Does the world really need a big Bob Dylan biopic? The Nobel-Prize-winning singer-songwriter has always seemed too aloof, too esoteric, for the Walk the Line treatment. There’s a reason that the most prominent effort to date, 2007’s I’m Not There, employed a fiercely experimental approach, casting six different actors as Bob and refusing to mention him by name. But the times, they have a-changed, and now we’re just weeks away from a glossy new Dylan biopic, starring waifish Dune heartthrob Timothée Chalamet. The film, titled A Complete Unknown, has been tipped for next year’s Oscars – but few people seem as excited as the man himself.
Wafting away his usual fog of mystique for a moment, Dylan this week shared his enthusiasm for A Complete Unknownon X/Twitter. “There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!),” he wrote. “Timothée Chalamet is starring in the lead role. Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me.” (Despite the whiff of publicist-speak, it was seemingly composed by Dylan personally – a source close to the singer confirmed as much in a recent Wall Street Journal article scrutinising Dylan’s social media habits.) The endorsement, however, may not be the blessing from on high you might assume. Just because a biopic gets the approval of its subject doesn’t mean it’s actually going to be any good. Often, it’s quite the opposite.
