James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown will hit theaters on December 25.
The movie, which stars Timothée Chalamet as Dylan, follows the singer’s rise from Minnesota to West Village balladeer to revolutionary folk singer. As he forms his most intimate relationships during his rise to fame, he grows restless with the folk movement and, refusing to be defined, makes a controversial choice that culturally reverberates worldwide. Mangold co-wrote the script with Jay Cocks.
Will this movie hit the fall film festival troika? We’re hearing no — it’s not ready yet. Good things come to those who wait.
Mangold knows how to make a mass-appealing biopic about a musical legend; his 2005 feature Walk the Line, about Johnny Cash and June Carter, grossed close to $120 million stateside, more that $186M worldwide, and notched a Best Actress Oscar win for Reese Witherspoon after five Oscar noms including Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix.
A Complete Unknown also stars Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Boyd Holbrook, Dan Fogler, Norbert Leo Butz and Scoot McNairy. Producers are Fred Berger, Alex Heineman, Peter Jaysen, Bob Bookman, Alan Gasmer, Jeff Rosen, Chalamet and Mangold.
When it comes to resonating at the post-Covid arthouse box office, Searchlight is no slouch for Disney: Its spicy Yorgos Lanthimos-directed Poor Things rang up $117.6 million worldwide ($34.5M of that from the U.S. and Canada) last year and scored four Oscars including Emma Stone’s Best Actress trophy.
Chalamet was previously nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars for Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name. Mangold is a two-time Oscar nominee: for Best Picture for Ford v. Ferrari and Adapted Screenplay for co-writing Logan.