How Bob Dylan Really Feels About Timothee Chalamet's Performance In 'A Complete Unkown'
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    • A Complete Unknown
Film|Actors

How Bob Dylan Really Feels About Timothee Chalamet's Performance In 'A Complete Unkown'

Tucker DeSaulnier
Updated January 22, 2025 104.5K views 16 items

It may seem like the ultimate honor to have a personal biopic that documents your mark on the world. The sometimes unfavorable way musicians react to their portrayals in biopics, however, proves that putting your life in the hands of a production company is not always as glamorous as it sounds. Some of the best music biopics have incited negative responses from the people they were supposed to represent. 

Hollywood does get it right on occasion - and some musicians loved the film version of their lives - but translating someone's journey into a glitzy, rags-to-riches, good-versus-bad, show-biz tale opens the doors for harsh criticism from the original artists and their contemporaries.

Musicians who had strong feelings about the actors that portrayed them might believe Hollywood takes too many liberties in storytelling, fictionalizing the biography of a real person. But because life doesn't usually follow a typical story arc, some dramatic license is to be expected. For several artists whose lives made it to the big screen, their biopic was a bridge too far. 

When comparing actors versus the musicians they played in biopics, it might be worth hearing what the real people portrayed by Hollywood have to say. 

  • Bob Dylan Put His Faith In Timothee Chalamet For 'A Complete Unknown'

    Bob Dylan Put His Faith In Timothee Chalamet For 'A Complete Unknown'
    • Photo:
      • Leacock-Pennebaker, Inc
      • Searchlight Pictures

    Bob Dylan was characteristically reticent and aloof about the 2024 young-Dylan movie A Complete Unknown, overseen by Walk the Line director James Mangold. Prior to the film's release, Dylan posted on X in support of the movie and star Timothee Chalamet in particular, saying,

    There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!). Timothee Chalamet is starring in the lead role. 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. 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.

    Years before, Dylan was more in the middle of the road about the 2007 Todd Haynes movie, I'm Not There, telling Rolling Stone how he felt about the flick:

    I thought it was all right. Do you think that the director was worried that people would understand it or not? I don't think he cared one bit. I just think he wanted to make a good movie. I thought it looked good, and those actors were incredible. 

    As to whether or not Dylan believed his on-screen counterpart was accurate, "I don't see myself that way. But what does it matter? It's only a movie."

  • Brian May Was Impressed By The Casting For 'Bohemian Rhapsody'

    Brian May Was Impressed By The Casting For 'Bohemian Rhapsody'

    Actor Gwilym Lee claimed Brian May was in awe the first time he saw Lee in full costume for 2018's Bohemian Rhapsody. Lee said of this encounter, "It was [like] seeing a younger version of himself, going into this strange time warp."

    When asked what he thought about Rami Malek's performance as Freddie Mercury, May said:

    He's incredible... without a doubt, he'll be on the nominations list for an Oscar and [it's] well deserved as well. He inhabited Freddie to the point where we even started to think of him as Freddie. Really remarkable.

  • Johnny Cash Was 'Thrilled' That Joaquin Phoenix Played Him In 'Walk The Line'

    Johnny Cash Was 'Thrilled' That Joaquin Phoenix Played Him In 'Walk The Line'

    Johnny Cash wasn't alive to see 2005's Walk the Line when it premiered, but he was around during the pre-production phase. According to director James Mangold, Cash was elated when he found out Joaquin Phoenix was going to portray him.

    "John was a very trusting man. He was very easygoing, a very cool guy," Mangold said. "When you've got someone like Joaquin who, frankly, is very similar, a very cool actor, John knew that we were moving in the right direction."

  • Jennifer Lopez Gave Selena's Sister Chills

    Jennifer Lopez Gave Selena's Sister Chills

    Jennifer Lopez's breakthrough film role came from playing the titular singer in 1997's Selena. Lopez electrified audiences with her performance as the beloved Tejano singer. Even Selena's sister Suzette was impressed, telling ET, "She gave me chills... I literally - for a split second - I thought it was my sister." 

    The Quintanilla family had a hand in the making of the film to make sure it stayed on the right track. Suzette said, "Everything was based on our life, the true way." 

  • MC Ren Was Displeased About His Minimized Contribution In 'Straight Outta Compton'

    MC Ren Was Displeased About His Minimized Contribution In 'Straight Outta Compton'

    MC Ren reportedly felt 2015's Straight Outta Compton diminished his contributions to the hip-hop group NWA. In response to the film, he tweeted, "True fans know my role in the group as far as lyrics are concerned, don't let the movie fool you about my contribution to the group." 

    A few days later, he admitted that despite some glaring inaccuracies, the movie still did "a great job of telling [their] story."

  • Ike Turner Wasn't A Fan Of His On-Screen Portrayal In 'What's Love Got To Do With It'

    Ike Turner Wasn't A Fan Of His On-Screen Portrayal In 'What's Love Got To Do With It'

    Since Ike Turner was, for many years, what the entertainment industry would call the villain of Tina Turner's life, he got portrayed as the bad guy in the singer-songwriter's 1993 biopic, What's Love Got to Do With It. This didn't sit well with Ike, who has expressed his displeasure with the industry's interpretation of him.

    He shared his thoughts about Tina's biopic, saying to the Los Angeles Times: 

    I didn't go see it, and I didn't read her book either, but from what I hear, they're both full of lies. I guess they needed some drama, they needed to make somebody into the bad guy, and this time it was me.