmonicas. All performances were recorded live while filming; Barbaro, Norton, and Holbrook sang and played their own instruments.[46] Sound engineerTod Maitland revealed that recording was done with period-appropriate microphones and instruments and without the use ofearpieces.[46][47] Recording for the film occurred atThe Village andSunset Sound in Los Angeles.[48] The music production team had access to almost 16 hours of unreleased Dylan recordings and oldColumbia Records notes, which included lists of vintage microphones the artist used. The team collaborated withGibson, which lent them archival guitars and made recreations, including two customJ-50's.[48]
Thesoundtrack album forA Complete Unknown was released on December 20, 2024, throughColumbia Records.[49] A vinyl edition featuring 16 tracks was released on January 24, 2025, while the CD with 23 tracks was released on February 28.[50][51] Two songs from the soundtrack were released on December 4, 2024: "Like a Rolling Stone" by Chalamet and "Girl from the North Country" by Chalamet and Barbaro.[52] "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" has been confirmed as a track on the album, which also includes performances from Norton and Holbrook.[50] The album's track listing also includes "Highway 61 Revisited", "Mr. Tambourine Man", "I Was Young When I Left Home", "Subterranean Homesick Blues", and "The Times They Are a-Changin'".[50] The film additionally features a performance of "Song to Woody".[12]In a January 2025 interview with *ScreenDaily*, director James Mangold explained that when he picked up the project he was “instantly and insatiably hooked by the possibilities” after reading the script about Bob Dylan's early years. He said, “I didn’t even wait to ask whether I could have the movie; I just started looking at the script, voraciously making notes.”[53]
A Complete Unknown is a fictionalized account of Bob Dylan's life covering the period from the time of his arrival in New York in 1961 to the 1965Newport Folk Festival. In the film, the timeline of events has been compressed or altered, and events have been transposed, amalgamated or simply invented. Individuals known to have been important to Dylan in this period including his future wifeSara Lownds have been omitted, while some characters are fictitious.[22][54][10][55] Dylan himself was revealed to have added at least one unspecified "totally inaccurate" scene into the film.[23][56]
A major character is introduced as Sylvie Russo, but who is actually based onSuze Rotolo as Dylan had requested that the film not use her real identity. Angie Martoccio ofRolling Stone described the Russo character as "Rotolo in all but name."[57] A number of scenes with her are not based on facts; she did not attend the 1965 Newport Folk Festival with Dylan as she had already long broken up with him.[10][58] Similarly, a number of scenes depicting Dylan's relationship with Joan Baez are not factual; it did not begin during the 1962Cuban Missile Crisis but a year later. They also broke up before the 1965 Newport Festival.[59]
Early in the film, Dylan is shown to have first metPete Seeger andWoody Guthrie in a hospital in New Jersey. This did not happen as depicted;[54] Dylan first met Guthrie at a house in New Jersey (but he did later visit Guthrie many times at the hospital) and only wrote "Song to Woody" after meeting him, while Seeger first met Dylan inGreenwich Village.[10] Dylan also did not appear on Pete Seeger's TV show,[54] and the bluesman Jesse Moffette is an invention.[60] WhileJohnny Cash and Dylan were longtime pen pals, Cash was not present at the 1965 festival as depicted in the film. Cash did, however, give Dylan his guitar the previous year. The climactic scene of hiscontroversial performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where someone in the audience shouted "Judas!" actually came from aconcert in Manchester, England in 1966.[58] The scene where Seeger became so angry over Dylan's performance that he considered using an axe to cut the microphone cables is a recognition of a legend and not an fact.[22]
The director Mangold said that the film is "not a Wikipedia entry", indicating that he did not "feel a fealty to a documentary level of facts".[22] Mangold also said: "It's not really a Bob Dylanbiopic. It's a kind ofensemble piece about this moment in time in the early '60s in New York ... and this wanderer who comes in from Minnesota with a fresh name and a fresh outlook on life [and] becomes a star."[61]
The film premiered at theDolby Theatre in Hollywood on December 10, 2024.[62] It was released bySearchlight Pictures in the United States on December 25, 2024, and was then released in theUnited Kingdom on January 17, 2025.[63][64] During its first weekend in UK andIreland, the film would top the box office.[65] The film would also have a limitedIMAX engagement beginning January 3, 2025.[66] It was featured in the Limelight section of the54th International Film Festival Rotterdam to be screened in February 2025.[67] The film had its theatrical preview inParis on January 15, 2025.[68] It was released in the rest of France on January 29, 2025.[69]
To promote the film,Levi's announced a capsule collection inspired by Dylan, who often wore the brand's garments during the period reflected in the film.[70] Costume designerArianne Phillips worked with design director Paul O'Neill on the research, and sourcing of Levi's pieces, to recreate the original outfits worn by Dylan.[71] The guitar company Gibson, from which Dylan sourced most of his instruments, also announced a collection inspired by guitars placed in the movie.[72]
A Complete Unknown was released onVOD platforms on February 25, 2025, and onHulu on March 27, 2025. It was released on4K Ultra HD Blu-ray andBlu-ray on April 1, 2025, bySony Pictures Home Entertainment.[73][74] It reached No. 1 on the U.K.Official Film Chart for the week ending May 7, 2025.[75]Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on certain American television screens, calculated thatA Complete Unknown was streamed for 253 million minutes during the week of March 24–30, ranking as the ninth most-streamed film for that period.[76][77]JustWatch, a guide to streaming content with access to data from more than 45 million users around the world, reported that it was the most-streamed film in the U.S. from April 1–30.[78]
A Complete Unknown grossed $75 million in the United States and Canada, and $65.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $140.5 million.[8][9]
In the United States and Canada,A Complete Unknown was released alongsideNosferatu,Babygirl, andThe Fire Inside, and was projected to gross around $15 million from 2,835 theaters in its five-day opening weekend.[79] The film made $7.2 million on itsfirst day (including $1.4 million fromChristmas Eve previews), and then $4.4 million on its second. It went on to debut to a total of $23.2 million over the five days (including $11.7 million in its three-day opening weekend), beating projections and finishing in sixth.[7] In its second weekend, the film made $8.2 million, bringing its box office total to $41.8 million to surpassThe Menu (2022) as the highest-grossing Searchlight title domestically afterDisney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019.[80][81] The film made a respective $5.1 million, $3.7 million, and $3.1 million in its third, fourth, and fifth weekends.[82][83][84]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 82% of 336 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Charged up by Timothée Chalamet's electric performance, this ballad of Bob Dylan might not get under the enigmatic artist's skin, but will make you feel like you've spent time in his company."[85]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 70 out of 100, based on 59 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[86] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed byPostTrak gave it a 93% overall positive score, with 76% saying they would "definitely recommend" it.[7]
In a review forRogerEbert.com, Brian Tallerico awarded the film 3-1/2 out of 4 stars.[87] He praised the "solid performances, unshowy direction, and organic editing".Peter Bradshaw ofThe Guardian praised the performances and gave the film five out of five, calling Chalamet "hypnotic".[88] Writing forThe Wall Street Journal,Kyle Smith also applauded Chalamet's ability to capture different facets of Dylan's personality, including his "supercilious air" and his creative genius. Smith especially liked the duet of the song "It Ain't Me Babe" betweenMonica Barbaro (asJoan Baez) and Chalamet, describing it "as spectacular".[89] FilmmakersOliver Stone,William Goldenberg, andPaul Schrader praised the film.[90][91]
John Nugent ofEmpire gave the film three out of five stars; he praised the performances, but felt the film "plays it safe" and "struggles to find something fresh to say".[92]Richard Brody ofThe New Yorker felt it was a hollow representation of Dylan's career, writing: "The movie offers answers that range from empty to artificial, leaving out the practicalities and manipulating dates and names in order to center the drama on a small number of personalities."[93] InThe Forward, Seth Rogovoy criticized the film as a "conventional Hollywood biopic", that offers "a superficial, simplified gloss on this remarkable story". He criticized the historical inaccuracy and contrasting the approach with documentary films such asDont Look Back (1967).[94]A Complete Unknown was named one of the top 10 films of 2024 by theAmerican Film Institute.[95]
No Direction Home, a 2005 documentary film about Bob Dylan, his emergence in the Greenwich Village folk scene, and his transition to electric music, directed byMartin Scorsese.
I'm Not There, a 2007 experimental biopic inspired by the life of Bob Dylan, directed byTodd Haynes.
Inside Llewyn Davis, a 2013Coen brothers film inspired byDave Van Ronk's memoir,The Mayor of MacDougal Street. The film follows a fictional week in the life of a struggling New York City folk singer in 1961, leading up to Dylan's historic debut atThe Gaslight Cafe.
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