Timothée Chalamet’s singing scenes in A complete unknown are explained by a key motif. Chalamet plays singer-songwriter legend Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s upcoming biopic. The film chronicles Dylan’s life as he goes from an unknown artist to a notorious artist in New York. Next to Chalamet, A complete unknown Featuring a main cast including Edward Norton, Monica Barbaro, Scoot McNairy, Elle Fanning and Boyd Holbrook.

In an exclusive interview with ScreenRant, A complete unknown Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael explains what role Chalamet’s singing scenes played A complete unknown. Papamichael details that they “I recorded the songs in advance“But that Chalamet trained a lot for the role. As a result, Chalamet repeatedly said: “Let me do it live.” Papamichael and the team were “in awe“and had the feeling”they all have their own individuality.” He then praises Chalamet and the rest A complete unknown Team. Check out Papamichael’s full quote below:

Phedon Papamichael: Of course we pre-recorded the songs, and for many logistical and technical reasons the initial plan was to have Timothée’s voice but to play his pre-recordings. But as you probably know, he practiced how to embody this character for a long time, even during production. The film was delayed several times. He had five years to work on it and he became a fairly accomplished guitarist, harmonica player and learned piano. It’s very intimidating to portray Bob Dylan.

But Timothée transformed into this person before our eyes and kept saying, “Let me do it live.” Let me live. Can I do a live video? Let me do it, and we thought, sure, do it. And we were in awe every time and every shot. Of course, in addition to lip syncing, it also adds something to your own recording (track). There are many of these songs. They are not perfectly timed. It’s not like a Taylor Swift concert. So they all often have their own individuality and their own imperfections, and that doesn’t just apply to the stage stuff.

He can also be seen in his apartment thinking up a song. If Joan Baez comes here and throws him a piece of paper with some lyrics on it, play this. No playback is possible for this. He’s sitting on the bed in his boxers and she comes and joins in: “You can’t pre-record this, you can’t do it like that.” It has to be live.

And not just Timmy, I mean, Ed is great. And Monica Barbaro blew us away. Her voice is incredible. I don’t know, is singing through acting possible? Is this just incredible acting? I don’t know how they do it.

I mean, Joaquin doesn’t sound anything like Johnny Cash when you talk to him either. I don’t know how they do it, but I think great actors are capable of it.

What this means for a complete unknown

Timothée Chalamet has high hopes as an actor

Papamichael’s explanation of Chalamet’s work in A complete unknown shows how much Chalamet changed for the role. It’s also a testament to how production challenges can sometimes work to a film’s benefit in the long run. The DP mentions this A complete unknown was postponed several times, but this gave Chalamet five years to prepare for the role. Although Chalamet had other roles at the time, these years meant the actor had more time to master the tones and vocal qualities of Dylan.

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It’s this transformation that makes Chalamet such a strong contender for the Oscars for Best Actor. This is proven by previous winners like Brendan Fraser The whaleRami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsodyand Gary Oldman for Darkest hourthe academy tends to value performances that are visually or aurally transformative and/or imitative. A complete unknown is no exception, how Chalamet bears both a resemblance to Dylan and his voice and sounds like him. Chalamet is already receiving awards for this A complete unknown role, which makes an Oscar nomination even more likely.

Our interpretation of Chalamet’s “A Completely Unknown Song”.

The live singing is impressive

Since then A complete unknown In the trailers I thought Chalamet sounded a lot like Dylan for an actor who sang the role entirely himself. It’s interesting to know how the actor’s live singing added another layer to it all A complete unknown Song scenes. As the film progresses, it will be fascinating to see how these scenes are further expanded upon or questioned.

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A Complete Unknown is a biographical film that follows a young Bob Dylan as he integrates into New York, attracts the attention of local folk singers, and ultimately becomes a star.

Release date

December 25, 2024

Main genre

biography

Pour

Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Nick Offerman, Boyd Holbrook, PJ Byrne, Scoot McNairy, Dan Fogler, Will Harrison, Charlie Tahan, Jon Gennari, Norbert Leo Butz

Character(s)

Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Sylvie Russo, Joan Baez, Alan Lomax, Johnny Cash, Harold Levanthal, Woody Guthrie, Albert Grossman, Bob Neuwirth, Al Kooper, stage manager

Studio(s)

Searchlight Pictures, The Picture Company, Automatic Entertainment

Sales partner

Searchlight images

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