Timothée Chalamet (who also produces) stars as Dylan, with Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Boyd Holbrook, Dan Fogler, Norbert Leo Butz, Eriko Hatsune, Big Bill Morganfield, Will Harrison, and Scoot McNairy in supporting roles.
In 1961, Bob Dylan moves to New York City, seeking to meet his recently hospitalized idol, Woody Guthrie.
Dylan meets Sylvie Russo at a concert, charming her with his contrarian opinions and tales of working at a carnival and offers her a peanut.
Following a performance by Joan Baez, Seeger introduces Dylan at an open microphone night attended by industry executives and manager Albert Grossman.
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 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 acoustic guitar.
[23] 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).
[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.
[29] 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.
[30] 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.
[31] In January 2024, Edward Norton was revealed to portray the role of Seeger, replacing Cumberbatch, who left due to scheduling issues.
[4] 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.
[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.
[47] "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" has been confirmed as a track on the album, which also includes performances from Norton and Holbrook.
[45] The album's track listing also includes "Highway 61 Revisited", "Mr. Tambourine Man", "I Was Young When I Left Home", "Subterranean Homesick Blues", and "The Times They Are a-Changin'".
[8][9] 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.
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.
"[65] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 70 out of 100, based on 59 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian similarly praised the performances and gave the film 5 out of 5 stars, calling Chalamet "hypnotic" as Dylan.
[68] 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".