How Timothée Chalamet Rocked Bob Dylan's Style for His Latest Role
Timothée Chalamet starred in several iconic films, including Little Women, Dune, Call Me By Your Name, Wonka, and Ladybird. Chalamet recently received acclaim for his portrayal of singer Bob Dylan in the film A Complete Unknown, including a SAG Award and an Oscar nomination. To get into character and channel Bob Dylan's iconic style, the actor did a few essential things.
Timothée Chalamet Did His Research
Chalamet watched D.A. Pennebaker's Don't Look Back and read books about Bob Dylan to prepare for his role. The actor referred to Don't Look Back as "a Bible" to him, noting that he truly loves the film.
"The great thing about Don't Look Back is it's just really raw," he said to the Associated Press. "There aren't the talking heads. It's what's great about Suze Rotolo's book. It's really raw. It's more raw than a lot of the other books about Bob Dylan. It's very clear-sighted about the young relationship she had with Bob. With an artist of such reverence, it's important as an actor not to simply revere him. Then you'll do justice to the people that already revere him, but to everyone else in the room, they won't get it."
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He Took Guitar Lessons
Chalamet recalled learning to play guitar during his Associated Press interview.
"I think sometime in 2018, I had my first lesson with this great guitar teacher named Larry Saltzman who at some point became less of a teacher and more a co-sanity artist through COVID," he says. "We would Zoom three, four times a week and doing songs that never made it into the movie."
He Traveled To Bob Dylan's Hometown
Bob Dylan was born in Duluth, Minnesota, so Chalamet wanted to travel there for research purposes.
"I spent time in Duluth and Hibbing and Wisconsin and Chicago," the actor said. "I tried to retrace those steps leading to New York where he arrived in the early '60s. That wasn't some academy process. That wasn't trying to excavate the exact footprint and see if there was some DNA remaining and what that meant about where he was psychologically at the time. That was simply to be in the energy of these places and quell some insecurity I had about growing up in midtown Manhattan in the 2000s and how that would be different from growing up in iron ore country in the '50s and '60s."
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He Gained 20 Pounds
Chalamet also went through a physical transformation for the role. He revealed on NPR's All Things Considered podcast that he gained 20 pounds for the film.
"I did all the work, like you just described, physicality, behavior-wise," Chalamet said. "But something we haven't really talked about, I also put on 20 pounds because…believe it or not, I was thinner than the guy, you know?"
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He Was Authentic
Chalamet also pointed out that authenticity was crucial to him.
"This is a movie about folk music and folk musicians," the actor shared on the podcast. "The authenticity needs to be felt. My fear was that you would feel the Purell in a Hollywood reproduction of this period."
