Watch Timothée Chalamet cover three Bob Dylan songs on ‘SNL’
During his performance on SNL, Timothée Chalamet covered three Bob Dylan songs. The actor has recently been promoting his latest film A Complete Unknown, a biopic about one period in Bob Dylan’s life, directed by James Mangold.
The film has been nominated for multiple awards, including an Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’ for Chalamet, which is his second nomination. Chalamet is one of the favourites to win this category, with an extensive marketing campaign to promote his performance in the film.
While A Complete Unknown features some of Dylan’s most well-known songs, the actor decided to sing some more obscure songs for his performance on SNL. The film shows the creation of hit songs like Blowin’ in the Wind and It Ain’t Me Babe, but during his opening monologue, the actor said, “You might not know the Bob Dylan songs I’m performing, but they’re my personal favourites,” he told the audience.
He joked: “I’m so grateful Saturday Night Live is still doing weird stuff like this 50 years in. They’re either really nice for letting me do this or incredibly mean and this is all a big prank.”
As well as this, Chalamet was also joined by singer James Blake on stage, who accompanied him on the piano. Despite using a distinct accent in the film to recreate the voice of Bob Dylan, Chalamet chose to sing in his own voice, performing the first two songs with sunglasses on and a winter coat over his hood to mimic the appearance of the musician.
Chalamet first sang a medley of ‘Outlaw Blues’ and ‘Three Angels’, which are beloved by keen Dylan fans but less prominent on his greatest-hits album. ‘Outlaw Blues’ was first released on the 1965 album Bringing It Back Home, originating from a time period that is depicted in the movie. He then sang ‘Three Angels’, from the 1970’s album New Morning.
Chalamet lastly opted for a more mellow song choice, singing ‘Tomorrow Is A Long Time’, something that Dylan first performed in 1962 but didn’t release until the 1970s. His performance felt loose and laid-back, which is perhaps because the actor had just discovered that the film had received eight Oscar nominations.
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