Timothée Chalamet Hasn't Met Bob Dylan Yet Despite Role in Biopic: He 'Retreated from the Public Eye'

Mar. 15, 2025

Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in ‘A Complete Unknown’.Photo:Macall Polay/Searchlight Pictures

Macall Polay/Searchlight Pictures

Timothée Chalametis playingBob Dylanin a biopic, but on a personal level the two are complete unknowns.“I never met him,” said the actor, 28, in an interview onThe Zane Lowe Showreleased Nov. 11 onApple Music 1. Chalamet plays a young Dylan inA Complete Unknown, writer-directorJames Mangold’s take on the legendary singer-songwriter.Noting that the “Blowin’ in the Wind” singer is now 83, Chalamet said, “He’s sort of retreated from the public eye. Never met him. Would love to!”Asked for the extent of his interaction with Dylan, theDunestar laughed, saying, “I’ve seen him live.”The reclusive songwriter was distantly involved with his depiction inA Complete Unknown, however. “He approved the script, he made modifications to the script, there are lines that are his in the script that I relished,” revealed Chalamet.“There was one I was saying to Jim Mangold … ‘This is good, man. When did you come up with this?’ He goes, ‘Bob put that in,’ ” added the star. “He has the Bob-annotated script. I want it.”Edward Norton and Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unknown’.Macall Polay/Courtesy of Searchlight PicturesA Complete Unknownalso starsEdward Nortonas Pete Seeger,Elle Fanningas Sylvie Russo, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash, Scoot McNairy as Woody Guthrie and more.To bring Dylan’s early years to life, Chalamet committed to playing and singing his music live on set, throwing out hours of pre-recorded audio they had planned for lip-synching, he said onThe Zane Lowe Show.It did not “make sense” for Chalamet to mimic Dylan’s exact moves or voice, he said. “Bob did not have a vocal coach. He had two bottles of red wine and four packs of cigarettes. There’s no way to impersonate that.“Timothée Chalamet on ‘The Zane Lowe Show’.The Zane Lowe Show on Apple Music 1Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Upon breaking into the music scene with “The Times They Are a Changin,'” Dylan “had some instinct to not let people in at the beginning,” noted the Oscar nominee.And much like 1960s-era Dylan differed from “larger-than-life figures” like Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger or Jimi Hendrix, Chalamet said he could relate to his feeling out of place.“When I look at my contemporaries now, I don’t really see myself in the mirror. I don’t say that to put myself down, I just don’t. When I watch group interviews for movies I put out and they cut to other castmates, I think they’re much better spoken. They can flip the Hollywood thing on way better than I — I feel like I stumble over my words and can’t really get it across.”A Complete Unknownis in theaters Dec. 25. The second part of Chalamet’s interview onThe Zane Lowe Showwill be released in December.

Timothée Chalametis playingBob Dylanin a biopic, but on a personal level the two are complete unknowns.

“I never met him,” said the actor, 28, in an interview onThe Zane Lowe Showreleased Nov. 11 onApple Music 1. Chalamet plays a young Dylan inA Complete Unknown, writer-directorJames Mangold’s take on the legendary singer-songwriter.

Noting that the “Blowin’ in the Wind” singer is now 83, Chalamet said, “He’s sort of retreated from the public eye. Never met him. Would love to!”

Asked for the extent of his interaction with Dylan, theDunestar laughed, saying, “I’ve seen him live.”

The reclusive songwriter was distantly involved with his depiction inA Complete Unknown, however. “He approved the script, he made modifications to the script, there are lines that are his in the script that I relished,” revealed Chalamet.

“There was one I was saying to Jim Mangold … ‘This is good, man. When did you come up with this?’ He goes, ‘Bob put that in,’ ” added the star. “He has the Bob-annotated script. I want it.”

Edward Norton and Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unknown’.Macall Polay/Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Macall Polay/Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

A Complete Unknownalso starsEdward Nortonas Pete Seeger,Elle Fanningas Sylvie Russo, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash, Scoot McNairy as Woody Guthrie and more.

To bring Dylan’s early years to life, Chalamet committed to playing and singing his music live on set, throwing out hours of pre-recorded audio they had planned for lip-synching, he said onThe Zane Lowe Show.

It did not “make sense” for Chalamet to mimic Dylan’s exact moves or voice, he said. “Bob did not have a vocal coach. He had two bottles of red wine and four packs of cigarettes. There’s no way to impersonate that.”

Timothée Chalamet on ‘The Zane Lowe Show’.The Zane Lowe Show on Apple Music 1

The Zane Lowe Show on Apple Music 1

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Upon breaking into the music scene with “The Times They Are a Changin,'” Dylan “had some instinct to not let people in at the beginning,” noted the Oscar nominee.

And much like 1960s-era Dylan differed from “larger-than-life figures” like Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger or Jimi Hendrix, Chalamet said he could relate to his feeling out of place.

“When I look at my contemporaries now, I don’t really see myself in the mirror. I don’t say that to put myself down, I just don’t. When I watch group interviews for movies I put out and they cut to other castmates, I think they’re much better spoken. They can flip the Hollywood thing on way better than I — I feel like I stumble over my words and can’t really get it across.”

A Complete Unknownis in theaters Dec. 25. The second part of Chalamet’s interview onThe Zane Lowe Showwill be released in December.

source: people.com