Bob Dylan fans have been anxiously awaiting director James Mangold’s upcoming Dylan flick, A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet. But Mangold wants fans to know they won’t be seeing Dylan’s complete life story on the big screen.
“By the way, it’s not really a Bob Dylan biopic,” Mangold said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “The reason Bob has been so supportive of us making it is [that] it’s about — as in all cases, I think, the best true-life movies are never cradle to grave, but they’re about a very specific moment in someone’s life.”
Mangold explained that A Complete Unknown focuses on the early ’60s in New York, when a 17-year-old Dylan comes to the Big Apple and meets artists like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Joan Baez, and “within a year” lands a record deal and becomes a star.
And Dylan has been more than just supportive; he actually gave Mangold notes on the script.
“I’ve spent several wonderfully charming days in his company, just one-on-one, talking to him,” Mangold says. “I have a script that’s personally annotated by him and treasured by me.”
The film, which so far doesn’t have a release date, also stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro and Nick Offerman.
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