A Complete Unknown DP Phedon Papamichael Reveals How Timothée Chalamet "Disappeared" Into Bob Dylan

A Complete Unknown is a biographical movie that follows a young Bob Dylan as he integrates with New York and catches the eye of the folk singers in the area. As everyone knows, this eventually propels him into stardom, something that he was not prepared for. Timothée Chalamet brilliantly leads as Bob Dylan, completely immersing himself in the role, even performing live as the singer.

Director of Photography, Phedon Papamichael, is not new to biopics. He has worked with director James Mangold several times, including on Walk the Line, which tells the story of Johnny Cash. A Complete Unknown comes to theaters on December 25.

ScreenRant interviewed Phedon Papamichael about his latest collaboration with James Mangold. He discussed the journey that Bob Dylan goes on, in terms of musical performances and intimate moments, throughout A Complete Unknown. Papamichael also spoke about the decision to record performances live rather than having the actors lip-sync to pre-recorded tracks.

Phedon Papamichael Says Timothée Chalamet Is Inspiring

"It's just inspiring for us filmmakers to be presented with those opportunities and really capture a great artist portraying another genius artist."

ScreenRant: A Complete Unknown starts with a very intimate musical performance, and then the final one is much more chaotic. Can you talk about the significance of that?

Phedon Papamichael: It's true that it starts with, what I call his actual true love in the movie, which is Woody. So it starts with that. That's the purpose of his journey to begin with, and it's a beautiful scene where I wrote this song for you, I was going to play a song for you. And then, throughout the movie, he finds himself, he develops, he becomes Bob Dylan, the famous Bob Dylan that we know from this little kid that came from Minnesota with a backpack and a guitar case. Then that whole journey of him exploding into the world of that scene and him dealing with that. I mean, it's just a beautiful, conflicted journey, which his whole life, was like that. He kept reinventing himself his whole life. But this phase in particular, till the Newport concert where he goes all out, and he rebels, in a way, against, his loves in many ways. But I do like, after that big escalation and the high energy concert that, also visually, we explode, becomes intense, not just his performance, dictates everything. We follow it with a camera, and we start with this very young, innocent face. And it turns into this guy with his hair and the Ray-Bans and the polka dot shirts and the leather jacket and the motorcycle. That was a lot of fun to create that arc visually also. The times they are changing. But, I like that it book ends in a way. My other favorite scene is where he goes back to Woody in the hospital. And the book ends with that, where he sits there, he's just quiet, sort of the calm after the storm, not before the storm. And he listens to this Woody record with him and tries to give him back the harmonica that he lent them. And he rides off on his motorcycle. It's great doing a bio picture like that. We've done it with Mangold before. This is our seventh movie. We did it on Walk the Line. When you have a performer like Joaquin or Timothée in this case, they're inspiring. His energy and his love and attention to detail, his focus, because he's also a young man like Bob. It's just inspiring for us filmmakers to be presented with those opportunities and really capture a great artist portraying another genius artist. I think everybody felt the same way, including Timothée. We all just felt privileged that we were part of that experience.

Timothée Chalamet Pushed For The Musical Performances To Be Recorded Live

"But Timothée, in front of our eyes, he transformed into this person, and he kept saying, let me do it live."

ScreenRant: Timothée was actually recorded live during the musical performance, rather than being prerecorded and using playback. What prompted that decision?

Phedon Papamichael: Of course, we prerecorded the songs, and initially, for many logistical and technical reasons, that was kind of the plan to have Timothée's voice, but go with playback of his prerecords. But, as he embodied that character, even during production, he practiced, as you probably know, for a long time. The movie was delayed several times. He had five years to work on it, and he became quite an accomplished guitar player, harmonica player, learned piano. It's very intimidating to portray Bob Dylan. But Timothée, in front of our eyes, he transformed into this person, and he kept saying, let me do it live. Let me do live. Can I do a live one? Let me do it, and we were like, yeah, sure, go for it. And we were in awe every time, every take. Of course, it adds something in addition to lip syncing back even to your own prerecorded [track]. There's a lot of these songs. They're not like perfectly timed. It's not like a Taylor Swift concert. It's how they all have their own individuality and their own imperfections a lot of the time, and it's not just the stage stuff. It's also him in his apartment figuring out a song. When Joan Baez goes here, and throws him a piece of paper with some lyrics [at him], play this. You can't do playback for that. He's sitting in his boxers on the bed and she comes and joins in, like, you can't do that pre-recorded, you can't do that like that. That has to be live. And not just Timmy, I mean, Ed is amazing. And Monica Barbaro blew us away. Her voice is incredible. I don't know, is it singing through acting? Is that just incredible acting? I don't know how they do it. I mean, Joaquin also doesn't sound anything like Johnny Cash when you talk to him. I don't know how they do it, but I guess that's what great actors are capable of.

Phedon Papamichael Thinks Bob Dylan Is Very Relevant To What We Are Going Through Today

"I think it's great because it might be a movie that turns on a whole new generation, Gen Z, to maybe checking out more Bob Dylan songs."

ScreenRant: Congratulations, this movie is fantastic.

Phedon Papamichael: We're all very, very excited about it. I think it's a beautiful film and has lots of love stories. Love for the art and music and, sort of the times. I think it's kind of relevant. And I think it's great because it might be a movie that turns on a whole new generation, Gen Z, to maybe checking out more Bob Dylan songs. He seems like a pretty relevant character still with what we're going through today. So, hopefully, it will make a lot of people curious about him.

More About A Complete Unknown (2024)

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New York, 1961. Against the backdrop of a vibrant music scene and tumultuous cultural upheaval, an enigmatic 19-year-old from Minnesota arrives with his guitar and revolutionary talent, destined to change the course of American music. He forges intimate relationships with music icons of Greenwich Village on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking and controversial performance that reverberates worldwide. Timothée Chalamet stars and sings as Bob Dylan in James Mangold's A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, the electric true story behind the rise of one of the most iconic singer-songwriters in history.

Be sure to check back for our other A Complete Unknown interviews:

Edward Norton

Timothée Chalamet & Elle Fanning

Costume Designer Arianne Phillips

Monica Barbaro

Ted Caplan, Tod Maitland, Paul Massey, & Donald Sylvester

A Complete Unknown comes to theaters on December 25.