Timothée Chalamet transforms into Bob Dylan in the first teaser trailer of A Complete Unknown, a musical biopic from Academy Award nominee James Mangold about the early days of the legendary singer-songwriter.
In the footage released by Searchlight Pictures, a 19-year-old Dylan (Chalamet) walks the streets of New York City in the 1960s, passing by the iconic Chelsea Hotel. Chalamet later performs Dylan’s 1963 protest song, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall. The trailer culminates with Dylan’s groundbreaking performance at 1965’s Newport Folk Festival, where the folk singer notably switched from acoustic to electric rock and roll.
A Complete Unknown’s cast includes Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash, Dan Fogler as Albert Grossman, Norbert Leo Butz as Alan Lomax, and Scoot McNairy as Woody Guthrie.
Mangold directs A Complete Unknown from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jay Cocks. The film is based on Elijah Wald’s 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night that Split the Sixties. Mangold has experience directing musical biopics, including 2005’s Walk the Line, starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. Walk the Line received five Oscar nominations, with Witherspoon winning for Best Actress.
Producers include Chalamet, Mangold, Michael Bederman, Fred Berger, Bob Bookman, Alan Gasmer, Alex Heineman, Peter Jaysen, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Andrew Rona, and Jeff Rosen.
Chalamet continues his ascent into superstardom with A Complete Unknown, which could result in his second Oscar nomination. In March, Chalamet starred as Paul Atreides in Dune: Part Two, the epic sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. Dune: Part Two should be one of the contenders for Best Picture at the 2025 Oscars.
A Complete Unknown will be released in theaters this December.
