A Complete Unknown is a 2024 American biographical film about the early career of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, directed by James Mangold, written by Mangold and Jay Cocks, and loosely based on the 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric! by Elijah Wald. A Complete Unknown examines the period of 1961–1965, beginning with Dylan's start as an American folk singer, and ending with his controversial use of electric instruments at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Dylan is portrayed by Timothée Chalamet, who also produced the film. Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Boyd Holbrook, Dan Fogler, Norbert Leo Butz, Eriko Hatsune, Big Bill Morganfield, Will Harrison, and Scoot McNairy appear in supporting roles.
A Complete Unknown premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on December 10, 2024, and was released in the United States by Searchlight Pictures on December 25. It grossed $140.5 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews. It was named one of the top ten films of 2024 by the American Film Institute and the National Board of Review. The National Board of Review also awarded Fanning Best Supporting Actress.
The film earned eight nominations at the 97th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Chalamet), Best Supporting Actor (Norton), and Best Supporting Actress (Barbaro). It received three nominations at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards (including Best Motion Picture – Drama), four at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards (winning Best Actor for Chalamet), and six at the British Academy Film Awards (including Best Film).
Plot In 1961, Bob Dylan hitchhikes to New York City to meet his music idol, Woody Guthrie, who is dying slowly of Huntington's disease. Dylan meets Guthrie in the hospital with Guthrie's friend, the folk singer and activist Pete Seeger. Dylan performs "Song to Woody," a song he had written for Guthrie, impressing Guthrie and Seeger, who invites Dylan to stay with his family, introducing the young musician to New York City's folk scene.
Following a performance by Joan Baez, Seeger introduces Dylan at an open mic club attended by industry executives. Dylan flirts with Baez and impresses the crowd, prompting the music manager Albert Grossman to take him on as a client. Dylan begins work on an album but is forced by his 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 she leaves on a 2-month college trip to Rome, 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 the Cuban Missile Crisis and John F. Kennedy's assassination, Dylan produces a series of socially conscious folk songs. This draws significant attention, including from Joan Baez and Johnny Cash. Dylan's album begins to sell well, 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 1964 Newport Folk Festival, hoping to rekindle his relationship with her. Upon watching Dylan's duet with Baez on "It Ain't Me Babe", Sylvie realizes she will never be comfortable in their relationship and breaks off their relationship.
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.
Dylan experiments with electric guitar and a young rock band, a controversial direction within the folk scene. He pieces together his band and begins recording Highway 61 Revisited. Dylan's new direction concerns some on the planning committee for the upcoming 1965 Newport Folk Festival, as they hired him to headline the event.
The committee demands Dylan play only folk music, and Seeger 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 reacts with vitriol. The committee, including Seeger, attempts to cut the sound but is stopped by Grossman and Seeger'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 own acoustic guitar.
The next morning, as Dylan is leaving Newport, Baez catches him and remarks that he has won the freedom he wanted. Dylan visits Guthrie and listens to a recording of "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh," one of Guthrie's songs, before leaving town on his motorcycle.
Onscreen text reveals that Dylan released Highway 61 Revisited a month later, which topped the charts. Seeger and Dylan reunited in 1968, and Seeger continued to play folk music and advocate for civil rights until his death in 2014, as did Baez. Since 1965, Dylan has released 55 albums and is the only songwriter in history to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, though he did not attend the ceremony.
Cast
Production
Pre-production
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 with literary agent Bob Bookman, who introduced them to longtime Dylan manager Jeff Rosen. 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 filming Call 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 agent Brian Swardstrom to attend the meeting. Berger and Heineman met with Rosen every three months to develop the project, Rosen had previously written a script with Jay Cocks in 2011 for HBO but production had stalled. They took that script and partnered with Rosen, Bookman and Searchlight Pictures to produce the film. Director James Mangold came on board after a meeting with Searchlight's producers en route to the 46th 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.
In January 2020, Mangold was announced to be writing and directing a biopic about Bob Dylan, specifically centered on the controversy surrounding his switch to electric guitars, with Chalamet cast as Dylan. At this time, the film was referred to as Going Electric. By October, cinematographer Phedon Papamichael stated that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic had put the project into doubt. 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. Mangold had also met with Dylan several times about the film, and stated that he annotated the script while also providing notes to Chalamet. The finished script was partly based on Elijah Wald's book Dylan Goes Electric! as well as on Mangold's talk with Dylan, and Dylan himself also added lines and a scene to the film. 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). Dylan's life had previously been portrayed before in Todd Haynes's biopic I'm Not There (2007), which presented more of an experimental aspect using six different actors depicting various facets of Dylan's public personas.
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. In February 2023, the film was officially titled A Complete Unknown and Mangold was to begin work on the project following his obligations to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). Monica Barbaro entered final negotiations to portray Joan Baez in April. In May, Elle Fanning was cast to play Sylvie Russo, a character based on Suze Rotolo, with Mangold announcing Benedict Cumberbatch would portray Pete Seeger in the film. Barbaro was also confirmed for her role, beginning singing and guitar lessons to prepare. Mangold stated 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 at that time, though Offerman was later replaced by Norbert Leo Butz. In October, P. J. Byrne was noted as being cast. Holbrook appeared as Johnny Cash, whose life story had previously been told by Mangold in Walk the Line (2005) with Joaquin 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 his origin story. In January 2024, Edward Norton was revealed to portray the role of Seeger, replacing Cumberbatch, who left due to scheduling issues. Matthew Rhys also auditioned for the role before Norton was directly offered it. Matthew Rhys felt ‘enlivened’ and ‘crappy’ after losing buzzy biopic role to Edward Norton Additional casting was announced in March.
Filming In April 2023, Mangold stated that principal photography would likely begin in August 2023 in New York City and Montreal, but filming was postponed in July due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. 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 and Hoboken. Filming began on March 16. Production wrapped by late June 2024.
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. Chalamet was often referred to as "Bob" on set by Mangold and was listed as "Bob Dylan" on the set call sheet. Chalamet abstained from cell phone use allowing him to fully engage in the character without modern distraction.
Music
According to producer Fred Berger, Chalamet sang 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. Sound engineer Tod Maitland revealed that recording was done with period-appropriate microphones and instruments and without the use of earpieces. Recording for the film occurred at The Village and Sunset Sound in Los Angeles. 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, which lent them archival guitars and made recreations, including two custom J-50's.