The Bob Dylan movie A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet, tells the story of a 19-year-old Dylan as he arrives in New York in the early ’60s and gets immersed in the folk music scene, through his controversial electric performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.
Chalamet tells ABC News looking at footage of Dylan’s performance at the festival, it’s easy to see an artist coming into his own.
“I see an artist who’s pursuing the path that he sees in front of him instinctually,” Chalamet says. “That’s not taking no for an answer, that won’t be bullied into doing what he doesn’t want to do, and perseveres through that vision … even through, perhaps, those who support him feeling let down, and following that vision through.”
The film also follows Dylan’s personal life, including relationships with Joan Baez, played by Monica Barbaro, and a character named Sylvie Russo, who’s played by Elle Fanning and is based on one of Dylan’s real exes, Suze Rotolo.
“She knew him before the fame and before everything and loved him in a very pure way,” Fanning says of her character, noting she thinks they didn’t last because “that just wasn’t her path in life.”
A Complete Unknown opens Dec. 25 and already has the stamp of approval from Dylan, who posted a tweet calling Chalamet a “brilliant actor.”
Chalamet says Dylan’s tweet was “a huge moment of affirmation … because he’s a man of few words.”
“You know, take that moment of affirmation when you’re a young artist, you’re kind of jumping off the mountain,” he says. “So when one of these greats looks down from the mountaintop and pats you on the back in some way, regardless of the movie, it was a great feeling.”
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