In the recently released biography A Complete Unknown, Timothée Chalamet plays Bob Dylan. The actor from Dune performed live and sounds much like the folk singer, as the new trailer shows.

‘A Complete Unknown’ Release Date

Per the official theatrical poster, the Searchlight Pictures biopic is slated to open in theatres on December 25, 2024.

Who Is in the Bob Dylan Biopic Cast?

With the exception of Timmy, who plays Bob in the film, the cast is fantastic. Suzanne Sylvie Russo, Bob’s ex-girlfriend, is portrayed by Elle Fanning, while Joan Baez is portrayed by Monica Barbaro. Boyd Holbrook portrays Johnny Cash, while award-winning actor Edward Norton plays Pete Seeger.

‘A Complete Unknown’ Trailer

In the trailer, Timmy is heard singing one of Bob’s hits “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.”

Does Timothee Sing in ‘A Complete Unknown’?

The director of A Complete Unknown, James Mangold, explained that the Call Me By Your Name actress sings in the film. The Walk the Line director stated that Timmy “was a partner in this” project—that is, he provided vocals for the movie—in an interview with Rolling Stone in July 2024.

“You want everyone putting everything on the line every moment,” James explained to the publication. “But it’s not [like] if one of our actors hit a bad note, I don’t have an alternative take or the ability to replace that one beat. If Timmy’s brave enough to stand out there and make himself vulnerable, throwing himself at this, I should be brave enough to stand behind the camera and shoot. And Timmy was a partner in this. He very much wanted to.”

The biopic has been in production for a number of years, the filmmaker explained.

“And the multiple years of preparation that we had on this movie because of false starts with Covid and stuff meant that Timmy really had a kind of incubation as a musician that was years in happening,” James added. “And Monica Barbaro as well. She was cast when we were gonna make the movie before Indy. So a lot of these people have been in place for an incredible amount of time, and used that time incredibly successfully in their own musical journey.”

Was Bob Dylan Involved With the Movie?

Additionally, the filmmaker attested to Bob’s involvement in the making of A Complete Unknown. James told the folk musician that the film is “about a guy who’s choking to death in Minnesota, and leaves behind all his friends and family and reinvents himself in a brand new place, makes new friends, builds a new family, becomes phenomenally successful, starts to choke to death again— and runs away,” recalling their meeting with the “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” hitmaker.

James remembered Bob’s reaction, “I like that idea.”