Bob Dylan is giving his stamp of approval to Timothée Chalamet and the biopic “A Complete Unknown.”
“There’s a movie about me opening soon called ‘A Complete Unknown’ (what a title!). Timothee Chalamet is starring in the lead role,” the singer, 83, wrote via X on Wednesday. “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.”
Dylan added, “The film’s taken from Elijah Wald’s ‘Dylan Goes Electric’ a book that came out in 2015. It’s a fantastic retelling of events from the early ‘60s that led up to the fiasco at Newport. After you’ve seen the movie read the book.”
Although the musician hasn’t shared if he’s seen the film, Chalamet, 28, was blown away by Dylan’s praises. who replied to the tweet by writing, “Floored. I am so grateful. Thank you Bob.”
The “Wonka” star also posted a screenshot of the songwriter’s message to his Instagram Story on Thursday, taking a moment to relish in Dylan’s comments.
“Screaming crying laughing screaming laughing pooping screaming crying,” he wrote alongside the snap. “THANK YOU BOB!!!! DREAM COME TRUE!!!!”
In “A Complete Unknown,” Chalamet plays a younger version of the legendary musician. The movie follows Dylan from the beginning of his career in 1960s New York to his famous electric guitar performance of “Like a Rolling Stone” at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
Despite Dylan not being directly involved with the project, director James Mangold told Rolling Stone last month that he sat down with the icon on various occasions before filming began.
“Bob would have these one-off lines that were so fantastic,” Chalamet told the outlet in a joint interview with Mangold, 60. “Jim has an annotated Bob script lying around somewhere. I’ll beg him to get my hands on it. He’ll never give it to me.”
The director also noted that he “felt like Bob just wanted to know what I was up to,” adding, “’Who is this guy? Is he a s – – thead? Does he get it?’ — I think the normal questions anyone asks when they’re throwing themselves in league with someone.”
Chalamet spoke with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe last month and reflecting on portraying Dylan on the big screen. He called playing the musical genius “the most unique challenge I’ve taken on,” particularly because he had to sing and play guitar live on set.
“It was ‘Song to Woody,’ which is one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs ever,” said Chalamet. “It was the first one we shot in the movie. You couldn’t do it to a playback because it’s such an intimate scene. It’s in a hospital room with Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. And I did it live and it went great.”
He continued: “I’m making mistakes on the guitar a little bit here and there, but you can kind of fill those in after. I went home and I wept that night. Not to be dramatic, but it’s a song I’d been living with for years and something I could relate to deeply. And I also felt, I come back to this word a lot, I felt like it was the most dignified work I’d ever done.”
“A Complete Unknown” hits theaters Christmas Day.