First trailer for Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet released

A new trailer for an upcoming biopic about legendary American folk singer Bob Dylan has been released.

A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet, is based on the 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric! By Elijah Wald, which tells the story of Dylan’s infamous and at the time much-lambasted transition to electric instruments.

Chalamet, who is one of the most in-demand actors of his generation and who like Dylan was born with Jewish heritage, will be portraying the intensely private and contemplative artist.

The 28-year-old actor, born to an American Jewish mother and a French Protestant father, shot to stardom in the 2017 gay romance film Call Me By Your Name and has since starred in intergalactic Hollywood blockbusters Dune and Dune 2 as Paul Atreides.

A Complete Unknown is directed by James Mangold, known for his work in the X-men and Indiana Jones franchises, and written by Mangold and Jay Cocks, known for collaborating with director Martin Scorsese on several films.

Though no release date for the film has been announced, it is expected to premiere in America in December this year, with a January 2025 release date for the UK and Ireland.

The film also features portrayals of numerous other well-known music artists of the time and friends of Dylan, including actress Monica Barbaro in the role of folk artist and one-time girlfriend, Joan Baez, actor Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, and Boyd Holbrook (Narcos) as Johnny Cash. Actress Elle Fanning will play Dylan’s girlfriend Suze Rotolo (whose name has changed in the film to be Sylvie Russo), who appears on the front cover of Dylan’s iconic 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.

Before becoming one of the most iconic and influential figures of the 20th century, Bob Dylan was born under the name Robert Zimmerman in 1941 to Jewish parents living in a close-knit Jewish community in Duluth, Minnesota.

Dylan’s fifth album in 1965, Bringing It All Back Home, marked a distinct departure from his four previous folk albums which each relied on acoustic instruments and politically charged lyrics.

Dylan is considered one of the greatest songwriters in history whose complex, esoteric anti-establishment and anti-war lyrics positioned him as one of the central figures of the 1960s counterculture movement.

Having composed some 40 albums over a career spanning six decades, Bob Dylan has sold more than 125 million records, making him one of the best-selling musicians to ever live. He has been awarded a wide array of awards, including ten Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, an Academy Award, the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom given to him by President Barack Obama.

The title A Complete Unknown comes from the lyrics of Dylan’s 1965 song Like A Rolling Stone, which rock magazine Rolling Stone once ranked as number one in its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.