In 1961, Bob Dylan moves to New York City, seeking to meet his recently hospitalized idol Woody Guthrie. Dylan meets Guthrie along with his close friend Pete Seeger in the hospital. Dylan performs a song he wrote for Guthrie, impressing the two folk musicians. Seeger invites Dylan to stay with his family, slowly ingratiating the newcomer into New York City's folk scene. Dylan meets Sylvie Russo at a concert, charming her with his contrarian opinions and tales of working at a carnival. The two begin a relationship and move in together.
Following a performance by Joan Baez, Seeger introduces Dylan at an open mic night attended by industry executives and manager Albert Grossman. Dylan flirts with Baez and impresses the crowd, prompting Grossman to take him on as a client on the spot. Dylan begins work on an album but is forced by his label to mostly record covers. The record's sales are poor, frustrating Dylan.
Before leaving on a lengthy school trip to Europe, Russo has an argument with Dylan. She is upset by his aloof nature and deliberate attempt to conceal his past from her. Despite this, she encourages him to push for recording his original music. While she is away, Dylan capitalizes on political and social unrest to build a following for his socially conscious songwriting. This draws Baez's attention, and the two begin an affair and artistic collaboration. Russo becomes suspicious in seeing Dylan's professional closeness with Baez and by 1965, Dylan and Russo have separated.
Having achieved stardom but not artistic freedom, Dylan laments that he is beholden to the expectations of the industry and the folk music community. A long-awaited tour with Baez ends in disaster; an argument over Dylan's ego, along with Baez's demands that they play his popular songs instead of new material, leads to Dylan walking off-stage mid-performance.
Dylan's desire to break free of expectations drives him to experiment with electric guitar and rock instruments, a controversial direction within the folk scene, who overwhelmingly prefer simple acoustic arrangements. Dylan pieces together his band and begins recording Highway 61 Revisited. Dylan's new direction is especially worrisome for the Newport Folk Festival planning committee, who have hired Dylan to headline the 1965 event but fear he may debut his divisive new sound.
Dylan invites Russo along to the festival. She accepts, but upon watching a duet ("It Ain't Me Babe") between him and Baez, becomes upset and leaves. The committee attempts to influence Dylan to not go electric, eventually resorting to an impassioned plea from Seeger, who reminds Dylan that his own life's work is on the line. An intoxicated Johnny Cash encourages Dylan to play the electric show, and Dylan goes through with his plan. The crowd's reaction is vitriolic, throwing both invective and physical objects at the band. The committee, including Seeger, attempts to cut the sound but is thwarted by Grossman and Seeger's wife Toshi. Dylan initially refuses a request from Seeger and the festival organizers to perform a folk song as an encore, but relents when Cash offers him his guitar.
The next morning, on his way out from Newport, Baez catches Dylan and remarks that he "won", that he finally got the freedom from everyone else that he wanted. Dylan visits Guthrie one last time before leaving town on his motorcycle.
Russo is based on Suze Rotolo, Dylan's girlfriend at the time.[12] Though Dylan requested the film not use her real identity, Angie Martoccio of Rolling Stone described the Russo character as "Rotolo in all but name."[13]
It was announced in January 2020 that James Mangold would be writing and directing a biopic about Bob Dylan, specifically centered on the controversy surrounding his switch to electric guitars, with Timothée Chalamet cast as Dylan. At this time, the film was referred to as Going Electric.[17] By October, cinematographer Phedon Papamichael stated that the ongoing COVID-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 director Joel Coen during this time.[19][20] Mangold had also met with Dylan about the film and stated that he annotated the script while also providing notes to Chalamet.[21] In an October 2023 interview, Chalamet stated he was working with the same team of vocal and movement coaches that worked with Austin Butler for his performance in Elvis (2022).[22]
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.[23] In February 2023, the film was officially titled A Complete Unknown and it was stated that Mangold would begin work on the project following his obligations to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023).[24]Monica Barbaro would enter final negotiations to portray Joan Baez in April.[25] In May, Elle Fanning was cast to play Sylvie Russo,[26] a character based on Suze Rotolo,[27] with Mangold announcing Benedict Cumberbatch would be portraying Pete Seeger in the film.[28] Barbaro would also be confirmed for her role, beginning singing and guitar lessons to prepare.[29] Mangold would state in July that the film was not necessarily focused on being a Dylan biopic, but an ensemble drama in the vein of Robert Altman. Boyd Holbrook and Nick Offerman would also join the cast in that time.[21] In October, P. J. Byrne was noted as being amongst the cast.[30] Holbrook appeared as Johnny Cash, whose life story had previously been told by Mangold in Walk the Line (2005) with Joaquin Phoenix on the role; Mangold admitted he included Cash due to realizing the role model and the cautionary tale he and his band provided to Dylan as he worked on the script, choosing to cast Holbrook due to their past collaborations and feeling the film could reveal another side of Cash's life as his biopic of him focused on his origin story.[31] In January 2024, Edward Norton was revealed to portray the role of Seeger, replacing Cumberbatch who left due to scheduling issues.[32] Additional casting was announced in March.[1]
Filming
In April 2023, Mangold stated that principal photography would likely begin in August 2023 in New York City and Montreal,[33] but filming was postponed in July due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[34] By early 2024, filming was scheduled to begin in late March 2024, and was expected to occur throughout New Jersey, with scenes set in New York City being filmed in Jersey City.[35][36] Filming began on March 16.[37] Production wrapped by late June 2024.[38][27][39] 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.[40] Chalamet would often be referred to as "Bob" on set by Mangold and was listed as "Bob Dylan" on the set call sheet.[40][41]
According to producer Fred Berger, Chalamet sings 40 Dylan songs in the film while also playing guitars and harmonicas. All performances were recorded live while filming; Barbaro, Norton, and Holbrook sang and played their own instruments.[42] Sound engineer Tod Maitland revealed that recording was done with period-appropriate microphones and instruments and without the use of earpieces.[42] Recording for the film ocurred at The Village and Sunset Sound in Los Angeles.[43] The music production team had access to almost 16 hours of unreleased Dylan recordings and old Columbia Records notes, which included lists of vintage microphones the artist used. The team collaborated with Gibson who lent them archival guitars and made recreations, including two custom J-50's.[43]
In July 2024, a teaser trailer was released.[48][49] The official trailer was released in October.[50] The film premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on December 10, 2024.[51] It was released in the United States on December 25, 2024, and is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom on January 17, 2025.[52][53] The film will also have a limited IMAX engagement beginning January 3, 2025.[54]
Marketing
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.[55] Costume designer Arianne 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.[56] Guitar company Gibson, from where Dylan sourced most of his instruments, also announced a collection inspired by guitars placed in the movie.[57]
Reception
Box office
In the United States and Canada, A Complete Unknown was released alongside Nosferatu, Babygirl, and The Fire Inside, and was projected to gross around $15 million from 2,835 theaters in its five-day opening weekend.[58] The film made $7.2 million on its first day (including $1.4 million from Christmas 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]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 78% of 202 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."[59]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 73 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[60] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it a 93% overall positive score, with 76% saying they would "definitely recommend" it.[7]
In a review for RogerEbert.com, Brian Tallerico awarded the film 3-1/2 out of 4 stars.[61] He praised the "solid performances, unshowy direction, and organic editing". Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian similarly praised the performances and gave the film 5 out of 5 stars, calling Chalamet "hypnotic" as Dylan.[62] Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Kyle Smith also applauded Chalamet's ability to capture different facets of Dylan's personality, including the songwriter's "supercilious air" and his creative genius. Smith especially liked the duet of the song "It Ain't Me Babe" between Monica Barbaro (as Joan Baez) and Chalamet, describing it "as spectacular".[63] Filmmakers Oliver Stone, William Goldenberg and Paul Schrader also praised the film.[64][65][66]
In a mixed review, John Nugent of Empire gave the film 3 out of 5 stars. While he praised the performances, Nugent disliked that the movie "plays it safe" and "struggles to find something fresh to say".[67] A negative review from Richard Brody of The New Yorker viewed the movie as 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".[68] In another negative review for The Forward, Seth Rogovoy expresses dislike for the film as a "conventional Hollywood biopic", criticizing the direction as a "mainstream route", "offering a superficial, simplified gloss on this remarkable story", as well as criticizing the historical inaccuracy and contrasting the film's approach with documentary films such as Dont Look Back in capturing Dylan's persona.[69]
I'm Not There, a 2007 experimental biopic inspired by the life of Bob Dylan, directed by Todd Haynes.
No Direction Home, a 2005 documentary film about Bob Dylan, his emergence in Greenwich Village's 1960s folk scene, and his transition to electric music, directed by Martin Scorsese.
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