Oscar Isaac thought Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan was a ‘bad idea’ until he heard him sing on ‘Dune’ set
Oscar Isaac thought it was a bad idea for Timothée Chalamet to play Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown” until he heard him sing and play guitar on the set of “Dune.”
Isaac told the story at the Gotham Awards Monday night while presenting Chalamet and “A Complete Unknown” director James Mangold with the Visionary Tribute. Back during the filming of “Dune,” Chalamet told Isaac, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Josh Brolin about the project, which tells the story of Dylan’s early years in the Greenwich Village folk scene. Isaac, a Dylan fan who starred in the definitive film about that folk scene, “Inside Llewyn Davis,” was skeptical.
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“My first thought was… sounds like a really bad idea,” Isaac said. “I mean, it’s Dylan. It’s the holy of holies for me. It just didn’t sound right. Then, Timmy takes out his guitar. Not a good sign.”
But then Chalamet started playing and singing Dylan’s 1963 classic “Girl from the North Country,” and Isaac was immediately won over.
“Josh, Stephen and I aren’t your average Timmy groupies. We’re grizzled movie vets; we’ve seen some sh–,” Isaac said. “But to hear this kid, who had just started learning the guitar, who hadn’t done much singing, and who wasn’t all that familiar with Dylan’s music, approach these songs not as if he was learning something new but remembering something he’d already known, just rediscovering… The three of us just sat there watching this young man connect with something mysterious.”
In his brief acceptance speech, Chalamet tried to be like Dylan, a “man of few words.” Chalamet called his “Dune” on-screen father Isaac someone “who I’ve tried to shape myself after” and said that “getting to study and immerse myself in the world of Bob Dylan has been the greatest education.” He also said Isaac’s remarks made him choke up backstage.
Chalamet is a leading contender for a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance in “A Complete Unknown,” which opens in theaters on Dec. 25.
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