
Timothée Chalamet open to trilogy of Bob Dylan biopics: “It depends how people react”
Timothée Chalamet has confirmed that he would be willing to potentially reprise his role as Bob Dylan following the release of A Complete Unknown in the United States.
At 29 years old, Chalamet already has a catalogue of great credits and adds to it with his representation of musical legend Dylan. For the role, the actor thrust himself into the life of the singer-songwriter for several years in preparation and would be willing to do so again if the public demanded another installation.
During an interview on Nardwuar’s The Human Serviette podcast, Chalamet spoke in detail about the upcoming movie and its focus on a very specific section of the singer’s life. While some biopics try to cover an artist’s entire career, A Complete Unknown specifically focuses on the early years of Dylan’s career and his rise to fame after moving to Greenwich Village.
“The movie covers 1961 to 1965 as that was the era. That was part one,” said Chalamet discussing the movie, “We could do part two and three. It depends how people react […] The film ends in 1965, but he had a motorcycle and he needed a break.”
Recently, he received the highest possible praise, as Dylan credited him for his portrayal after watching a preview screening of the movie, writing on X, “There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!). Timothee Chalamet is starring in the lead role. Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me.”
In the new podcast interview, Chalamet spoke about the gruelling process involved in getting the scenes involving Dylan performing music right as he attempted to convincingly portray one of the best musicians of all time. “We did 11 or 12 takes sometimes of the music stuff,” he said, “It felt dignified to bring life to Bob Dylan. One of the greatest artists of our times.”
“I get to be the voice of Bob Dylan and that is the greatest honour of my life,” he added, “This is the movie I am the most proud of in my career and I want to hit every verse. We worked our tail off on it and Bob Dylan deserves to get this attention.”
Due to his affinity for Bob Dylan’s music and the amount of work Chalamet has put into perfecting his representation of the folk singer, it’s not surprising that he would be open to making more films in the future. Whether these come to fruition or not remains to be seen. As it stands, A Complete Unknown has made a triumphant start to the domestic box office, and Chalamet is also in contention for a successful awards season thanks to his performance.
A Complete Unknown is set for release on January 17th in the United Kingdom. Watch the trailer for the biopic below.
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Bob Dylan Newsletter
All the latest stories about Bob Dylan from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.