A Complete Unknown: UK release date, cast and trailer for Bob Dylan biopic
Timothée Chalamet is stepping into the shoes of one of the most iconic cultural figures of the 20th century.
In his relatively short career so far, Timothée Chalamet has already taken on all sorts of challenging roles – from his breakout performance as Elio in Call Me By Your Name to his huge blockbuster role as Paul Atreides in Dune – but starring as Bob Dylan might just be his most tricky acting task yet.
Of course, the legendary singer-songwriter is one of the most iconic and influential cultural figures of the 20th century, and so stepping into his shows required a lot of work. But judging from what his co-stars have said, Chalamet certainly didn't skimp on the preparation.
Speaking in Rolling Stone Magazine, Edward Norton described him as "relentless", while Elle Fanning explained that "all of us were kind of shaking" when they first heard Chalamet adopting Dylan's iconic voice to sing some of his early hits.
In total, Chalamet spent five years immersing himself in Dylan – calling it "the greatest education a young artist could receive" – and based on early reactions to the film it looks like that was time well spent.
Although reviews of the film in general have been a little mixed, there has been near unanimous praise for the lead actor's turn, with some even going so far as to label it the best performance of the year. And that's also been reflected in awards so far, with Chalamet already nominated at both the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards and an Oscar nod all but certain to follow.
We previously got a glimpse of the Dune and Call Me by Your Name star impressively mimicking Dylan's unmistakable voice in a teaser released in July, before a longer trailer gave us a closer look in October.
In the full length trailer we hear Chalamet sing both Girl from the North Country and Like a Rolling Stone – highlighting the switch from acoustic to electric music which will be a big focus of the movie.
And the trailer also features plenty of shots of Dylan wandering Greenwich Village, writing lyrics on napkins and notebooks, interacting with other folk music icons including Edward Norton's Pete Seeger and Monica Barbaro's Joan Baez and crafting his somewhat mystical persona. You can watch it further down this page.
The film is directed by Logan's James Mangold – who previously helmed the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line more than two decades ago – but when will it be arriving in UK cinemas? Read on for everything you need to know about A Complete Unknown.
A Complete Unknown UK release date
It's been confirmed that the film will be released in UK cinemas early in the new year – on Friday 17th January 2025, to be exact.
Audiences across the Atlantic will be able to see the film a little earlier, with a Christmas Day release having been confirmed in the States.
A Complete Unknown cast
Of course, Timothée Chalamet takes on the monumental role of Dylan himself, and he's joined in the cast by a host of other recognisable faces playing key members of the Greenwich Village folk music scene.
Edward Norton stars as pioneering folk musician – and early Dylan champion – Pete Seeger, while Monica Barbaro plays Joan Baez, Boyd Holbrook takes on the role of Johnny Cash and Scoot McNairy is Dylan's own songwriting idol Woody Guthrie.
Meanwhile, Elle Fanning has a key role as artist and Dylan's then-girlfriend Sylvie Russo, and there are also important parts for Dan Fogler as Dylan's manager Albert Grossman and PJ Byrne as another pivotal music manager of the era, Harold Leventhal.
Other actors included in the cast are Norbert Leo Butz, Will Harrison, Eriko Hatsune, Charlie Tahan, Ryan Harris Brown, and Eli Brown.
Interestingly, Chalamet will be providing all his own vocals for the film. Not only that, but each song was sung live rather than the initial plan of pre-recorded studio versions, despite Mangold explaining to Variety that "some of the sound and music direction people were like, ‘It’s not a good idea'."
But his vocals ended up being so impressive that some of the production crew couldn't tell the difference between Chalamet's performances and Dylan's own, as producer Peter Jaysen explained to The Hollywood Reporter.
"Timmy came in and sang and [Mangold and music producer Nick Baxter] had us close our eyes, and they started switching between Bob Dylan and Timothée Chalamet; we couldn’t tell the difference," he said. "That’s when we knew that we had something special."
A list of the main cast members:
- Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan
- Edward Norton as Pete Seeger
- Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, a renamed version of Suze Rotolo
- Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez
- Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash
- Scoot McNairy as Woody Guthrie
- Dan Fogler as Albert Grossman
- Norbert Leo Butz as Alan Lomax
- PJ Byrne as Harold Leventhal
A Complete Unknown plot
Bob Dylan is one of the most revered songwriters and fascinating cultural figures in modern history, so there is no shortage of material to draw from for a film about his life.
A Complete Unknown will be specifically focusing on his rise to prominence as well as the moment – still relatively early in his career – when he made the transition from acoustic-only music to electric, a move which angered some of his hardcore fans in the folk movement of the time.
It is based on Elijah Wald's 2013 book Dylan Goes Electric! and – as any fan of Dylan will know – its title is taken from a line in his seminal hit Like a Rolling Stone.
The official synopsis for the film reads: "Set in the influential New York music scene of the early '60s, A Complete Unknown follows 19-year-old Minnesota musician Bob Dylan's meteoric rise as a folk singer to concert halls and the top of the charts – his songs and mystique becoming a worldwide sensation – culminating in his groundbreaking electric rock and roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965."
Meanwhile, Mangold and Chalamet have explained how they tried to keep the "mystery" of Dylan alive in the film and not make a film that explained every facet of the legendary musician.
"This was always going to be a fable," he explained to Deadline. "This was not meant to be a Wikipedia fact-for-fact recreation of how it was. There’s all the audiovisual material that exists of him that I could study. And in the total of the universe, there’s what’s on the page, and I could go forward with that."
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A Complete Unknown trailer
You can watch the full trailer – which arrived in October 2024 and gives us another look at Chalamet's singing – below:
A Complete Unknown will be released in UK cinemas on Friday 17th January 2024.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
