• Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet still seem to be going strong. 
• The couple attended their second Golden Globe Awards together on Sunday.
• Here's a timeline of their relationship, from interacting at Paris Fashion Week to attending award shows.

In what is arguably the most unexpected celebrity coupling since Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson, Kylie Jenner is dating Timothée Chalamet.

Reports first surfaced in April 2023 that the two were casually seeing each other. In the time since, more information has come to light about their rumored first meeting and sources have given details on the relationship, though neither Jenner nor Chalamet have confirmed it publicly.

Most recently, Chalamet and Jenner were spotted together at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, held in Los Angeles in January 2025. 

Here's everything we know about their relationship so far, from when it may have started to the pair's secret taco dates.

Representatives for Chalamet and Jenner didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

January 2023: Jenner and Chalamet meet during Paris Fashion Week

A video of Jenner and Chalamet from January that appeared to show them interacting during an event at Paris Fashion Week resurfaced in April, after the dating rumors began in full force. According to People, the video was taken at Jean Paul Gaultier's Paris Fashion Week show.

People reported that Jenner had again split from Travis Scott, the father of her two children, earlier in January, though the source told People it was "probably not the end" of Jenner and Scott's famously on-again, off-again relationship.

Chalamet, for his part, had most recently been linked to model Sarah Talabi in 2022 and actor Eiza González in 2020.

March 27, 2023: The two reportedly attend a dinner with Kendall Jenner and Kendall's rumored boyfriend Bad Bunny

Shortly before the Kymothée relationship rumors took the internet by storm, Page Six reported on March 27 that Jenner's sister Kendall and rapper Bad Bunny (who'd themselves been at the center of dating rumors for about a month at that point) were photographed out together leaving a club in West Hollywood, California.

The Page Six report mentioned in passing that Kendall and Bad Bunny had dinner "alongside other A-Listers — including her sister, Kylie Jenner, and Timothée Chalamet," among others. 

April 6, 2023: DeuxMoi posts about Jenner and Chalamet dating rumors

On April 6, pop-culture gossip curator DeuxMoi posted an anonymous fan submission claiming that "multiple sources" had told them that Chalamet "has a new girl... Kylie Jenner. ⚰️⚰️"

DeuxMoi soon followed that up with submissions from other readers who claimed they could confirm the news. One anonymous source told Deuxmoi they'd known about the pairing since Paris Fashion Week in January, indicating that the relationship may have started then.

The internet had a collective meltdown, with some expressing shock and horror at the unexpected pairing and others straight up refusing to believe that the two, who seem to run in very different social circles, had ever even met. 

April 7, 2023: Jenner and Chalamet eat tacos in a car together

According to photos from paparazzi agency Splash News reported on by Page Six and TMZ, Jenner and Chalamet had a "secret date night" at Tito's Tacos, a restaurant outside Los Angeles, that involved a kind of complicated car swap situation.

Page Six reported that Jenner picked Chalamet up in her car after he attended an art show. One of Jenner's security guards then apparently drove Chalamet's car, which followed Jenner's car, to Tito's Tacos, at which point Jenner's team hopped out and brought tacos back to the car, according to TMZ.

Jenner wasn't photographed during the reported date.

April 13, 2023: Jenner's car is seen at Chalamet's house

On April 13, TMZ published photos from paparazzi agency Backgrid showing a black car, which they identified as Jenner's black Range Rover SUV, in the driveway of a house, which they identified as Chalamet's Beverly Hills, California, estate. Other publications, including the Daily Mail and Page Six, reported on the same photos.

Page Six noted that the SUV had tinted windows and Jenner was never actually photographed inside the car, so it's unclear whether she was in it. The Daily Mail reported that the black SUV "arrived around 10 a.m. and left mere minutes later" followed by a "blacked out security Escalade."

Jenner famously collects luxury cars and she's shown a preference for Range Rovers in the past.

Representatives for Chalamet and Jenner didn't respond to requests for comment from TMZ, the Daily Mail, and Page Six at the time of the reports.

April 14-19, 2023: Sources say Jenner and Chalamet are dating, but just casually

Entertainment Tonight and People both separately reported on sources confirming the casual romance and giving more context for why Jenner and Chalamet were not going public.

On April 14, People reported that "a source close to 'The Kardashians' star" confirmed that Jenner and Chalamet "are hanging out and getting to know each other." (Representatives for Jenner and Chalamet didn't respond to People's request for comment at the time.)

Entertainment Tonight reported similar information from a source.

"They are keeping things casual at this point. It's not serious, but Kylie is enjoying hanging out with Timothée and seeing where it goes," said Entertainment Tonight's source in a story published April 17. "It's been really fun for her because it feels a lot different than her past relationships. It's new and exciting for Kylie and she's having a lot of fun."

The two both attended Coachella mid-month but avoided being photographed together, Page Six reported.

According to the Entertainment Tonight source, Jenner may have met Chalamet through her sister, Kendall, which tracks with their reported attendance at the March 27 dinner. "Timothée is also friends with Kendall, so it's been easy for Kylie to integrate him into her life," the source told Entertainment Tonight.

People reported on April 19 that a source close to Jenner said Jenner and Chalamet "hang out every week" and that Jenner is "having fun" and "wants to date without any pressure" after her on-and-off relationship with Travis Scott. The source also told People that the two had met "earlier this year at an event in Europe," which tracks with the viral video of the two from Paris Fashion Week in January.

May 1, 2023: Chalamet and Jenner don't make their big debut at the Met Gala; fans are bummed

Since the relationship reports broke, fans had been speculating that in true Kardashian-Jenner family style, the couple would make their big public debut in a splashy spectacle on the Met Gala red carpet.

Alas, that didn't happen. Jenner did attend the Met Gala, but she went solo, and Chalamet skipped the fashion event altogether.

May 29, 2023: A source tells People that Chalamet and Jenner are still casually dating, but it's still not serious

After weeks of relative silence on the Chalamet-Jenner front, a source confirmed to People that the reality star and the "Dune" actor are still enjoying each other's company and not putting labels on their relationship. According to People's source, Jenner's main priority is being a mom to 5-year-old Stormi and 15-month-old Aire.

A few days before People's report, Backgrid photos obtained by Page Six appeared to show the same black Range Rover (apparently Jenner's) from the April 13 sighting parked once again in the driveway of Chalamet's Beverly Hills home.

Sometime in May 2023: Jenner is finally seen leaving Chalamet's home

On June 1, Page Six reported that Jenner had been photographed leaving Chalamet's house for the first time. In the photos taken by Splash News, Jenner can be seen in the driver's seat of her black Range Rover, glancing at her phone before driving away from Chalamet's home.

Chalamet was photographed by the same paparazzo leaving in his own car shortly after Jenner departed.

September 4, 2023: Chalamet and Jenner make out at Beyoncé's Los Angeles concert

Footage obtained by TMZ shows the couple dancing, hugging, and kissing one another while taking in Beyoncé's Renaissance tour at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium. In the background, Jenner's sister Kendall is also visible. 

This was the first time Chalamet and Jenner were actually seen interacting in public together. Another video of the two at the concert, obtained by PopCrave, shows Chalamet smoking a cigarette and chatting with Jenner. 

September 10, 2023: The pair are spotted out and about in New York 

Chalamet and Jenner were photographed together at a US Open match in September 2023. In photographs from the event, the two are shown taking in the match, whispering in each other's ears, and even sharing a quick kiss. 

October 17, 2023: Chalamet alludes to his relationship with Jenner in a GQ interview

While the "Dune" star avoided mentioning Jenner by name, or even confirming their relationship, he told GQ's Daniel Riley that the intense scrutiny around his potential relationship reminded him of a "South Park" episode satirizing Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, in which the couple travels around the world on a "Worldwide Privacy Tour" demanding space from the public eye. 

"Sometimes, people are going to be hella confused when you say you're trying to live a private life," Chalamet said in the interview. 

November 1, 2023: Chalamet and Jenner are spotted together at the Wall Street Journal Magazine's Innovator awards

Chalamet and Jenner sat together, and were photographed smiling and talking to one another at the ceremony. 

December 10, 2023: Jenner secretly attends the premiere of Chalamet's new film 'Wonka,' according to reports

According to a report published in People, Jenner and her mom Kris didn't walk the red carpet ahead of the Los Angeles premiere of "Wonka." Instead, they quietly entered the theater after the opening credits. 

January 2024: The couple make their Golden Globes debut together

December 2024: Jenner attended the 'A Complete Unknown' after-party, according to reports

E! News reported that Jenner attended the after-party for the premiere of "A Complete Unknown."  Citing an anonymous source, the publication reported that Chalamet was seen introducing Jenner to other members of the film's cast. 

January 2025: The couple attend the Golden Globes together again

During the ceremony, Jenner and Chalamet were also photographed with his "A Complete Unknown" costars Monica Barbaro and Elle Fanning.

• Timothée Chalamet and Glen Powell brought lookalike competition winners to the Golden Globes.
• Lookalike competitions sprung up in 2024 for actors like Zendaya, Paul Mescal, and Jeremy Allen White.
• After Chalamet and Powell took theirs to the Golden Globes, some say the lookalike trend should stop.

Timothée Chalamet and Glen Powell brought the winners of their lookalike competitions to the Golden Globes, and it's clear that the trend can be left in 2024.

On January 5, the actors brought the winners of their respective lookalike competitions to the Golden Globes awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

They were Miles Mitchell, who won wearing a "Wonka" costume, and Max Braunstein, who won dressed as Powell's "Top Gun: Maverick" character.

The pair of impersonators walked the red carpet and met their respective actors during the event.

Many fans were surprised at how much Braunstein looks like Powell, but some were more critical of Mitchell.

The lookalike events gained momentum at first because plenty were amused by the the idea of dozens of people trying to convince fans they looked like their favorite A-lister.

But the pair's Golden Globe appearance feels like the natural conclusion to the lookalike fad.

Going to the Globes ceremony is quite a coup, and hard to top in the future — unless they suddenly find themselves at the Oscars, of course. (Don't do it, Hollywood!)

Like any trend, the lookalike competitions got boring as other events around the world tried to do the same for other actors including Zendaya, Paul Mescal, and Jeremy Allen White. Some now think it's time to put these contests to bed.

Powell and Chalamet's decision to embrace the lookalike contests has probably made them more accessible to their audience and could help their careers.

The events originally started in October when hundreds of Chalamet fans and impersonators gathered in Washington Square Park in New York for the competition. The actor himself briefly attended the event to pose for photos with some of the lookalikes.

Powell upped the stakes for his lookalike competition, held in November in his hometown of Austin. He offered the winner a chance for their family to have a cameo in his next movie, a cowboy hat, and a year's supply of tacos.

• Actors often transform into real-life musicians for biopics. 
• Some actors go through physical transformations to play musicians.
• Many, like Timothée Chalamet and Angelina Jolie, employ vocal coaches to nail their performances.  

Musical legends have been brought to the big screen for decades, in biopics that range from transformative to highly mediocre. Finding actors who can accurately portray those artists often requires some musical training, studying of mannerisms, and physical transformations.

While some roles merely require learning some choreography and slight makeup, others are more intensive, like Jamie Foxx having his eyes glued shut to portray blind musician Ray Charles.

The latest addition to the list is Timothée Chalamet, who stars as Bob Dylan in James Mangold's film "A Complete Unknown." Mangold is no stranger to biopics, having previously directed the movie "Walk the Line," which starred Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash. But for Chalamet, playing the singer-songwriter was a new challenge, and the end result was years in the making. 

Here are 48 of the most notable musician biopic transformations. 

Anjelica Oswald contributed to a previous version of this article.

Timothée Chalamet is earning awards season buzz for his performance as Bob Dylan in "A Complete Unknown."

"A Complete Unknown" chronicles Dylan's rise to fame in the '60. Because of delays due to COVID-19 and the Hollywood strikes in 2023, Timothée Chalamet ended up having five to six years — rather than a couple of months — to work on his portrayal of the singer-songwriter.

During that time, he worked with a guitar teacher named Larry Saltzman and a vocal coach named Eric Vetro. In addition to singing, guitar, and harmonica lessons, Chalamet grew out his real nails and kept speaking like Dylan on set even when cameras weren't rolling. Chalamet also told NPR that he gained 2o pounds because he was thinner than Dylan.

Angelina Jolie plays famed soprano Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín's biopic "Maria."

Angelina Jolie, who never publicly sang before starring in the 2024 film, spent seven months taking singing, voice, and Italian classes. Even while filming "Maria," Jolie had nightly singing rehearsals to prepare for the next day of shooting.

"Industry" star Marisa Abela spent four months taking singing lessons with a vocal coach to portray Amy Winehouse in Sam Taylor-Johnson's 2024 biopic "Back to Black."

Marisa Abela worked with a dialect coach, vocal coach, movement coach, music producer, and guitar tutor to fully inhabit the character. Some of her costumes in the film contain real pieces of clothing worn by Winehouse, too.

Kingsley Ben-Adir starred as reggae legend Bob Marley in the film "Bob Marley: One Love."

The 2024 movie "Bob Marley: One Love" explores Marley's rise to fame, his hardships, and his performance at the One Love Peace Concert in Jamaica in 1978.

Ben-Adir worked with a guitar coach, movement coach, dialect coach, and Jamaican language coach to portray Marley. The performance scenes in the movie blend Ben-Adir and Marley's voices.  

Former Nickelodeon star Austin Butler earned an Academy Award nomination for his astounding transformation into "King of Rock 'n' Roll" Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis."

Austin Butler landed the role over stars like Miles Teller and Harry Styles, per the LA Times.

To play Presley, the actor watched old interviews of the singer, studied the way he talked and sang, and worked with vocal and movement coaches. Butler also developed a close bond with Priscilla Presley and Lisa Marie Presley during the process of making the film. 

Daniel Radcliffe played the titular musician of the 2022 biopic "Weird: The Weird Al Yankovic Story."

The "Harry Potter" star won a Critics Choice Award for his performance as the eccentric musician. And yes, Radcliffe's thick mustache in the film is completely real. 

Evan Rachel Wood played Madonna in "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story."

The movie is a largely exaggerated retelling of Yankovic's life and career. 

"I watched tons of interviews, and I was constantly playing them on set just so I have the cadence of her voice and the tone in my head," Wood told E! News of her process into becoming Madonna. 

"I just sort of let her loose on set and took the foundation that I had and turned it up and made it the most unhinged, sort of stage mom Madonna that one has ever seen," Wood added.

Naomi Ackie portrayed singer Whitney Houston in the biopic "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody."

Naomi Ackie portrayed the Grammy-winning singer at different stages of her life. As part of her preparation, she worked with a vocal coach and listened to original recordings of Houston's isolated vocal tracks.

Gary Busey scored his first and only Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Buddy Holly in 1978's "The Buddy Holly Story."

According to Gary Busey's biography, he played the guitar, recorded the songs for the film, and lost 32 pounds to play Holly.

Viola Davis earned an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of legendary blues artist Ma Rainey in the 2020 film "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."

The film also won two Oscars, for best costume design and best makeup and hairstyling. 

Jason Mitchell transformed into Eazy-E for "Straight Outta Compton."

Jason Mitchell's transformation into the late N.W.A rapper Eazy-E for "Straight Outta Compton" blew critics away.

A New York Times review said the actor "consistently out-acts the rest of the performers." Mitchell, who has a similarly built frame to Eazy-E, gained weight, practiced a South Los Angeles accent, and learned how to rap for the role, according to the Los Angeles Times. Corey Hawkins became Dr. Dre and O'Shea Jackson Jr. transformed into his father, Ice Cube, for the film.

Tom Hiddleston played Hank Williams in "I Saw the Light."

English actor Tom Hiddleston transformed into the folk singer, Southern drawl and all, for "I Saw the Light." Hiddleston stayed with singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell for five weeks and was coached in Williams' mannerisms and singing style.

Kristen Stewart became rocker Joan Jett for the 2010 film "The Runaways."

Jett and Stewart met before the movie was filmed so Stewart could learn about the rock star from the musician herself.

"The thing that came through to me was that it was important to her to capture it," Jett told Interview Magazine. "She really wanted to nail it, so I gave her all The Runaways music that I could find; I gave her tapes of me talking...And she really soaked it in. When we were hanging out together on set, it was like I had a mirror image. Even just sitting around, we'd do the same thing at the same time."

"Black Panther' star Chadwick Boseman channeled his inner funk and broke it down as James Brown in 2014's "Get on Up."

Chadwick Boseman spent three hours in the makeup chair for his full-body prosthetics and wig to get the looks. With the help of a vocal coach and choreographer and advice from some of Brown's surviving relatives and Mick Jagger, one of the film's producers, Boseman gave an electrifying performance.

Jennifer Lopez's breakout role came when she was cast as the beloved Tejano singer Selena in "Selena."

The Puerto Rican actor was met with some backlash because of her heritage. Lopez perfected the late singer's dialect and studied performance footage of the music sensation for the 1997 film.

"This is someone who's fresh in the public's mind, so you need to do your homework on this gig," Lopez told Entertainment Weekly.

Paul Dano played a young Brian Wilson in the 2014 film "Love & Mercy."

To play a younger version of the Beach Boys founder Wilson in "Love & Mercy," Paul Dano learned how to play piano and bass.

Wilson told the Chicago Tribune, "He looked a little bit like me at age 24. But the way he portrayed me producing records — you know? — was very factual, accurate, stimulating."

Dano received a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor. John Cusack plays an older Wilson in the film.

Jamie Foxx received universal acclaim for his portrayal of the blues legend Ray Charles in "Ray."

He won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Critics' Choice Award for best actor for his portrayal in the 2004 film. To embody the blind pianist, he had to lose nearly 30 pounds and had his eyes glued shut every day.

Marion Cotillard received critical acclaim for her portrayal of French singing icon Édith Piaf in the 2007 film "La Vie en Rose."

Marion Cotillard won numerous awards, including the Oscar for best actress. She wasn't initially considered for the role. But when she met with director Olivier Dahan, he was transfixed by her eyes and how they reminded him of a photo of a teenage Piaf.

Joaquin Phoenix earned an Academy Award nomination for best actor for his portrayal of beloved country musician Johnny Cash in "Walk the Line."

Joaquin Phoenix sang all of the songs in the 2005 film, mimicking Cash's signature voice.

"Music is always part of how John communicates what he's feeling and seeing," Phoenix told ABC News. "And that couldn't be faked."

Aaron Taylor-Johnson's breakout role was playing the Beatles member John Lennon in "Nowhere Boy."

Based on a biography written by Lennon's half-sister Julia Baird, the 2009 film told the story of Lennon's adolescence. It covered his relationship with his aunt, Mimi Smith, and his mother, Julia Lennon, as well as the formation of his first band, the Quarrymen, which would evolve into the Beatles.

 

Angela Bassett nailed the strong-willed Tina Turner, earning an Academy Award best actress nomination and won a Golden Globe for her performance in "What's Love Got to Do With It."

Angela Bassett prepared for her audition for the 1993 film with the film's choreographer, and after performing "Proud Mary," she got the role. Laurence Fishburne, who played Ike Turner, also earned an Oscar nomination.

Miles Davis' story was told on the big screen by Don Cheadle in the 2015 film "Miles Ahead."

Cheadle was first linked to the biopic about Davis in 2006 when Davis, who died in 1991, was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Afterward, Davis' nephew announced Cheadle would play his uncle in a film of his life. Cheadle eventually cowrote a script, signed on to direct, and portrayed the jazz musician in "Miles Ahead."

(Cheadle also portrayed Sammy Davis Jr. in 1998's "The Rat Pack," for which he won a Golden Globe.)

Queen Latifah became blues queen Bessie Smith for "Bessie."

Portraying the "Empress of Blues" "left this mark on me," Queen Latifah told NPR. The singer was praised for her role in the 2015 HBO film "Bessie," which won an Emmy for outstanding television movie.

Jamal Woolard made his acting debut portraying Christopher Wallace, aka the Notorious B.I.G., in 2009's "Notorious."

He reprised the role of Biggie Smalls in "All Eyez on Me," a biopic about Tupac Shakur released in 2017.

Biggie's mother Voletta Wallace was a producer on "Notorious." And according to MTV News, she helped pick Woolard to play her son.

"He came in the room, and I said, 'That's my son,'" Wallace told the outlet.

John Lloyd Young originated the role of Frankie Valli on Broadway in "Jersey Boys" and reprised his role in the movie adaptation of the same name.

Valli's life as the front man of The Four Seasons has been documented on Broadway since 2005. Young won a Tony Award for his portrayal. Clint Eastwood brought the story to the big screen in 2014.

Val Kilmer played The Doors rocker Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's "The Doors."

To land the role of Morrison in the 1991 film, Kilmer made his own eight-minute video highlighting his singing abilities and changing his looks to match Morrison to send to director Oliver Stone. Once cast, he dieted for months and spent six months rehearsing songs. He also trained with Paul Rothchild, who produced all but one of The Doors' albums. Surviving band members were not thrilled with the film.

Kurt Russell received an Emmy nomination for his memorable portrayal of Elvis Presley in the 1979 TV movie "Elvis."

Before the movie aired, Russell reportedly told the Los Angeles Times: "I know one thing, there's no in-between. It's either really going to be great or really horrible, just stinking."

It was a success. The film helped shoot Russell's career forward.

"I said, if I'm going to do this, I'm going out in flames. I'm controlling this airplane," Russell told GQ in 2016. "I'm taking it down, or I'm going to break through the clouds my way. And when I did that, that's when I had an epiphany moment, saying, 'Kurt, where have you been your whole life? Wake the f--k up. This is what you're supposed to do.'"

Zoe Saldaña's transformation into Nina Simone for "Nina" was controversial.

Zoe Saldaña's skin was darkened and the filmmakers added prosthetics to make her appear more like Simone.

In response to the casting choice and backlash, Simone's daughter told Time, "It's unfortunate that Zoe Saldaña is being attacked so viciously when she is someone who is part of a larger picture. It's clear she brought her best to this project, but unfortunately she's being attacked when she's not responsible for any of the writing or the lies."

But she also said she was against the making of the film.

"The project has been tainted from the very beginning," she said. "Clearly, it is not the truth about my mother's life and everyone now knows that. This is not how you want your loved ones remembered."

Dennis Quaid took on Jerry Lee Lewis for "Great Balls of Fire."

Quaid practiced piano and took singing lessons for about three to five hours a day in order to learn how to imitate Lewis' piano skills. Though Lewis wasn't a big fan of the film according to AMC, Lewis said Quaid "really pulled it off."

Jessica Lange received high praise for her transformative performance as Patsy Cline in "Sweet Dreams."

She earned her fourth Oscar nomination for the role.

Meryl Streep wanted to play Cline, but later said, "When I saw ['Sweet Dreams'] ... I couldn't imagine doing it as well or even coming close to what Jessica did because she was so amazing in it."

Gary Oldman portrayed the late Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious in "Sid and Nancy: Love Kills."

Goldman beat out Daniel Day Lewis for the part and initially turned down the chance to play Vicious. But after accepting the role, he started to lose weight to mimic Vicious' skeletal body. GQ reported that the actor wasn't eating enough and collapsed in his car, too weak to move.

He told Playboy that he didn't like himself in the film.

"I don't think I played Sid Vicious very well," he said.

Joe Mantegna played Dean Martin in the TV film "The Rat Pack," earning a Golden Globe and Emmy nomination for his role.

About playing the role, Joe Mantegna said, "My goal wasn't to mimic him. It was to capture him."

Sissy Spacek earned an Academy Award for her portrayal of country singer Loretta Lynn in "Coal Miner's Daughter."

Lynn had chosen Spacek to play her based on a photo she saw of the actor. To prepare for the role, Spacek traveled with Lynn for a year to study how she spoke and sang. Spacek did all her own singing in the movie.

Lou Diamond Phillips' breakout role was playing the late Ritchie Valens in the 1987 film "La Bamba."

The biopic about the teen musician earned a Golden Globe nomination. Los Lobos singer David Hidalgo lent his vocals to the film, while Phillips lip-synced the words. A guitar instructor was also on set to coach him on strumming the guitar.

Diana Ross transformed into Billie Holiday for "Lady Sings the Blues."

Ross, a famous musician in her own right, played Holiday in this 1972 biographical movie based on Holiday's autobiography of the same name. The movie was nominated for five Oscars, including best actress in a leading role. 

Marc Anthony played salsa singer Héctor Lavoe in 2006's "El Cantante."

The biopic was told from the perspective of Lavoe's wife Puchi, who was played by Jennifer Lopez. The movie was controversial for focusing on Lavoe's drug addiction and death from AIDS, which he contracted through sharing needles. 

Ethan Hawke learned trumpet basics to portray Chet Baker in "Born to Be Blue."

Trumpeter Ben Promane helped Hawke grasp basic trumpet skills and taught him how to look like he played the trumpet with his front tooth missing, like Baker. The 2015 movie was more drama than biopic though. 

Michael Douglas won an Emmy for playing flamboyant pianist Liberace in "Behind the Candelabra."

The 2013 film was based on the memoir "Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace," written by Scott Thorson, Liberace's lover later in life. Matt Damon plays Thorson in the movie. Michael Douglas didn't actually play the piano for the film. 

David Carradine played folk singer Woody Guthrie in the Oscar-winning movie "Bound for Glory."

Aside from Guthrie and his first wife Mary, most of the people and events portrayed in the 1976 film are fictional. The movie earned six Oscar nominations, including best picture, and won for music and cinematography. 

Rami Malek played Queen front man Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Rami Malek played the musician in the 2018 movie "Bohemian Rhapsody," named after Queen's hit song. The film followed 15 years of Mercury's life — from the band's beginnings to six years before his death. Malek won an Oscar, Golden Globe, and SAG Award for his portrayal. 

Renée Zellweger starred as Judy Garland in "Judy."

The 2019 biopic "Judy" centered on the "Wizard of Oz" actor's final concerts in London before her death at 47. 

Zellweger won a best actress Oscar for her portrayal.

Taron Egerton played Elton John in the 2019 film "Rocketman."

The Elton John biopic "Rocketman" followed John's rise to musical acclaim starting from childhood and his early partnership with Bernie Taupin. Jamie Bell, Gemma Jones, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Richard Madden also starred in the movie.

"When I saw Taron, I was not looking at him — I was looking at me. And when I was hearing the voice, I was hearing me, but it wasn't me," he told Indie Wire. "Everything about it was extraordinary."

Daniel Webber played Vince Neil, Mötley Crüe's singer, in Netflix's "The Dirt."

The Netflix movie was a biopic about how rock band Mötley Crüe formed and rose to fame. 

Douglas Booth played Nikki Sixx, Mötley Crüe's bassist, in "The Dirt."

"The Dirt" was adapted from the autobiographical book "The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band," authored by Mötley Crüe and Neil Strauss. 

Iwan Rheon played Mick Mars, Mötley Crüe's guitarist, in "The Dirt."

Rights to the book were first bought in 2006, but the film moved around to various studios until Netflix bought the rights in 2017. 

Machine Gun Kelly transformed into Tommy Lee, Mötley Crüe's drummer.

"The Dirt" was released on Netflix in 2020.

•  

"The Walking Dead" star Christian Serratos portrayed Selena Quintanilla in a Netflix series.

In November 2019, Netflix shared a first look at the actor transforming into Quintanilla for "Selena: The Series." The show debuted on the streaming service on December 4, 2020, and the second and final part was released on the streamer on May 4, 2021.

 

Jennifer Hudson starred as "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin in the biopic titled "Respect."

"Respect" hit theaters in 2021 and the actor previously said that the late singer specifically asked Hudson to portray her. 

• Timothée Chalamet portrays Bob Dylan in James Mangold's new film "A Complete Unknown."
• He spent five years preparing for the role, which included learning to sing and play guitar.
• Chalamet performs live throughout the film, instead of using prerecorded vocals or instruments.

Timothée Chalamet went method to play Bob Dylan for James Mangold's new biopic "A Complete Unknown" — an immersive, yearslong exercise that saw the actor hone his singing voice, learn to play guitar, and even master the harmonica.

"A Complete Unknown," which arrived in theaters on Christmas Day, follows a young Dylan in the early 1960s as he embeds himself in (and later extricates himself from) the Greenwich Village folk scene, alongside other real-life legends like Joan Baez and Pete Seeger.

Chalamet is joined by Monica Barbaro as Baez, Edward Norton as Seeger, and Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash. All of them performed live while shooting the film.

Chalamet spent five years preparing to play Dylan

Mangold and Chalamet agreed to make a Dylan biopic five years ago, before the pandemic, the actors' strike, and other projects (including "Dune," "Dune: Part Two," and Mangold's "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny") delayed the process.

However, the extra prep time actually worked in Chalamet's favor.

Unlike his costar Elle Fanning, who plays a renamed version of Dylan's girlfriend Suze Rotolo, Chalamet wasn't a huge Dylan fan before he was cast in "A Complete Unknown." To learn as much as possible in that five-year window, he watched old videos, scavenged for bootlegs, and familiarized himself with Dylan's extensive catalog. He also worked with a team of coaches to embody the musician, from voice and guitar to dialect and movement.

By the time he'd perfected his Dylan portrayal, Chalamet was ready to perform live on set, singing and strumming entire songs from "I Was Young When I Left Home" to "The Times They Are A-Changin.'"

"You can't re-create it in the studio," Chalamet told Rolling Stone. "If I was singing to a prerecorded guitar, then all of a sudden I could hear the lack of an arm movement in my voice."

Mangold told Variety that he was prepared to dub Chalamet's performances with studio recordings, instead of using the live takes. He changed his mind when he heard Chalamet sing "Song to Woody" in the film's first musical scene.

"We shot that in the first five or six days," Mangold said. "And there was a whole backstage thing with Timmy saying, 'I want to try it live.'"

Even though, as Mangold admitted, "some of the sound and music direction people were like, 'It's not a good idea,'" he let Chalamet try it out: "And he was phenomenal."

"Not only that, he proved the brilliance of the method," Mangold continued. "There's this moment where he finishes that song and he holds a note and just keeps hitting the low string on the guitar over and over again, and he's just his eyes are kind of boring into Woody, and he's just holding this note, and it gave him chills… That could not have happened if there was an earwig in his ear."

During a separate interview with Variety, Chalamet praised Mangold for his risky yet rewarding decision to use the live recordings. (Chalamet's prerecords were released on the album's soundtrack, but never used in the film.)

"Kudos to Jim, who really had his eye, the whole movie, on the fact that, to watch actors doing karaoke really isn't interesting," Chalamet said.

While on set, Chalamet continued to speak with Dylan's affect and mannerisms, even when the cameras weren't rolling.

"Timmy's not the only person who's ever done that, that's true for most of the actors in my movies doing dialects, they don't just do it and fall out of it the second the scene ends," Mangold recently told Business Insider's Jason Guerrasio.

"You're trying to make it something you don't have to think about," Mangold explained. "So, if you're turning it on and off, you're kind of making yourself hyper-aware of it. If you're just deciding to live in it, that's a whole other deal."

Barbaro also worked with a vocal coach to approximate Baez's famous soprano

As depicted in "A Complete Unknown," Dylan met Baez at Gerde's Folk City in New York, where he was scheduled for his first high-profile gig.

By that time, Baez was already an established folk singer, renowned for her wide vibrato and, in Dylan's own words, "heart-stopping soprano."

"The sight of her made me high," Dylan wrote of Baez in his 2004 memoir. "All that and then there was her voice. A voice that drove out bad spirits. It was like she'd come down from another planet."

Barbaro wasn't a trained singer before she was cast as Baez, but like Chalamet, she worked extensively with vocal coach Eric Vetro.

Vetro previously trained Austin Butler for his portrayal of Elvis Presley and is famous among pop fans for his work with Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande. (Vetro is even name-dropped in Grande's song "Monopoly.")

Barbaro sang live throughout filming — duetting with Chalamet for their climactic performance of "It Ain't Me Babe," for example — though due to the technical finesse that Baez is known for, Barbaro told Rolling Stone that she was more open to overdubs than Chalamet was.

Still, by the time Barbaro met her costar on set at a music rehearsal, she could hold her own as a full-fledged musician.

"Getting to play next to him and hear the harmonies of our voices and the accompaniment, so complementary of each other — that was a career highlight," Barbaro told BI's Palmer Haasch.

"I'm so glad we waited until that point to meet each other and to work with each other," Barbaro continued. "It was more true to a Bob and Joan version of the meeting that we'd have these musical proficiencies, that we could collaborate and play together."

"A Complete Unknown" is now in theaters.

• James Mangold spoke to Business Insider about his Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown."
• Mangold explained why Timothée Chalamet spoke in Dylan's voice on set even when he wasn't filming.
• He called the real Dylan's willingness to give notes on the script a "huge gift."

Writer-director James Mangold remembers exactly where he was and what he was doing five years ago when he decided to make a Bob Dylan biopic.

He was in a hotel room in Canada for the Toronto International Film Festival when he paused prepping for the world premiere of his 2019 movie "Ford v Ferrari" to take a meeting with Timothée Chalamet, then a young actor on the cusp of superstardom.

It didn't take long for Mangold to realize he'd found his Dylan. By the time Chalamet left the room, the two agreed to make a movie on the life and times of one of the most beloved singer-songwriters in American music.

Things might not have gotten off the ground as quickly as they'd hoped — COVID happened, Chalamet went and made the first "Dune" movie, Mangold made "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" — but throughout those five years, the two continued to stay in contact and made separate pilgrimages to see Dylan.

Finally, "A Complete Unknown," which depicts Dylan's rise to fame alongside Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and his controversial switch from acoustic guitar to electric in the mid-1960s, is in theaters.

Mangold is one of the few directors working today who has the skill and Hollywood studio experience to pull off a Bob Dylan biopic. After finding success with his 2005 Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line," which earned its stars Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar nomination and Reese Witherspoon an Oscar win, Disney's Searchlight Pictures arm knew the project was in capable hands.

"A Complete Unknown" is not a carbon copy of "Walk the Line." While the latter delved deep into the dynamic between Johnny Cash and June Carter, "A Complete Unknown," which Mangold co-wrote with Jay Cocks ("Gangs of New York"), examines the myth-building of Dylan and how his talents elevated the 1960s folk music scene.

But just as Mangold used "Walk the Line" as a showcase for Phoenix's talents, he's done the same with Chalamet in "A Complete Unknown." From talking in Dylan's voice even when the camera wasn't rolling to doing his own singing and even growing out his fingernails (more on that later), Chalamet immersed himself in the aura of Dylan, resulting in the best performance his career so far.

Business Insider spoke to Mangold over Zoom about Chalamet's dedication to the role, whether the disappointing box office for "Dial of Destiny" has made him hesitant about developing his upcoming "Star Wars" movie, and if he thinks Bob Dylan will ever watch "A Complete Unknown."

Business Insider: You've now had sit-downs with Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan while making their biopics. Have you developed a go-to icebreaker for when you first meet legends?

James Mangold: No. I don't have one. But the good thing is the script is the icebreaker. They've invited me into their homes or their spaces because they've read a script I've written. So we have something to talk about. I mean, when I met with Bob the ice breaker was, charmingly, him waxing poetic about loving my old movie "Cop Land." So that in itself was trippy and flattering. 

Do you think Dylan will ever watch "A Complete Unknown"?

I have no idea.

What's your gut telling you?

I honestly have no idea. The reality is I spent a lot of good time with him and I felt like I got a good feeling for him. He does things when he's ready, he gets involved with things when he's ready, he makes comments when he's ready.

I sympathize with his quandary. Do I ever want to watch a movie where some dude is playing me and acting out significant moments in my life? Is that going to be nothing but pleasant or is it going to be weird as hell? So the fact that he took the time to read my script, give me notes, give me advice, chip in ideas, show me where he would make lifts in some songs, and give me the benefit of his wisdom and his insight about that period so I might even dig deeper into those scenes, that was a huge gift and all the generosity I could ever expect from him. 

Watching D.A. Pennebaker's Bob Dylan documentary, "Dont Look Back," confirmed something that's in your movie: Dylan had some gnarly fingernails.

Yeah. 

Did Timmy grow those out or were fake nails put on him?

Yeah, he was growing them. If you look earlier in the movie, there are some scenes where they aren't as long. By the end, he had some full-on Nosferatu going on. 

A lot has been written about Timmy being Method during filming, specifically speaking in the Dylan voice when you weren't shooting. I would imagine a lot of that has to do with him just not wanting to lose the voice, right?

Timmy's not the only person who's ever done that, that's true for most of the actors in my movies doing dialects, they don't just do it and fall out of it the second the scene ends because —

There's a fear of losing the voice.

Well, you're also trying to make it more and more internalized. You're trying to make it something you don't have to think about. So, if you're turning it on and off, you're kind of making yourself hyper-aware of it. If you're just deciding to live in it, that's a whole other deal. 

Boyd Holbrook plays Johnny Cash in the movie. Was there ever a thought to call Joaquin Phoenix to see if he would do the Johnny Cash scenes?

The thought occurred to me, but then I realized he'd be 20-30 years too old to be playing the part. 

But you know movie magic, James! The hair and makeup department would have helped him look younger. 

Okay, but then what am I servicing? This kind of meta-movie universe stuff that has plagued us enough? I'm a big fan of making a movie and giving the public the movie. Don't try to suture the movie to another movie, just own it. Otherwise movies just become this hyper-expensive television series in which we never stop making new episodes every couple of years. 

Speaking of episodic films, you're currently developing a "Star Wars" movie. Are you less confident working on that seeing what happened with the reception for "Dial of Destiny"?

Well, "Dial of Destiny" has an 87% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. I mean, yes, they would have hoped it made more money, but I actually don't have a lot of shame about a movie that's liked by 87% of its fans.

The issue with "Star Wars" isn't my worrying about if there's an angry or resentful group that is somehow disappointed in what I did in "Dial of Destiny." Honestly, that's their prerogative, that's part of what makes movies great is you can think they're awesome or you can think they're terrible. I can't please everyone and I'm sorry they don't like it.

But in relation to "Star Wars," the bottom line is I don't even know if that's the next movie for me. That's something that Beau Willimon and I are working on writing and all the other tripwires and judgments along the way. I don't want to make it unless it's excellent.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

• In the new Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown," Elle Fanning plays Sylvie Russo.
• The character is a renamed version of Dylan's former girlfriend Suze Rotolo.
• They dated in the early '60s, and Rotolo appeared on the cover of "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan."

Elle Fanning's Sylvie Russo plays a key role in the new Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown," acting as the main romantic interest, artistic muse, and down-to-earth foil to Timotheé Chalamet's mysterious musical genius.

She's also the only character who was given a name different than her real-life counterpart, in this case Suze Rotolo, the artist, political activist, and eventual author who died in 2011 from lung cancer.

Rotolo met Dylan in the early 1960s shortly after he moved to New York City, where Rotolo was working for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). They quickly fell in love and moved in together in Greenwich Village.

Director James Mangold confirmed to Rolling Stone that Fanning's character Sylvie Russo is meant to closely resemble the real Rotolo, rather than be a "half-Suze, half-fictional" creation.

"It was a character who I felt — and I think Bob very much agreed when we talked early on — was the only one who wasn't a celebrity and an icon in and of themselves with a kind of public persona," Mangold said. "Everyone else is up for the gauntlet and has been in that game a long time. And Suze was just a real person."

"In many ways," he added, "Elle plays our access point or more normal kind of citizen, if you will, among all these eccentric characters. She's much more like someone we know."

According to Fanning, Dylan asked Mangold not to use Rotolo's real name, because she was "a very private person and didn't ask for this life."

"She was obviously someone that was very special and sacred to Bob," Fanning said in a separate Rolling Stone interview.

The movie accurately depicts the couple's first meeting in 1961 at a Riverside Church hootenanny, per Rolling Stone. At the time, Dylan was 20, while Rotolo was 17.

"Right from the start I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was the most erotic thing I'd ever seen," Dylan wrote in his 2004 memoir, "Chronicles: Volume One."

"She was fair skinned and golden haired, full-blood Italian. The air was suddenly filled with banana leaves," he continued. "We started talking and my head started to spin. Cupid's arrow had whistled past my ears before, but this time it hit me in the heart and the weight of it dragged me overboard."

In Dylan's recollection, Rotolo was embedded in the New York art scene as a painter, illustrator, and graphic designer, in addition to her work with civil rights committees. She'd grown up in Queens, he said, and was raised in a "left-wing family." It's been reported that both her parents were members of the American Communist Party.

"Meeting her was like stepping into the tales of '1001 Arabian Nights.' She had a smile that could light up a street full of people and was extremely lively, had a kind of voluptuousness — a Rodin sculpture come to life," Dylan wrote. "She reminded me of a libertine heroine. She was just my type."

Not long after their first encounter, Dylan said he ran into Rotolo's sister, Carla, and asked if he could see Rotolo again.

"She said, 'Oh, she'd like to see you, too,'" he recalled. "Eventually we got to be pretty inseparable. Outside of my music, being with her seemed to be the main point in my life."

By early 1962, Dylan and Rotolo had moved in together, even though her family disapproved. (Dylan described Rotolo's mother, Mary, as "very protective" and disapproving of Dylan's "nameless way of life." Rotolo's father, Gioachino, died when Rotolo was 14.)

Rotolo had a major impact on Dylan's artistic taste and political views

In his memoir, Dylan said he began to broaden his horizons once Rotolo entered his life. She loaned him poetry books, introduced him to works by Arthur Rimbaud and Bertolt Brecht, and took him to local hang-out spots for artists and painters. He was particularly fond of off-Broadway productions and local museums.

"A new world of art was opening up my mind," Dylan wrote.

"A Complete Unknown" also correctly notes that Rotolo inspired Dylan to write topical songs, including "The Death of Emmett Till" and "Oxford Town."

"A lot of what I gave him was a look at how the other half lived — left-wing things that he didn't know," Rotolo told writer David Hajdu in his book "Positively 4th Street."

"He knew about Woody [Guthrie] and Pete Seeger, but I was working for CORE and went on youth marches for civil rights, and all that was new to him," she explained. "It was in the air, but it was new to him."

After the commercial failure of Dylan's self-titled debut album, he pivoted from folk covers to writing his own songs, influenced by Rotolo's poetry and his expanding political awareness. These formed the bedrock of his 1963 sophomore album, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan." Rotolo cemented herself in music history by posing with Dylan for the cover art, the pair walking arm-in-arm down Jones Street.

In her 2008 memoir, "A Freewheelin' Time," Rotolo said the album cover was beloved for its "casual down-home spontaneity," which was unusual for the "perfectly posed" trends of the time. She said it embodied the image of "rebellion against the status quo."

"The songs had something to say," she wrote. "It was folk music, but it was really rock and roll."

Before 'A Freewheelin' Bob Dylan' was finished, Rotolo went to study art in Europe, leaving Dylan heartbroken in New York

In the summer of 1962, Rotolo left New York to study art at the University of Perugia in Italy. ("A Complete Unknown" shows Russo leaving for 12 weeks. In real life, she was gone for six months.)

Dylan channeled his lovelorn yearning into songs like "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," a much-celebrated highlight on his sophomore album; "Down the Highway," which includes a lyric about his lover taking his heart "away to Italy;" and "Boots of Spanish Leather," later included on his third album, 1964's "The Times They Are a-Changin.'"

The couple shot the album cover for "A Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" after Rotolo returned in January 1963. But their romantic relationship wouldn't last much longer.

As both parties recalled, Dylan's fast-growing fame eroded their trust and intimacy. Rotolo also said she took issue with Dylan's "paranoia and secrecy."

In "A Complete Unknown," the couple fight about Dylan's reluctance to discuss his pre-New York life in the Midwest. Russo specifically needles him about changing his name, which matches the recollections in Rotolo's memoir; she'd found out that Dylan's real name was Robert Allen Zimmerman when his draft card fell out of his wallet. "It was suddenly upsetting that he hadn't been open with me," she wrote. "I was hurt."

"People make up their past, Sylvie," Dylan counters in the movie. "They remember what they want. They forget the rest."

According to Fanning, Dylan himself added a line to the screenplay for the fight scene, which takes place before Russo leaves for Italy.

"It was something like, 'Don't even bother coming back,'" Fanning told Rolling Stone. "We know the arguments were real, so maybe he was remembering something — or regretting something that he said to her."

Even after they stopped living together, Rotolo said she and Dylan still spent time together

In August 1963, Rotolo moved out of their shared apartment on West 4th Street to live with her sister instead.

"I could no longer cope with all the pressure, gossip, truth, and lies that living with Bob entailed," Rotolo wrote in her memoir. "I was unable to find solid ground — I was on quicksand and very vulnerable."

Shortly after, Rotolo discovered she was pregnant and had an illegal abortion, which she said sent her into a depression. At the same time, Dylan's rumored affair with Joan Baez (Rotolo described him as "a lying shit of a guy with women, an adept juggler") and his long-simmering tension with Rotolo's family ("For her parasite sister, I had no respect," Dylan sings in "Ballad in Plain D," a song he later said was a mistake to release) put strain on their relationship.

However, the young couple continued to spend time together — or, as Rotolo put it in her book, they were "caught in the whirlpool of indecision that is tortured young love." She also described their connection as an "addiction."

Though Rotolo said they'd "ostensibly broken up" by late 1963, Dylan regularly visited Rotolo's apartment and called whenever he was out of town. Still, she felt increasingly suffocated by Dylan's mystique and the worship of his fans. She feared people were only nice to her to get close to him and, she wrote, lost a sense of herself in the process.

"It wasn't easy; even when broken, the bond between lovers tends to hold in unpredictable ways," Rotolo wrote. "But I knew I was not suited for his life. I could never be the woman behind the great man."

It's unclear exactly when the couple cut ties for good, but sometime in 1963 or 1964, Rotolo realized she had to walk away. Dylan agreed, she wrote, with a "resigned sadness."

In 1965, ahead of Dylan's spring tour in England, Rotolo said she got a call from his manager about updating her passport.

"This was another cue for me to sever another tie," she wrote. "Slowly untying all those entanglements. I said thank you but no."

In "A Complete Unknown," Russo is present for the climactic event: Dylan's electric performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

In real life, Rotolo wasn't there to see Dylan enrage his friends and fans with rock music; Dylan was already living at the Chelsea Hotel with his future wife, Sara Lownds, by the time he performed at the festival in July 1965. Lownds was also pregnant with their son, Jesse.

"During our time together things became very complicated because so much happened to him so fast," Rotolo wrote in her memoir. "We had a good time, but also a hard time, as a young couple in love."

Dylan's memoir includes a similarly enigmatic description of their breakup.

"The alliance between Suze and me didn't turn out exactly to be a holiday in the woods," he wrote. "Eventually fate flagged it down and it came to a full stop. It had to end. She took one turn in the road and I took another. We just passed out of each others' lives."

• Monica Barbaro plays Joan Baez in "A Complete Unknown," which follows Bob Dylan's early career.
• Barbaro told BI that she and Timothée Chalamet, who plays Dylan, first met at a music rehearsal.
• Barbaro did vocal training to sing like Baez and duet with Chalamet's Dylan.

In "A Complete Unknown," Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro inhabit two musical legends: Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. True to form, the actors first met on set at a music rehearsal.

The film, directed by James Mangold, stars Chalamet as a young Dylan during the early years of his career, from his 1962 debut self-titled album through his controversial pivot to electric instrumentation. It features many of Dylan's contemporaries from the era, including Baez (Barbaro), Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), and Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook).

The film's greatest strength is its music, much of which was recorded live on set. Not only does Chalamet perform live as Dylan, but he duets in-character with his collaborators. That led to the perfect meeting for the actors.

"We heard each other's voices in recording studio sessions, because I would sing duets to his voice," Barbaro told Business Insider. "The first time we met was a music rehearsal, and it was just the most beautiful experience to me."

Like Chalamet, Barbaro also did vocal training to play Baez in the film, working to emulate the singer's trilling vibrato while also researching Baez's life and career. The actor told BI that she knew the music was going to be "the biggest hill to climb," and she knew that Chalamet — who spent five years preparing to play Dylan — had been practicing. By the time they first met, she felt ready to hold her ground not only as an actor, but as a musician.

"Getting to play next to him and hear the harmonies of our voices and the accompaniment, so complementary of each other — that was a career highlight," Barbaro said.

"I'm so glad we waited until that point to meet each other and to work with each other," she continued. "It was more true to a Bob and Joan version of the meeting that we'd have these musical proficiencies, that we could collaborate and play together."

• James Mangold spoke to Business Insider about his Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown."
• Mangold explained why Timothée Chalamet spoke in Dylan's voice on set even when he wasn't filming.
• "A Complete Unknown" is in theaters now.

Writer-director James Mangold remembers exactly where he was and what he was doing five years ago when he decided to make a Bob Dylan biopic.

He was in Canada for the world premiere of his 2019 movie "Ford v Ferrari" at the Toronto International Film Festival. In the midst of final prep for the screening in his hotel room, he paused to have a meeting with Timothée Chalamet, then a young actor on the cusp of superstardom.

It didn't take long for Mangold to realize he'd found his Dylan, and by the time Chalamet left the room, the two agreed to make a movie on the life and times of one of the most beloved singer-songwriters in American music.

Things might not have gotten off the ground as quickly as they'd hoped — COVID, Chalamet went and made the first "Dune" movie, Mangold made "Indian Jones and the Dial of Destiny" — but throughout those five years, the two continued to stay in contact and made separate pilgrimages to see Dylan.

Finally, "A Complete Unknown," which depicts Dylan's rise to fame alongside Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and his controversial switch from acoustic guitar to electric in the mid-1960s, will see the light of day (it hits theaters Christmas Day).

Mangold is one of the few directors working today who has the skill and studio maneuvering know-how to pull off a Bob Dylan biopic. Already having found success doing a Johnny Cash biopic in 2005 with "Walk the Line," which earned Joaquin Phoenix as Cash a best actor Oscar nomination and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter an Oscar win, Disney's Searchlight Pictures arm knew the project was in capable hands.

"A Complete Unknown" is not a carbon copy of "Walk the Line." For "Line," Mangold delved deep into the Cash/Carter dynamic, with "Unknown," which he co-wrote with Jay Cocks ("Gangs of New York"), the filmmaker examines the myth-building of Dylan and how his talents elevated folk music in the 1960s beyond what musicians in the genre like Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) and Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) ever dreamed.

But just as Mangold used "Walk the Line" as a showcase for Phoenix's talents, he's done the same with Chalamet for "A Complete Unknown." From talking in the unique Dylan voice, doing his own singing, and even growing out his fingernails (more on that later), Chalamet immersed himself in the auro of Dylan, resulting in the best performance so far of his career.

Business Insider chatted with Mangold over Zoom about Chalamet's dedication to the role, whether the disappointing box office for "Dial of Destiny" has made him hesitant about developing his upcoming "Star Wars" movie, and whether he thinks Dylan will ever watch "A Complete Unknown."

You've now had sit-downs with Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan while making their biopics. Have you developed a go-to icebreaker for when you first meet legends?

No. I don't have one. But the good thing is the script is the icebreaker. They've invited me into their homes or their spaces because they've read a script I've written. So we have something to talk about. I mean, when I met with Bob the ice breaker was charmingly him waxing poetic about loving my old movie "Copland." So that in itself was trippy and flattering. 

Do you think Dylan will ever watch "A Complete Unknown"?

I have no idea.

What's your gut telling you?

I honestly have no idea. The reality is I spent a lot of good time with him and I felt like I got a good feeling for him. He does things when he's ready, he gets involved with things when he's ready, he makes comments when he's ready. I sympathize with his quandary. Do I ever want to watch a movie where some dude is playing me and acting out significant moments in my life? Is that going to be nothing but pleasant or is it going to be weird as hell? So the fact that he took the time to read my script, give me notes, give me advice, chip in ideas, show me where he would make lifts in some songs, and give me the benefit of his wisdom and his insight about that period so I might even dig deeper into those scenes, that was a huge gift and all the generosity I could ever expect from him. 

Watching D.A. Pennebaker's Bob Dylan documentary, "Dont Look Back," confirmed something that's in your movie: Dylan had some gnarly fingernails.

Yeah. 

Did Timmy grow those out or were fake nails put on him?

Yeah, he was growing them. If you look earlier in the movie, there are some scenes where they aren't as long. By the end, he had some full-on Nosferatu going on. 

A lot has been written about Timmy being Method during filming, specifically speaking in the Dylan voice when you weren't shooting. I would imagine a lot of that has to do with him just not wanting to lose the voice, right?

Timmy's not the only person whose ever done that, that's true for most of the actors in my movies doing dialects, they don't just do it and fall out of it the second the scene ends because —

There's a fear of losing the voice.

Well, you're also trying to make it more and more internalized. You're trying to make it something you don't have to think about. So, if you're turning it on and off, you're kind of making yourself hyper-aware of it. If you're just deciding to live in it, that's a whole other deal. 

Boyd Holbrook plays Johnny Cash in the movie. Was there ever a thought to call Joaquin Phoenix to see if he would do the Johnny Cash scenes?

The thought occurred to me, but then I realized he'd be 20-30 years too old to be playing the part. 

But you know movie magic, James, the hair and makeup department would have helped him look younger. 

Okay, but then what am I servicing? This kind of meta-movie universe stuff that has plagued us enough? I'm a big fan of making a movie and giving the public the movie. Don't try to suture the movie to another movie, just own it. Otherwise movies just become this hyper-expensive television series in which we never stop making new episodes every couple of years. 

And speaking of episodic films, you're currently developing a "Star Wars" movie. Are you less confident working on that seeing what happened with the reception for "Dial of Destiny"?

Well, "Dial of Destiny" has an 87% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. I mean, yes, they would have hoped it made more money, but I actually don't have a lot of shame about a movie that's liked by 87% of its fans. The issue with "Star Wars" isn't my worrying about if there's an angry or resentful group that is somehow disappointed in what I did in "Dial of Destiny," honestly, that's their prerogative, that's part of what makes movies great is you can think they're awesome or you can think they're terrible. I can't please everyone and I'm sorry they don't like it. We do our best, if I could please 100% of everyone all the time, I would, but that's a tough thing. But in relation to "Star Wars," the bottom line is I don't even know if that's the next movie for me. That's something that Beau Willimon and I are working on writing and all the other tripwires and judgements along the way. I don't want to make it unless it's excellent.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

• Bob Dylan and Joan Baez are played by Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro in "A Complete Unknown."
• The two folk singers met in the early '60s and quickly became close collaborators.
• They dated briefly in the '60s and continued to perform together over the years, despite friction.

James Mangold's new biopic, "A Complete Unknown," opens with 19-year-old Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) arriving in New York City, essentially homeless yet armed with his guitar.

It's not long before viewers are introduced to 20-year-old Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), an already-established performer in the Greenwich Village folk scene. In her first scene, Baez takes the stage at Gerde's Folk City and sings "House of the Rising Sun," the fourth track on her self-titled debut album, released in 1960.

"Joanie was at the forefront of a new dynamic in American music," Dylan recalled in the 2009 documentary "Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound."

"She had a record out, circulating among the folk circles," he continued, "and everybody was listening to it, me included. I listened to it a lot."

In "A Complete Unknown," Baez's performance at Gerde's is followed by Dylan's. He sings "I Was Young When I Left Home," leaving the movie version of Baez awestruck.

The star-crossed encounter kicks off a fruitful collaboration and passionate romance, despite Dylan's existing relationship with Sylvia Russo (Elle Fanning).

In real life, however, Baez had gone to Gerde's specifically to see Dylan.

"Somebody said, 'Oh, you've gotta come down and hear this guy, he's terrific,'" Baez told Rolling Stone in 1983. "And so I went down with my very, very jealous boyfriend, and we saw this scruffy little pale-faced dirty human being get up in front of the crowd and start singing his 'Song to Woody.'"

"I, of course, internally went completely to shreds, 'cause it was so beautiful," she continued. "But I couldn't say anything, 'cause I was next to my very, very jealous boyfriend, who was watching me out of the corner of his eye and trying to mentally slaughter Dylan, I think. And then Bob came over and said, 'Uhhh, hi' — one of those eloquent greetings — and I just thought he was brilliant and superb and so on."

The movie depicts Dylan and Baez starting a sexual relationship after another chance encounter, when Baez stumbles upon Dylan performing "Masters of War" in a coffee shop. Notably, this takes place in the throes of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, when the world seemed on the brink of nuclear armageddon. After kissing at the coffee shop, the pair return to Dylan's apartment.

Again, this doesn't seem to be quite accurate. Dylan and Baez did meet again, but it would've been years before they began their ill-fated fling.

In real life, Baez was instrumental in introducing Dylan to a larger crowd

Dylan and Baez became an unofficial musical duo in the early '60s, encouraging each other to refine their songcraft (she as a singer, he as a writer) and regularly performing duets at Baez's concerts.

In the 2009 Baez doc, one friend described the pair as "quite a force at that time," adding, "I think she had a crush on him. I know he had a crush on her."

The details of Dylan's life can be difficult for historians to confirm, given his penchant for myth-making and obfuscation. (He even asked Mangold to include an inaccurate scene in "A Complete Unknown," according to actor Edward Norton, apparently just for kicks.) So, it's unclear exactly when Dylan and Baez's relationship became romantic.

When Rolling Stone asked Baez how long they'd been involved, she replied, "You mean what period of three months was it? Um, Bob and I spent some time together. I honestly don't know what the year was."

Baez wasn't interested in drugs, which she said caused her to feel disconnected from other musicians, including Dylan. She also wanted Dylan to be more politically active outside his music, leading to a rift between them.

In 1965, a few months before the famous Newport Film Festival that saw Dylan "go electric," he invited Baez to join him on tour in England — but neglected to invite her onstage for any show. This trip is scrubbed from the timeline in "A Complete Unknown," but by all accounts, it was the death blow to their relationship.

"I just sort of trotted around, wondering why Bob wouldn't invite me onstage, feeling very sorry for myself, getting very neurotic and not having the brains to leave and go home," Baez told Rolling Stone. "That would be the best way to describe that tour. It was sort of just wasted time."

Dylan also traced their split back to 1965 and, more specifically, the frenzy of his newfound fame.

"I was just trying to deal with the madness that had become my career, and unfortunately she got swept along, and I felt very bad about it," he said in the Baez doc. "I was sorry to see our relationship end."

"A Complete Unknown" depicts Dylan and Baez duetting at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, but this didn't happen in real life; they were on the outs by then. (They did sing at the festival together in 1963 and 1964.)

Baez later said that Dylan broke her heart.

Even after their relationship deteriorated, their connection fueled their art

Many fans believe Baez inspired notable Dylan songs, like the iconic 1965 hit "Like a Rolling Stone" and 1966 song "Visions of Johanna," though he's never confirmed either theory.

In 1968, Baez released her ninth album, "Any Day Now," comprised entirely of Dylan songs. Her 1970 compilation album, "The First Ten Years," includes six Dylan covers, including her much-loved version of "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right." She also released the 1972 song "To Bobby" as an open letter to Dylan, begging him to engage with the protest movement.

A few years later, Baez wrote the heart-wrenching ballad "Diamonds & Rust," which was shaped by an emotional phone call with Dylan.

"Well you burst on the scene / Already a legend / The unwashed phenomenon / The original vagabond," she sings. "You strayed into my arms / And there you stayed / Temporarily lost at sea / The Madonna was yours for free."

Baez later described "Diamonds & Rust" as "the best song of my life."

"The really, really good stuff comes from down deep," she told Rolling Stone in 2017, "and that was how strongly I was affected by Bob in the relationship and everything. It'd be stupid to pretend otherwise."

"I love that song 'Diamonds & Rust,'" Dylan said in the 2009 documentary. "To be included in something that Joan had written — ooh. I mean, to this day, it still impresses me."

"Diamonds & Rust" was released in 1975 on Baez's album of the same name. Later that year, Dylan invited her to join the Rolling Thunder Revue tour alongside a wide cast of their contemporaries, including Joni Mitchell and the Byrds frontman Roger McGuinn.

In the Baez doc, Dylan said he remembers her as "completely in her element" during that time, while Baez characterized the tour as fun and carefree — a departure from her typical activities as a social activist. The experience seemed to mend a bridge between them, however temporarily.

Dylan and Baez performed a few more duets before cutting ties for good

The pair reunited at a 1982 Peace Week concert at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, performing a three-song set together: "With God On Our Side," a cover of Jimmy Buffett's "A Pirate Looks at Forty," and "Blowin' in the Wind," which Dylan had written shortly after they met.

Dylan's guest appearance at the anti-nuke event came as a shock to the crowd, given that he'd declined to denounce the Vietnam War and generally avoided political events.

The following year, when Rolling Stone asked Baez about Dylan's state of mind at the show, she demurred.

"I really have no idea. But I love singing with him," she replied. "He isn't in tune, the phrasing is nuts, and he always wants to do a song I've never heard before."

The magazine also asked if the couple would ever get back together, "when they're both 60 or something." Baez replied, "Spare us, please. Both of us."

In fact, the very next year, they reunited again for a 1984 European stadium tour with Carlos Santana.

Baez came to discover she'd only been added to the bill because the promoter thought it would boost sales. In her 1987 memoir, "And a Voice to Sing With," Baez said she wasn't treated as an equal performer and was largely ignored by Dylan backstage.

After a few haphazard duets in Germany, Dylan stopped inviting her to share the stage with him, so she decided to quit the tour. In her book, Baez described Dylan as tired and disoriented when she said goodbye in his dressing room. She told him their touring together didn't work out, and he said, "That's too bad." She also wrote that he ran his hand up her skirt.

"Goodbye, Bob," Baez wrote. "I thought maybe I shouldn't write all this stuff about you, but as it turns out, it's really about me anyway, isn't it? It won't affect you. The death of Elvis affected you. I didn't relate to that, either."

The two musicians haven't been seen together since. While they did cross paths at a 2010 White House event to celebrate civil rights-era music, Baez said she didn't try to greet him.

"The chances of him just walking past me would be too awful a scenario," Baez told Rolling Stone. "It would just bring up feelings that aren't necessary."

In 2015, Dylan praised Baez when he was named Person of the Year by MusiCares.

"I learned a lot of things from her," he said during his acceptance speech. "A woman with devastating honesty. And for her kind of love and devotion, I could never pay that back."

Last year, Baez told Variety that she was not in touch with Dylan, though she didn't harbor any resentment. "I may never see him again," she said, "and that's OK too."

• James Mangold's new film "A Complete Unknown" is a Bob Dylan biopic.
• Timothée Chalamet stars as Dylan, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, and Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo.
• "A Complete Unknown" arrives in theaters on December 25.

James Mangold's highly anticipated film "A Complete Unknown" follows Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan during his rise to renown in the early '60s.

The movie, which hits theaters on Christmas Day, also stars Monica Barbaro as the legendary folk singer Joan Baez and Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, a renamed version of Dylan's girlfriend at the time, Suze Rotolo.

Here's how the cast compares to the real-life people they're playing in "A Complete Unknown."

Timothée Chalamet stars as Bob Dylan in his early days as a musician in New York City.

Chalamet is an Oscar-nominated movie star known for a slew of acclaimed films, including "Call Me By Your Name," "Lady Bird," "Beautiful Boy," "Little Women," "The French Dispatch," "Dune," and "Dune: Part Two."

And yet, Chalamet recently told Stephen Colbert that "A Complete Unknown" is "the movie I'm proudest of in my career."

Chalamet learned to play guitar for the lead role and sang live during many of the film's musical performances. He said he spent five years familiarizing himself with Dylan's life, discography, and vocal style.

"A Complete Unknown" begins in 1961, when Dylan moved to New York City as a teenager. He released his self-titled debut album in 1962 and quickly became a fixture in the Greenwich Village folk scene, leading many critics to label him "the voice of a generation."

After releasing a few beloved folk albums, Dylan made a divisive pivot toward rock 'n' roll, punctuated with his electric performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. The controversy was documented by Elijah Wald in his 2015 book "Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties," on which the movie's script is based.

Today, at 83, Dylan is known as one of the most influential and prolific singer-songwriters of all time. He has won 10 Grammys out of 38 nominations, as well as the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award, which he accepted in 1991.

Monica Barbaro plays Joan Baez, another prominent folk singer and activist.

Barbaro got her start in TV, landing recurring roles in shows like Lifetime's "Unreal," NBC's "Chicago P.D.," and ABC's "Splitting Up Together." She earned her breakthrough movie role as Lt. Natasha "Phoenix" Trace in 2022's "Top Gun: Maverick."

Like Chalamet, Barbaro was not trained as a singer or guitarist before being cast as Joan Baez, who helped Dylan lead the '60s folk revival. She worked with vocal coach Eric Vetro to approximate Baez's famous soprano.

When Barbaro had a chance to speak with Baez over the phone, she said she reassured the musician, "This is all done out of respect."

"She's just like, 'I'm just outside listening to the birds.' She is Joan. She's not so concerned with protecting [her legacy] or hovering over it," Barbaro told The Hollywood Reporter. "She signed over her songs [to the film], all her arrangements. She and Bob are sort of similar, in that they're not so obsessed with dictating this idea of who they are and who they were. They've been in the public eye for so long."

Baez, 83, also received the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

Elle Fanning plays Sylvie Russo, aka Suze Rotolo, Dylan's girlfriend at the time.

Fanning, who originally costarred with Chalamet in 2019's "A Rainy Day in New York," was a huge Dylan fan before she was cast in "A Complete Unknown."

"I had posters of him on my wall and wrote his name on my hand every day, partly to be cool," Fanning told The Hollywood Reporter. "I worked with ['We Bought a Zoo' director] Cameron Crowe when I was 13, and he played Bob Dylan a lot. He would play 'Buckets of Rain' over and over again. That's when it started."

Fanning's character Sylvie Russo is based on Suze Rotolo, Dylan's girlfriend in the early '60s. She died in 2011.

Rotolo was cemented in music history when she posed arm-in-arm with Dylan for the cover of his sophomore album, 1963's "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan." She also influenced Dylan's left-wing politics and inspired the song "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," among others.

According to Fanning, Dylan asked the filmmakers to avoid using Rotolo's real name because she was "a very private person and didn't ask for this life."

"She was obviously someone that was very special and sacred to Bob," Fanning told Rolling Stone.

Edward Norton plays Pete Seeger, a fellow musician and early mentor for Dylan.

After Benedict Cumberbatch dropped out of the movie, Norton — renowned for movies like "Fight Club," "Moonrise Kingdom," "Birdman," and "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" — was hired to portray folk pioneer Pete Seeger.

Seeger's expansive catalog includes the labor-movement anthem "The Hammer Song" and the crossover hit "Goodnight, Irene," both of which Seeger recorded with his folk quartet The Weavers in 1950. He also wrote the patriotic classic "This Land Is Your Land."

Seeger met Dylan in Greenwich Village shortly after the younger singer arrived in town. He is known as one of Dylan's earliest supporters, credited with getting Dylan on the lineup for the Newport Folk Festival. However, according to legend, Seeger was disturbed by Dylan's electric performance at the 1965 edition. Some claim he even tried to cut the sound while Dylan was onstage.

Throughout his life, Seeger was outspoken in support of civil rights, workers' rights, and anti-war efforts, among other causes. He died in 2014 at age 94.

"Narcos" star Boyd Holbrook plays the country-rock icon Johnny Cash.

Holbrook is being hailed as a scene-stealer for his performance as Johnny Cash in "A Complete Unknown."

Cash and Dylan officially met at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, but they had already been exchanging letters as fans of each other's work.

"I had a portable record player that I'd take along on the road, and I'd put on 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan' backstage, then go out and do my show, then listen again as soon as I came off," Cash wrote in his autobiography, per Far Out magazine.

"After a while at that, I wrote Bob a letter telling him how much of a fan I was," Cash continued. "He wrote back almost immediately, saying he'd been following my music since 'I Walk the Line,' and so we began a correspondence."

Dylan's manager, Jeff Rosen, gave Mangold, the director, access to letters that Cash and Dylan exchanged in this era. He told Rolling Stone they became "an instrumental voice in the movie."

The two musicians maintained a close friendship until Cash died from complications of diabetes in 2003. He was 71.

Scoot McNairy plays Woody Guthrie, the legendary folk singer who influenced Dylan.

You may recognize McNairy from "Argo," "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," or one of two other films released in 2024: "Speak No Evil" and "Nightbitch."

Before the year ends, McNairy will return to the silver screen as Woody Guthrie, widely known as Dylan's personal hero. Guthrie rose to fame in 1940 with his topical album "Dust Bowl Ballads," which chronicles the Great Depression's effects on American Midwesterners. He continued to sing about anti-capitalist and anti-fascist themes throughout his career.

By the time Dylan arrived in New York, Guthrie was being treated in New Jersey for Huntington's disease.

The movie dramatizes their first encounter, including an emotional performance of Dylan's "Song to Woody," with which he serenades Guthrie in the hospital. Chalamet told Rolling Stone that after filming the scene, he went home and "wept." (In reality, Dylan wrote the song after he and Guthrie had already met, per the magazine.)

Guthrie died in 1967 at age 55.

Dan Fogler plays Albert Grossman, Dylan's manager.

Dan Fogler is best known for the "Harry Potter" spinoff franchise "Fantastic Beasts," in which he played the no-maj character Jacob Kowalski.

In "A Complete Unknown," Fogler portrays Albert Grossman, Dylan's manager from 1962 to 1970. Grossman helped Dylan become an influential figure in the era's folk revival, but his aggressive and intimidating business tactics also earned him a controversial reputation, according to TeachRock.org.

Grossman died in 1986 of a heart attack. He was 59.

• Timothée Chalamet plays Bob Dylan in the movie "A Complete Unknown."
• He was so immersed in the role that he even grew his fingernails long like Dylan.
• "He had some full-on Nosferatu going on," director James Mangold told BI of how Chalamet looked by the end of filming.

If you look close enough while watching "A Complete Unknown," in which Timothée Chalamet completely immerses himself in playing Bob Dylan, you'll notice what many online have pointed out — Chalamet's nails are quite long.

Some even observed Chalamet's lengthy nails when photos from the set were released online. A TikTok video highlights them, and journalist Hunter Harris dedicated an entire post on her Substack back in June to Chalamet's "aprés nail tips."

So, are those fake nails, or did Chalamet grow his out for the role?

"Yeah, he was growing them," "A Complete Unknown" director James Mangold told Business Insider. "If you look earlier in the movie, there are some scenes where they aren't as long, but by the end, he had some full-on Nosferatu going on."

There are theories online about why Dylan grew out his nails — from the nails helping him fingerpick while playing his guitar to simply having bad hygiene. We couldn't find Dylan on the record to explain. Business Insider reached out to the 83-year-old to find out, but he didn't respond to our very important query on this matter.

For Chalamet, however, it's another example of how deep he went into the role for the biopic, which is out Christmas Day. A November Rolling Stone cover story chronicled how the actor submerged himself into the character while filming, including keeping to himself on set, always speaking in Dylan's voice, and singing his songs like "The Times They Are A-Changin.'"

'A Complete Unknown' director said he understands why Chalamet did Method acting on set

Mangold scoffed at the "Method" acting narrative, saying that Chalamet speaking like Dylan even when cameras weren't rolling is a trick actors often do when playing a character with a unique voice.

"Timmy's not the only person whose ever done that, that's true for most of the actors in my movies doing dialects," he said. "They don't just do it and fall out of it the second the scene ends."

"You're also trying to make it more and more internalized. You're trying to make it something you don't have to think about," Mangold continued. "So if you're turning it on and off, you're kind of making yourself hyper-aware of it."

"A Complete Unknown," which also stars Scoot McNairy, Edward Norton, and Elle Fanning, will be released in theaters on December 25.

• "A Complete Unknown," directed by James Mangold, follows the early years of Bob Dylan's career.
• Timothée Chalamet gives a great performance as Bob Dylan, down to his musical performances.
• The film, however, doesn't fully context, and fails to properly establish its stakes.

The last time someone made a Bob Dylan movie, it took six actors to capture his essence. That film was Todd Haynes' 2007 "I'm Not There," a conceptual take on Dylan that split the artist into six facets of his public persona, each played by actors like Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, and Cate Blanchett.

In "A Complete Unknown," James Mangold enlists only one: Timothée Chalamet, tasked with treading the path of Dylan's early career and the weight of his canonical presence in American music. The film is mostly a biopic that traces Dylan's transition to electric music, but it also functions as an ensemble drama, roping in other contemporary figures like Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) to establish the specific moment in folk music.

Unfortunately, it doesn't fully deliver on either task. The film casts Dylan as a man determined to shake his new American prophet status by innovating out of spite. As he struggles to shake the influences that tug him in different directions — fandom, contemporaries, girlfriends — it's hard to grasp exactly who we're supposed to believe this iteration of Dylan is by the end of this film.

"A Complete Unknown" is at its best when it lets the music, rendered vibrantly through live performances, stand on its own. However, in trying to capture too much, the film glosses over character and history alike and loses the connective tissue that would truly make it sing.

'A Complete Unknown' throws a lot of historical context at you, all at once

The film takes place on the heels of the McCarthy era, which called musicians like Pete Seeger into question for potential communist ties. It also occurs during the American Civil Rights Movement and the Cold War. All this political context was crucial to Dylan's formation as an artist, and influenced songs on his 1963 album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" like "Blowin' in the wind" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall."

However, past a fleeting "This Machine Kills Fascists" sticker, "A Complete Unknown" mostly relegates that political milieu to the background. Rather, it uses the political upheaval of the 1960s as a backdrop for Dylan's romantic relationships with his girlfriend Sylvie (a representation of the real-life Suze Rotolo) and fellow musician Baez.

It's the folk scene where things get a bit more complicated. "A Complete Unknown" hinges on Dylan's transition from acoustic folk music to electric instrumentation and folk rock, culminating with a controversial performance at the July 1965 Newport Folk Festival that earned him boos from the audience.

As a viewer, you're made to understand that Dylan's percolating interest in electric music and his public commitment to it is a huge deal. The issue is, the film struggles to establish exactly why. Is it due to the old guard of folk being stubborn in their ways? An audience who fears that embracing electric means eschewing protest music? Is it a side effect of the naturally slow-moving pace of culture?

It's difficult to grasp the impact of Dylan's shift, but even more difficult to fully understand his motivation in doing so. After his first record brings newfound celebrity and ponderous expectations from fans, execs, and fellow musicians alike, "A Complete Unknown" frames Dylan's changing sound as a desire to buck expectations. In one moment, Dylan says that people should "just let me be" — "whatever it is they don't want me to be."

That thread can only carry so much water, and ultimately isn't a compelling enough character reason to explain Dylan's determination to piss off an entire musical establishment. Compounded with the lack of clear stakes, the film meanders its way to its own climax as a series of vignettes that lack propulsion.

The music, and Chalamet, are pretty great, though

"A Complete Unknown" succeeds best in its music.

Both Chalamet and Barbaro, who plays Baez, underwent musical training to play their respective icons, and it pays off. Mangold keenly reproduces a sense of being in the room for the production of Dylan's early hits, whether that room is a recording studio, a club, or a hospital room.

There's a sense of gravity every time Chalamet opens his mouth, recreating Dylan's musical style in a way that's congruous with his own take on the character. Barbaro delivers Baez's ethereal vibrato well, and she and Chalamet make for a compelling duet. While Dylan's shift to electric is narratively muddy, sonically, it's not. As his musical style shifts, "A Complete Unknown" takes you on the same journey, withholding kick drums and electric guitars in the film until Dylan considers using them himself.

As for Chalamet himself, it's no small feat to tackle one of the biggest personalities in American music — especially when it's Bob Dylan, an inscrutable character on the best of days.

Chalamet's take feels equally difficult to read throughout the film, but it's the brief flashes of vulnerability, like when he first plays for his musical hero Woody Guthrie, or his enmity for an establishment that's slowly constricting him, where he shines best. It's a solid and distinguishing notch in the young actor's already prolific career.

Ultimately, "A Complete Unknown" is an imperfect beast, struggling to distill the mythos of Dylan into something wholly tangible. In that respect, Haynes' high-concept, multifaceted approach to split Dylan into thematic parts makes sense. Narrative flaws aside, however, there is something about Mangold's take on the artist that draws you in — even if it's mostly Dylan's music itself, refracted through Chalamet's voice.

"A Complete Unknown" is in theaters now.