Bob Dylan acted out the part of himself in A Complete Unknown before he gave his backing to the biopic’s script.
Although the lead role eventually went to Timothée Chalamet, the singer-songwriter’s input into the film was so great that he went right through the script with director James Mangold, according to producer Peter Jaysen.
Speaking on The Town podcast, he said: “He met with Jim Mangold multiple times. At one point they sat there and they read the entire script out loud, with Jim Mangold reading every part and stage direction, and Bob Dylan only reading lines of dialogue for himself. Through that process, [Dylan] sat there writing notes on the script. At the end of the last session with Jim Mangold, he signed the script and said, ‘Go with God.’”
Although Dylan “did not have final cut,” Jaysen said Dylan’s involvement was significant.
It comes after Chalamet previously confirmed that Dylan went through the screenplay, line by line. “Jim has an annotated Bob script lying around somewhere,” he said. “I’ll beg him to get my hands on it. He’ll never give it to me.”
“I felt like Bob just wanted to know what I was up to,” Mangold added. “ ‘Who is this guy? Is he a shithead? Does he get it?’ – I think the normal questions anyone asks when they’re throwing themselves in league with someone.”
The film charts Dylan’s controversial switch from acoustic to electric guitar in the mid-’60s. Dylan served as an executive producer on the film, which is an adaptation of Elijah Wald’s 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties.
He also insisted on there being at least one totally inaccurate moment in the biopic.
It was released in US cinemas on Christmas Day (December 25), with a UK release to follow on January 17.
Reviewing the movie, NME awarded it four stars and said: “So many of the performances in A Complete Unknown fizz with this kind of tense, gripping energy – whether it’s because Dylan and Baez are bickering through ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ or he’s managed to bottle the anxiety of an entire city awaiting nuclear armageddon in a Cold War protest song.
“The most important (and often trickiest) job of any music movie is to get the music right. And this nails that. If you’re a Bob newbie, you’ll leave the cinema ready to dive into his back catalogue. If you’re already a fan, the next few weeks will be spent making playlists of lesser-known B-sides or reading the lore around a scene you weren’t familiar with. And that’s why it was a good idea to make this film – a mad idea, but a good one.”
Elsewhere, Jaysen recently confirmed that he is set to turn his attention to films about Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett and The Mamas & The Papas‘ Cass Elliot.
BBC4 also recently announced plans to celebrate Dylan’s music ahead of the UK release of A Complete Unknown.
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