Timothée Chalamet says he’s heard 12 hours’ worth of unreleased Bob Dylan songs

Timothée Chalamet says he’s heard a wealth of unreleased Bob Dylan music in preparation to play the iconic artist in an upcoming biopic.

• READ MORE: It Ain’t Me, Babe: Every on screen portrayal of Bob Dylan rated

In preparation for his role in the upcoming biopic Complete Unknown, Dylan’s longtime manager Jeff Rosen, who will also be serving as a producer on the film, gave Chalamet access to a 12-hour playlist of unreleased Dylan songs which were recorded between 1959 and 1964.

“This might earn the ire and wrath of a lot of Bob fans, rightfully,” Chalamet said in a recent interview with Happy Sad Confused’s Josh Horowitz, “but he sent me like a 12-hour playlist of unreleased Bob stuff from like 1959 to ’64. I feel like I’m holding onto gold or something.”

He added that some of the music available to the public via bootlegs like ‘The Minnesota Tapes’.

The film is being directed by Le Mans ’66 filmmaker James Mangold and, rather than chronicling Dylan’s entire life and career, it will focus on  Dylan’s controversial decision in 1965 to embrace the electric guitar, alienating many of his original fans.

Chalamet will be singing in the film and said that in preparation, he has been working alongside the team who assisted Austin Butler for Elvis.

The project was announced in 2020, before being delayed indefinitely later that year with no release timeframe shared. Filming was expected to begin in August this year but was delayed again by the ongoing Hollywood strikes. Now, production is allegedly slated to begin early next year.

Dylan also “personally annotated” Chalamet’s script and spent several days with Mangold discussing the film.

Chalamet’s latest project, Wonka, sees him play a younger version of the titular chocolatier who appeared in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

In a four-star review of Wonka, NME wrote: “Some of the plot twists are obvious, but Wonka has charm, heart and eye-popping visuals from start to finish. Only the dubious decision to encase one chocolate-gobbling baddie in a fat suit leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste.

“A scene-stealing Grant provides the comic highlights as Lofty, a supercilious Oompa Loompa with a grudge against Chalamet’s title character, while the film’s emotional beats come from Willy’s flowering friendship with book-loving orphan Noodle (Calah Lane). Wonka isn’t quite an immaculate confection, but it’s moreish enough to become a future festive favourite. You’ll want to tuck right in.”