Timothée Chalamet says he does not know if he will do many more films that require the investment that Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown has done.
Speaking at the Berlinale press conference for James Mangold’s film, where Chalamet represented the film alone, Chalamet detailed the emotional and time investment the project has required from him.
“This is the last word - I’ve been going around the world talking about this for two months,” said Chalamet. “I love this man [Dylan] so much and this movie so much, I would do it for a year.”
Such efforts cannot be repeated too often in a career, said the actor. “I don’t know if I’ve got a lot more of these in me,” said Chalamet.
Chalamet has been attached to Mangold’s film for over five years, with the project originally scheduled to go into production in 2020 before the pandemic took hold.
The film is Chalamet’s second credit as producer, after 2022’s cannibalism love story Bones And All directed by Luca Guadagnino. The actor said he still hopes to expand his producing repertoire, but only for the right projects.
”I do have ambitions in that regard,” said Chalamet. ”I never wanted to be someone that just slapped my name on something claiming to produce it and you’re really just skimming money off the top. I’m very proud right now, it just says Bones & All, A Complete Unknown and Marty Supreme. Those are things that are actually personal to me, as opposed to like a docuseries on Tubi.
“No disrespect to Tubi,” quipped Chalamet.
At that time of Bones And All in 2022, Chalamet said he couldn’t “say that I was helping organise schedules or anything like that” but “it’s something I hope to continue doing and hopefully even be able to make things that I’m not in, that help bring voices and faces to screen that historically don’t get the opportunities so much.”
The actor fielded several questions about the political dimension of A Complete Unknown, and the pressure for well-known creatives to express political opinions today.
“It’s in the nature of [Dylan’s] music, the warnings against cult-like figures,” said Chalamet. ”My interpretation is just be wary of any saviour-like figures … Anyone who says they have a solution, be wary. That’s also the message of Frank Herbert’s Dune [of which Chalamet stars in Denis Villenueve’s film adaptations].”
A Complete Unknown was released on December 25 in the US by Searchlight Pictures, and has grossed $70m to date. It opened on January 17 in UK-Ireland through Universal Pictures, and hit the £10m mark last weekend; with a $97.5m global total.
The film depicts the early period of Dylan’s career, from coming to New York City as a 19-year-old through to his groundbreaking performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
The film is nominated for six Baftas, including best film, leading actor for Chalamet and best adapted screenplay for Jay Cocks and James Mangold. It has eight Oscar nominations – in the three above categories, plus best director for Mangold and supporting actress for Monica Barbaro.
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