Bob Dylan criticizes ‘Timmy’ Chalamet’s portrayal of him in ‘A Complete Unknown’

Legendary musician Bob Dylan has finally weighed in on the upcoming biopic based on his life — offering effusive praise for star Timothée Chalamet’s performance as his early self.

“There’s a movie about me opening soon called A complete unknown (what a title!), the singer-songwriter, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, wrote in a short review published on X.

Dylan wrote that title himself—it comes from the chorus of “Like a Rolling Stone,” Dylan’s 1965 single that featured electric guitars and rock instrumentation, much to the chagrin of folk music purists.

“Timothee Chalamet plays the lead role. Timmy is a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’ll be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or another me.”

Dylan also praised the book the screenplay was based on – Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric, a 2015 book about his infamous performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. “It’s a stunning retelling of the events of the early ’60s leading up to the Newport fiasco,” Dylan wrote. “After you see the movie, read the book.”

A complete unknown doesn’t hit most theaters until Dec. 25, but Chalamet’s performance has been getting rave reviews — including some from his peers.

Both Chalamet and A complete unknown director James Mangold was awarded the Visionary Tribute Award by 2024 Gotham Film Awards on Monday.

Oscar Isaac, Chalamets Dune co-star, introduced the actor and director and offered high praise for the young actor’s portrayal of Dylan – whom he called “the most sacred to me”.

Isaac said Chalamet discussed the upcoming film while on set for Denis Villaneuve’s 2021 sci-fi epic. “He starts telling us about his next project he’s working on. A movie with the wonderful director James Mangold about a young Bob Dylan who comes to New York in 1961. And my first thought: ‘That sounds like a really bad idea. ‘ said Isaac.

In 2013, Isaac starred in another beloved film about the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene – the Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis. The Coens’ film was based on the memoirs of Dave Van Ronk, one of Dylan’s contemporaries.

But Chalamet won over Isak and his fellow men Dune co-stars Stephen Henderson and Josh Brolin after he pulled out his guitar — which Isaac said he was just starting to learn. Isaac said that Chalamet’s performance of “Girl from the North Country” sounded “not like he was learning anything new, but like he was remembering something he’d always known—just rediscovering it.”