Timothée Chalamet and the cast of A Complete Unknown recently talked to Rolling Stone about the making of the Bob Dylan film, and Chalamet shared some insight into his commitment to what he calls a “role of a lifetime.”
“It was something I would go to sleep panicked about, losing a moment of discovery as the character — no matter how pretentious that sounds — because I was on my phone or because of any distraction,” he says. “I had three months of my life to play Bob Dylan, after five years of preparing to play him. So while I was in it, that was my eternal focus.”
He adds, “He deserved that and then more … God forbid I missed a step because I was being Timmy. I could be Timmy for the rest of my life!”
Chalamet was listed as “Bob Dylan” on the film’s call sheet, and it fooled co-star Elle Fanning, who got an invite to a preproduction meeting with director James Mangold and “Bob,” thinking she was meeting the rock icon.
“I’m probably the first person in life to be let down by having a rehearsal with Timothée Chalamet, right?” she tells Rolling Stone. “Like, the first girl in history.”
Monica Barbaro, who plays Joan Baez, said Chalamet “wasn’t so full-on” with his method acting, but she noted he was “in his own world” on set, “in a way that I think Bob often was as well.”
And Ed Norton, who plays Pete Seeger, described Chalamet’s commitment as “relentless.”
“No visitors, no friends, no reps, no nothing,” he said. “And I agreed totally — it was like, we cannot have a f****** audience for this. We’ve got to believe to the greatest degree we can. And he was right to be that protective.”
A Complete Unknown opens Dec. 25.
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