Everything We Know So Far About Timothée Chalamet’s Bob Dylan Biopic

Off-kilter chocolatiers, desert messiahs, civil war-era heartthrobs, lone-wolf cannibals. Thus far, Timothée Chalamet’s career has been one of thrilling roles—and his latest, Bob Dylan in the James Mangold-directed A Complete Unknown, is no different. Here’s everything we know so far.

Is there a trailer for A Complete Unknown?Yes! Watch the first teaser below.

What’s the plot of A Complete Unknown?While the plot is still largely under wraps, we know that the film will follow a 19-year-old Dylan’s first arrival in New York City from Minnesota, as he seeks a career in music and soon skyrockets to worldwide fame. “It’s such an amazing time in American culture and the story of a young 19-year-old Bob Dylan coming to New York with, like, two dollars in his pocket and becoming a worldwide sensation within three years,” Mangold told Collider during a red-carpet interview in April 2023. “First being embraced into the family of folk music in New York, and kind of outrunning them at a certain point as his star rises so beyond belief.”

Chalamet on the set of A Complete Unknown.

Photo: Getty Images

Is there a trailer for A Complete Unknown?A trailer is quite far off. Despite A Complete Unknown being in development for nearly five years now—Chalamet’s casting was first announced in 2020, but filming was delayed first due to COVID, and then the SAG-AFTRA strikes—production has only just begun.

Who else is in the cast of A Complete Unknown?Joining Chalamet will be Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, Dylan’s fictional girlfriend, inspired by the musician’s real-life former girlfriend and muse Suze Rotolo. Edward Norton will play Dylan’s fellow folk musician Pete Seeger, Monica Barbaro will play a young Joan Baez and Boyd Holbrook is rumoured to play Johnny Cash.

Is Timothée Chalamet recording his own vocals for A Complete Unknown?He can act, he can dance and yes, he can sing—Chalamet confirmed in a December 2023 interview that 70% of the soundtrack had already been recorded in a Californian studio with Nick Baxter, the film’s music supervisor. In the same interview, the actor also revealed that Dylan’s manager, Jeff Rosen, sent Chalamet 12 hours of unreleased Bob Dylan music from 1959 to 1964. “This might earn the ire and wrath of a lot of Bob fans, rightfully,” Chalamet pre-warned.

Where’s A Complete Unknown being filmed?According to local New Jersey news outlets, the film is recreating Woodstock, New York, in various parts of northern New Jersey.

When is A Complete Unknown being released?The film will hit theaters this December, though an exact date is still to be confirmed.

How should I entertain myself until A Complete Unknown premieres?Listen to Bob Dylan’s back catalogue, of course—and watch Todd Haynes’s experimental Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There.