Bob Dylan fans were left “a little nervous” by the teaser release of the Timothée Chalamet-starring A Complete Unknown.
The Dune and Call Me By Your Name star will portray the now 83-year-old musician in a biopic charting his change from acoustic to electric music. Monica Barbaro, Boyd Holbrook and Elle Fanning will also star as Joan Baez, Johnny Cash and Sylvie Russo respectively. A now-viral teaser has been released, with fans split on the portrayal of Dylan and how “weird” the voice is.
One user wrote: “His voice is weird because every other line he sounds like Bob Dylan and the other half of the time he sounds like himself.” But another was full of praise for the vocal range, writing: “Happy that Timmy is going for his natural voice. A little nervous but looking forward to seeing what Mangold is gonna bring.”
A third was more optimistic about Chalamet’s casting, adding: “The way Timothee looks and sounds just like him I’m so excited for this.” Another was hopeful Chalamet was doing his singing for the movie in similar fashion to Austin Butler in the Elvis biopic. They wrote: “If Timothee is really singing that, he should be given directions to the Dolby Theater soon. He could be headed there soon.”
A release date for the film, which focuses on the switch Dylan made to amplified music, has not been confirmed. Scoot McNairy and Edward Norton will also appear in the film as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.
Fans are now speculating how far the story will be taken, with some wondering whether the film will feature Dylan’s infamous accident in 1966. The singer-songwriter had been driving his Triumph motorcycle in Woodstock, New York when he crashed the vehicle and “hurt” himself. Speculation about the accident has continued over five decades after it occurred.
Writing of the accident in his book, Chronicles, Dylan revealed: “I had been in a motorcycle accident and I’d been hurt, but I recovered.” One person who watched the trailer has since questioned whether the film will include the accident, writing: “Looks good. I wonder how far they’ll take the story. Maybe to his accident?”
Another fan was doubtful of A Complete Unknown and suggested the previous Dylan biopic, I’m Not There, was more than enough for fans of the legendary musician. “I figured they stop making these after a perfect musician biopic was released in 2007,” they wrote. “Boy was I wrong…”
One user joked: “Watch Walk Hard if you want to know the plot of this movie, watch I’m Not Here if you want to see a good movie about Bob Dylan.”
Watch the teaser for A Complete Unknown below.
this is a travesty.