Following the release of the A Complete Unknown trailer, Timothée Chalamet’s performance as Bob Dylan is being praised by experts for its accuracy. Directed by James Mangold, the upcoming biopic follows the iconic singer-songwriter’s rise to fame in the Greenwich Village’s folk music scene during the 1960s, with a focus on his controversial decision to switch to electric guitars. Other than Chalamet as Dylan, the cast also includes Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Boyd Holbrook, Dan Fogler, and Scoot McNairy.
Now, following the release of the trailer for A Complete Unknown, experts are praising Chalamet’s performance as Dylan for its accuracy. During a dozen interviews with Variety, some of the world’s most preeminent Dylan experts — including authors, critics, scholars, and podcast hosts — praised Chalamet’s performance as Dylan, specifically his singing voice and mannerisms. Read their reactions below:
Evan Laffer, co-host of the “Jokermen” and “Never Ending Stories” podcasts
: Before the trailer, the anticipation for A Complete Unknown had been negative. There had been a readiness to be disappointed. There’s been a general sense that this could have been a lot worse. I’ve seen a lot of, “Oh, wow, it actually looks all right.” Visually, it reminded me of Bob Dylan’s oil paintings. The cinematography has that kind of lush, not particularly inspired look. That glossy, Hollywood version of Americana.
If nothing else, his dialect coach has done good work. In the middle of the vowels it sounds like Timothée Chalamet, and then he sticks the landing. It’s all about how the words end. Mountiiins. Highweeeys. The thing that easily could have been messed up wasn’t. It’s a shame we don’t get to see a more compelling era represented. There’s something costumey about this period. It feels like ancient history. There’s so many other periods of Dylan’s life that feel more vital or mysterious. The odds are stacked against Timothée by being asked to represent this period that is so untouchably iconic. We are going to have a great time, and we are going to see it as soon as we possibly can in theaters.
Anne Margaret Daniel, music writer and professor teaching a class on Bob Dylan at The New School
: The set photos did not calm me down very much. Timothée Chalamet looked very clean. Timothée Chalamet is an immensely gifted young actor. I’ve enjoyed him in just about everything I’ve seen him in — except for Wonka. I’ll stick with Gene Wilder, thanks. But, hey! He looked like he was having fun doing it. For some reason, the prosthetic nose doesn’t look like Dylan’s nose. I don’t know if the movie is going to catch the same criticism that poor Bradley Cooper got for Maestro, but that was surprising to me.
The way he strums, the way his right hand is moving on the strings, is perfect. He’s obviously watched a lot of footage of Bob performing. I was annoyed that he put a “G” on “darling” He should say, “my daaarlin’ young one.” Bob never put a “G” on anything at that time. The song is not “Blowing in the Wind,” it’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” So, I kind of winced at that. Daniel: When the camera came around him and he looked up and blinked like that — that’s perfect. That’s exactly Dylan onstage at the time. When he sang, “Haaard raaain,” I said, “Oh, yeah!” Not only is he doing it well, but he’s having fun.
Ben Burrell, Absolute Radio presenter and host of the “Bob Dylan: Album by Album” podcast
: A lot of Dylan fans were worried about it. I don’t know if Timothée Chalamet was the most popular choice. I’m a repressed Brit, and very rarely do we get excited about anything. But when the trailer finished, I did a little cheer. He’s pretty much got the cadence nailed on, and that’s the hardest thing to get right with Dylan.
It doesn’t sound like a parody. It sounds enough like Dylan for you to accept him as Dylan, but not so much like Dylan that he’s doing an impression. I’d love a film about Dylan making one of his ‘80s albums. I’d love it, but everyone else wouldn’t, apart from maybe me and six other Dylan fans. We’ve had the esoteric, slightly strange films like Todd Haynes’ “I’m Not There,” but there hasn’t been a big, broad Dylan biopic. I’m definitely on board.
Ray Padgett, author of “Pledging My Time: Conversations With Bob Dylan Band Members” and writer of “Flagging Down the Double E’s” Substack
: From the Dylan people, I saw a lot of mockery. And to the limited extent I was looking after the trailer came out, what I saw was mostly positive. I saw a lot of enthusiasm from Dylan people. I wasn’t wildly enthusiastic about it before seeing the trailer, to be honest, but I thought Timothée Chalamet was a really good casting choice.
I was impressed by the voice. For the first second or so, before they showed him, I was like, “Is that Bob?” What got me excited was seeing these famous places from Dylan lore recreated like that. Seeing Cafe Wha? and the street scenes of the Village in the ‘60s… the period piece of it all. The movie isn’t really for us, and that’s OK — us being the Dylan superfan. I’m going to be skeptical and then be the first in the door, of course.
Craig Danuloff, host of the Dylan.FM website and podcast
: The Dylan community was pretty skeptical. Now I’d say about 90% of the fans on Twitter — and they’ll complain about anything — are very positive about the trailer. There was a gradual progression of information that made the hardcore fans slowly realize, “Hey, maybe this is going to be OK.”
Not only does he elongate words in the way Dylan does, but he also drops down and there’s this roughness, this certain sound in his voice, that’s exactly how Dylan would do it. It’s a particular bit of authenticity relative to Dylan’s singing in that period. The way he sings “highways” sounded really correct, and it was such a subtlety and a nuance. Danuloff: This is a five-year period in the early ‘60s. It happens to be that every five-year period since then is equally interesting.
Erin Callahan, professor and host of the “Infinity Goes Up on Trial” podcast
: How many times have I watched the trailer? I lost count. I would say at least 20 times, if not more. With Dylan, there are multiple communities, and I straddle between the fan community and the academic community. There has been more criticism among the academics. On the fan side — they’re called the Dylanologists — they’ve been enthusiastic. He looks as much like Dylan as I think someone could, except for maybe Cate Blanchett. Timothée has clearly done the work. He has Dylan’s mannerisms down. He’s done the early-career phrasing very well, and the tonality of it.
Steve Jenkins, director of the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Okla
.: There’s a mix of real excitement and anticipation. Maybe some of the old guard are doing a slight bit of eye rolling, but it’s also premature. It’s just a fun thing to talk about. Dylanologists will gleefully dissect and analyze any bit of Dylan activity.
The camera loves Chalamet, so he certainly looks good as Dylan. What we hear of snippets of him performing “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” sounds good, quite respectable. There seems to be a real attention to period detail and accuracy. Anyone who is prematurely saying this is a masterpiece, or that this never should have been attempted… I guarantee everyone will be lining up to see the film when it’s released.
Ian Grant, co-host of the “Jokermen” and “Never Ending Stories” podcasts
: There are some people who are against the movie and are not willing to cut it any slack. At the same time, there are others who are just excited that there is a Bob Dylan movie with Timothée Chalamet. If I had been dream-casting the film myself, I probably would have sought some sort of complete unknown — pardon the pun — to play Bob. But at the same time, it’s a business decision, so that was never going to fly.
When I saw the trailer, honestly I was pleasantly surprised, coming in with the preconceived notion that this was going to be one of these cornball, made-for-TV quality type films that many other rock biopics have been recently. It doesn’t seem to have that flavor to it. Timothée looks better in the trailer than he did in some of the set photos, where he was wearing that hat and scarf. The scarf in particular was upsetting to people. Obviously that’s a bunch of weirdos on the internet overreacting to things. But it looks better in the moving image.
His singing voice sounds as good as we could hope for. I’m sure it’s cleaned up in some ways, but it sounds pretty legit, pretty natural. It’s a daring move, not only because it’s hard for any actor to sing in a movie but because he’s taking on some of the most famous stuff that’s ever been sung or written. That takes some chutzpah. The movie is not for me, and it’s not for anyone who self-identifies as a Bob Dylan fanatic. To freaks and nuts like me, this period of time is maybe one of the least interesting periods of time to spend two hours exploring in a dramatic motion picture.
Either it’s going to be a really well-put-together and loving portrait of a man that I care about very deeply, or it’s going to be a trainwreck that’s fun to ridicule. But I’m holding out hope that it’s going to end up being more of the former than the latter. I’m really hoping it doesn’t turn into one of those Bohemian Rhapsody movies. Not that, you know, there’s anything wrong with that…
Laura Tenschert, host of the “Definitely Dylan” podcast
: He is very charismatic and is obviously an amazing actor. My main criticism is that Timothée Chalamet is a bit too tall to be playing Bob Dylan. I don’t think they should have gone for the prosthetic nose. I don’t think that was necessary. He does a good job avoiding the standard Bob Dylan impression and goes for something more genuine. I think the film is a really exciting opportunity for new people to discover Bob Dylan as an artist. He has had such a long career, and it can be quite intimidating to figure out where to get in.
A film like this is a great opportunity for people to connect with what is charismatic about him and what is special about him. Versatility is strongly associated with Bob Dylan. He recently released a song called “I Contain Multitudes.” So I understand why some fans might struggle with the idea of a biopic that purports to tell a definitive version of his story — that might become “canon” in the eyes of the culture — because a film can never be as nuanced as real life. But there is absolutely room for a more linear biopic.
KG Miles, author of “Bob Dylan in the Big Apple,” “Bob Dylan and Dylan Thomas” and other books
: My kids had made me sit and watch “Dune” and things like that. These aren’t films that I would typically watch, but I think Timothée has enough charisma as an actor, and that’s the important thing. He’s got that star quality. I think most Bob Dylan fans, even the most cynical Bob Dylan fans, will be pretty excited now.
Does he nail the voice? God, you could be picky about it. But he does it seriously well. He gets across the passion and the soul in Bob Dylan’s voice without making it sound like karaoke. If the film is half as good as the trailer is, it’s really going to bring the people in. They’ve done a great job on this. Let’s hope the rest of the film is like that.
Steven Hyden, music critic, author and co-host of the “Never Ending Stories” podcast
: Bob Dylan is such a weird presence on screen. The way he talks, the way he moves, the way that he is simultaneously awkward and totally charismatic. I’m skeptical that any actor can really nail that. We need a little guy to play Bob Dylan. I like the strategy of having him sing live as opposed to having a voice piped in that’s been recorded in a studio, or having him lip-synch Bob Dylan’s voice.
If I don’t end up liking the movie, but it ends up bringing a bunch of people into the fold and introducing Dylan’s music to a wider audience, I’ll look at that as a net positive. My expectations for this movie is that it is going to be competently made and well-acted, and ultimately be unexceptional. I think the chances that this movie is actually great are pretty low, but I also feel like the floor is pretty high. I don’t think the movie is going to be terrible, and I don’t think it’s going to be great. I think it will be somewhere in the middle, which, in a way, is the most boring outcome.
Michael Gray, pioneering critic, author of “Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan” and leading authority on Bob Dylan
: A lot of people online are quite entranced by the whole idea of Hollywood and glamor and film stars in a way that I’m not. I think some of the enthusiasm has less to do with Bob Dylan than you might assume. There has been a surprising amount of enthusiasm. He didn’t look quite enough like Bob Dylan for my personal taste, but I can see that in that period, he has a number of Bob Dylan phases to get through. His singing voice is admirably accurate, not as an imitation but as a representation.
Way back in January 2020, when Chalamet was cast as Dylan in A Complete Unknown, he was placed under immense scrutiny by the singer-songwriter’s most ardent fans, who are notoriously difficult to please. Additionally, when set photos of Chalamet in costume as Dylan surfaced on social media, the reaction from those dedicated fans, known as Dylanologists, was mostly negative. They criticized various aspects of Chalamet’s portrayal, particularly his Greenwich Village attire, and a photo of him wearing a large unflattering scarf quickly turned into a meme.
However, the A Complete Unknown trailer released one week ago has won over many of these critics. Running for two minutes, the trailer reveals Chalamet’s rousing rendition of “A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall,” and as a result, much of the initial skepticism has shifted towards cautious optimism. As revealed by the reactions from some of the world’s most preeminent Dylan experts, Chalamet’s commitment to the role is commendable, and his performance accurately captures Dylan’s singing voice and mannerisms.
While many of the Dylan experts do still have their doubts, they recognize that they aren’t exactly the intended audience for A Complete Unknown. All around, there is widespread excitement about Chalamet introducing Dylan to a younger generation. After Wonka and Dune: Part Two, Chalamet is riding a hot streak at the box office, and with a praiseworthy performance as Dylan, A Complete Unknown should result in another Oscar nomination for Chalamet, and perhaps even his first win.
