Bob Dylan has declared himself a Timothée Chalamet fan.
The “Like a Rolling Stone” singer, in an X post on Wednesday, endorsed the Oscar-nominated actor’s casting as lead in “A Complete Unknown.” The forthcoming biopic chronicles Dylan’s rise to fame in 1960s New York. The folk luminary’s stamp of approval comes weeks before the film’s Dec. 25 release.
“There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!),” Dylan wrote in the post, in which he called Chalamet a “brilliant actor” who he trusts will “be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me.”
He went on to encourage fans to read the book that inspired the James Mangold-directed film: Elijah Wald’s “Dylan Goes Electric,” published in 2015.
It’s the first time the 10-time Grammy Award winner has spoken publicly about the film, which was announced in early 2020 and was initially titled “Going Electric.” However, during the making of “A Complete Unknown,” Dylan regularly sat down with Mangold to give notes on the script, Chalamet told Rolling Stone last month.
“Jim [Mangold] has an annotated Bob script lying around somewhere,” Chalamet told the outlet. “I’ll beg him to get my hands on it. He’ll never give it to me.”
Monday night in New York City, Chalamet was among those lauded at the Gotham Awards, which honor independent films and are given out by the nonprofit Gotham Film & Media Institute. He received the Visionary Tribute for his work in the movie, which also stars Monica Barbaro (as Joan Baez), Elle Fanning (as Sylvie Russo) and Edward Norton (as Pete Seeger), among others.
“I’m grateful to everyone who poured themselves into this project,” Chalamet said in his acceptance speech. “Getting to study and immerse myself in the world of Bob Dylan has been the greatest education a young artist could receive.”
Prior to the film’s wide release on Christmas Day, early-access screenings will be offered at select IMAX theaters beginning Dec. 18.
