Complete Unknown, the new Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet, will be released in theaters on Christmas Day. As historian Douglas Brinkley tells it, this is just the latest chapter in Dylan’s long love affair with cinema.
Growing up in the iron-rich mining town of Hibbing, Minnesota in the 1940s and ’50s, Bob Dylan wasn’t exposed to much misfit or social disorder. However, that’s the case with movies.
It was at local theaters (one of which was owned by his relatives) that he first laid eyes on Brigitte Bardot. She was an early crush and muse for some of his first songs.
“Yes, the phone rang, and it didn’t stop ringing.”
President Kennedy is calling me.
He said, “My friend Bob, what does it take to grow this country?”
I said, “My friend, John, Brigitte Bardot.”
Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren…’
— Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Free”
Young Bob donned a leather jacket after seeing Marlon Brando in “The Wild One.” When he saw Blackboard Jungle, a youth melodrama with an innovative rock’n’roll soundtrack, he said to a friend: “This is exactly what we were trying to tell people about ourselves.”
Seeing James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause” inspired him to challenge the constraints of Cold War conformity in music.
When Dylan arrived in New York’s Greenwich Village, what caught his eye was arthouse international cinema. Examples include Truffaut’s “Shoot the Piano Player” and Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita.” The film, about a tabloid journalist’s futile search for fulfillment in hedonistic Rome, was later described by Dylan as “like life through a carnival mirror.”
However, Dylan’s first major film role was a cameo in Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. This movie gave birth to the famous song “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, which is now known as “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”. nobel prize winnersMost streamed song on.
His music has elevated film scores, from “The Big Lebowski” to, most recently, “St. Vincent.”
One movie that stuck with Dylan for decades was The Gunfighter, starring Gregory Peck. When Peck heard his name on Dylan’s epic 1986 ballad “Brownsville Girl,” he called to thank him. Peck once again expressed his gratitude in 1997 when he presented Dylan with a Kennedy Center Honor.
A Complete Unknown, the new biopic starring the incredible Timothée Chalamet, isn’t the first film about Dylan. But it’s also a reminder of the enduring, symbiotic relationship between Dylan and cinema, and a welcome excuse to revisit the work of this singular American artist.
To watch the trailer for “A Complete Unknown,” click on the video player below.
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Story produced by Robert Marston. Editor: George Pozderek.
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