Timothée Chalamet’s singing scenes inA Complete Unknownare explained by a key creative. Chalamet plays singer-songwriter legend Bob Dylan in the upcoming biopic directed by James Mangold. The film chronicles Dylan’s life as he goes from an unknown artist to an infamous performer in New York. In addition to Chalamet,A Complete Unknownfeatures a leading castincluding Edward Norton, Monica Barbaro, Scoot McNairy, Elle Fanning, and Boyd Holbrook.
In an exclusive interview withScreenRant,A Complete Unknowndirector of photography Phedon Papamichael explains how Chalamet’s singing scenes were executive forA Complete Unknown. Papamichael details that they"prerecorded the songs" but that Chalamet still did a lot of training for the role. As a result, Chalamet kept saying “let me do it live.” Papamichael and the team were “in awe” and felt like “they all have their own individuality.” He goes on to praise Chalamet and the rest of theA Complete Unknownteam. Check out the full quote from Papamichael below:
Phedon Papamichael: Of course, we prerecorded the songs, and initially for many logistical and technical reasons, that was kind of the plan to have Timothée’s voice, but go with playback of his prerecords. But, as he embodied that character, even during production, he practiced, as you probably know, for a long time. The movie was delayed several times. He had five years to work on it and he became quite an accomplished guitar player, harmonica player, learned piano. It’s very intimidating to portray Bob Dylan.
But Timothée, in front of our eyes, he transformed into this person and he kept saying, let me do it live. Let me do live. Can I do a live one? Let me do it, and we were like, yeah, sure, go for it. And we were in awe every time, every take. Of course, it adds something in addition to lip syncing back even to your own prerecorded [track]. There’s a lot of these songs. They’re not like perfectly timed. It’s not like a Taylor Swift concert. It’s how they all have their own individuality and their own imperfections a lot of the time, and it’s not just the stage stuff.
It’s also him in his apartment figuring out a song. When Joan Baez goes here, and throws him a piece of paper with some lyrics [at him], play this. you’re able to’t do playback for that. He’s sitting in his boxers on the bed and she comes and joins in, like, you can’t do that pre-recorded, you can’t do that like that. That has to be live.
And not just Timmy, I mean, Ed is amazing. And Monica Barbaro blew us away. Her voice is incredible. I don’t know, is it singing through acting? Is that just incredible acting? I don’t know how they do it.
I mean, Joaquin also doesn’t sound anything like Johnny Cash when you talk to him. I don’t know how they do it, but I guess that’s what great actors are capable of.
What This Means For A Complete Unknown
Timothée Chalamet Has Best Actor Hopes
Papamichael’s explanation of Chalamet’s work inA Complete Unknowndemonstrates just how much Chalamet transformed for the role. It is also a testament to how production challenges can sometimes lead to a movie’s benefit in the long run. The DP mentions thatA Complete Unknownwas delayed multiple times, but this ended up giving Chalamet five years to prep for the role. ThoughChalamet had other rolesat that time, these years meant the actor had more time to master the inflections and vocal qualities of Dylan.
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It is this transformation that makes Chalamet such a strong contender forBest Actor at the Oscars. As evidenced by past winners such as Brendan Fraser forThe Whale, Rami Malek forBohemian Rhapsody, and Gary Oldman forDarkest Hour, the Academy tends to appreciate performances that are visibly or auditoryally transformative and/or imitative.A Complete Unknownis no exception, asChalamet both bears a likeness to Dylan and transforms to sound like him vocally. Chalamet is already getting award recognition for hisA Complete Unknownrole, making an Oscar nomination even more likely.
Our Take On Chalamet’s A Complete Unknown Singing
The Live Singing Is Impressive
Ever since theA Complete Unknowntrailers, I have thought that Chalamet sounded a lot like Dylan for an actor who was doing all of his own singing in the role. It is interesting to know how the actor’s live singing added another layer to theA Complete Unknownsong scenes. As the film continues its theatrical run unfolds, it will be fascinating to see how these scenes get further complimented or scrutinized.
A Complete Unknown
Cast
A Complete Unknown is a biographical movie that follows a young Bob Dylan as he integrates with New York and catches the eye of the folk singers in the area, eventually propelling him into stardom.
