Here’s a nice hump day surprise: the teaser for A Complete Unknown, the Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet has arrived…which makes me wonder if it’s going to be ready in time for the fall festivals.
This film was just shooting two months ago, and though I initially expected it next year, based on the typical 12-month life of film production, it’s now tipped for December. Assuming director James Mangold went in with a clear plan and minimal VFX, though, it’s entirely possible he could turn it around in time for a year-end opening date.
Speaking of effects, this didn’t leap out in the set photos, but in the teaser, it appears Timmy is wearing facial prosthetics on his nose. It’s certainly not drastic, looks like just a little over the bridge of his nose to better align with Dylan’s profile, but I also wonder if the minimalism is in response to the backlash to Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic nose in Maestro. That was due to Cooper not being Jewish, though, and wearing prosthetics to better resemble a famous Jewish artist. Timothée Chalamet is, like Bob Dylan, of Jewish descent. Will people care? Or will the fact that Timmy’s Dylan prosthetics are so slight never even tip off a discussion?
It's hard to tell how good the film itself will be as the teaser isn’t even two minutes long and is pretty much just focused on showing us Timmy-Bob in action. But Timmy looks convincing as a young Bob Dylan without looking like he’s trying too hard, and he sounds enough like him to pass muster, too. (Keep in mind, this movie is set before the motorcycle accident that forever altered Dylan’s voice.) We also get looks at Elle Fanning and Monica Barbaro as Suze Rotolo and Joan Baez, respectively. I have no doubt Fanning will be great, but I am most interested in Monica Barbaro’s follow-up energy after Top Gun: Maverick. That girl is a STAR, she even manages to make mediocre dreck like Netflix’s Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle FUBAR bearable. Can’t wait to see what she does playing an icon like Joan Baez.
We also get to see Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, who namechecks Woody Guthrie—this is already my dad’s favorite movie of 2024. I’m actually more into Norton in this teaser. But I am a nerd who grew up on Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, never mind that I am waiting to see Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash, though I have a suspicion he’ll be more of a cameo than a proper character. James Mangold has already made his Johnny Cash movie.
If A Complete Unknown really can turn around fast, and it meets a 2024 release date, it will be a full-court press for Timothée Chalamet during awards season. Playing icons is almost a golden ticket to the Oscars for young actors if they do even a halfway decent job, and even when I don’t like the movie he’s in, Timmy never does a merely halfway decent job. Timmy’s already got one Oscar nomination, could Bob Dylan lead to number two?
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