Timothée Chalamet Sings as Bob Dylan in the First Trailer for ‘A Complete Unknown’

Viewers got to hear Timothée Chalamet singing as Bob Dylan for the first time in the official trailer for the Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.

Dylan is considered one of the greatest songwriters of all time. His knack for penning lyrics infused with political and social influences led to several of his songs becoming anthems for the Civil Rights movement. At the same time, his historic decision to go “electric” helped usher in a new age of rock music. Given his legacy, numerous films have tackled his story. Now, Chalamet is stepping into the role of Dylan in A Complete Unknown.

The biopic has been years in the making as filmmaker James Mangold first announced the project in early 2020. While the movie faced delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project remained in development with Chalamet attached as the lead star. So far, the Wonka and Dune star has shown a dedication to the role somewhat similar to that Austin Butler displayed in his transformation into Elvis Presley. Like Butler, Chalamet will do all his own singing for the film and even worked with the same vocal team Butler worked with for Elvis. Even though there was a period during COVID-19 when the film’s status was uncertain, Chalamet continued preparing for the role, researching Dylan and visiting important sites in Dylan’s career, such as Greenwich Village.

Searchlight Pictures drops the official trailer for A Complete Unknown

A Complete Unknown does not yet have a confirmed release date, but it is expected to arrive sometime in December 2024 in the United States. In the first official trailer for the movie, Searchlight Pictures promised the movie was “coming soon.”

The trailer introduces Chalamet’s Dylan as a young artist who may embody the future of music. Viewers soon hear Chalamet singing as Dylan for the first time as he delivers a stirring cover of “A Hard Rain’s A-Coming.” There are also hints of a budding romance between him and Elle Fanning’s character and the toll his whirlwind rise to fame takes on him.

Fanning, who has acted with Chalamet before in A Rainy Day in New York, stars opposite him again in A Complete Unknown as Sylvie Russo. Russo appears to be inspired by Suze Rotolo, an artist who dated Dylan in the 1960s and appeared on the cover of his album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Top Gun: Maverick‘s Monica Barbaro portrays another of Dylan’s love interests, Joan Baez. Baez was one of the first artists to collaborate with Dylan when he was still unknown, and their partnership developed into a relationship, but he abruptly ended it in 1965. Edward Norton stars in A Complete Unknown as Pete Seeger, one of Dylan’s earliest supporters.

A Complete Unknown will also feature several other iconic artists, including Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash, Scoot McNairy as Woody Guthrie, Will Harrison as Bob Neuwirth, and Charlie Tahan as Al Kooper. Rounding out the cast are Dan Fogler as Albert Grossman, P. J. Byrne as Harold Leventhal, Norbert Leo Butz as Alan Lomax, and Kayli Carter as Maria Muldaur.

The official synopsis for A Complete Unknown reads:

Set in the influential New York music scene of the early 60s, A COMPLETE UNKNOWN follows 19-year-old Minnesota musician BOB DYLAN’s (Timothée Chalamet) meteoric rise as a folk singer to concert halls and the top of the charts – his songs and mystique becoming a worldwide sensation – culminating in his groundbreaking electric rock and roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

A Complete Unknown will be hard-pressed to differentiate itself from the numerous other Dylan biopics. However, its decision to focus on a specific moment in his life, the electric set controversy, and Chalamet’s mesmerizing transformation into the songwriter bode well for its performance. If director Mangold can make his Dylan biopic as strong as his Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line, it should fare quite well.