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The upcoming Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, originally featured a scene of Timothée Chalamet recreating the iconic album cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.
However, it did not make the cut in James Mangold's new movie. ClutchPoints spoke to cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, who has a long history with Mangold, who revealed there was originally a scene where Bob (Chalamet) and Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) walk down the street in Greenwich Village.
“We actually had a photo shoot for the Freewheelin' album, and we were going to have a scene where we were recreating that photoshoot,” Papamichael revealed.
Instead, there is a scene where they are being photographed, presumably for the album's inner sleeves. A Complete Unknown never shows them walking down the street for the iconic cover. “We substituted with a scene that feels very similar, where [Bob] and Sylvie [are] sitting on the steps,” he explained. “And you have got a guy with a Hasselblad that took the place of that.”
In Papamichael's mind, the substitution still “evokes the same moment in terms of the wardrobe and the light.”
One thing they did recreate closely was Dylan's Greenwich Village apartment, which he shared with Russo (who, in real life, is named Suze Rotolo).
Recreating Bob Dylan's album covers
Papamichael revealed that they recreated Dylan's album covers from that era. “It's fun to have all the covers with our cast,” he said, calling it a “nice souvenir.”
François Audouy, A Complete Unknown's production designer, corroborated this story. He clarified that the Complete Unknown crew recreated Dylan's first four albums (Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, The Times Are a-Changin', and Another Side of Bob Dylan).
While they aren't all in the movie, Audouy threw out the possibility of releasing them on his website someday. In addition to Dylan's work, they also recreated Joan Baez and Pete Seeger's album covers with Monica Barbaro and Edward Norton.
For Audouy's money, they look identical to the real thing. He called them “amazing artifacts that look totally different.”
The “uncanny, spooky” Freewheelin' Bob Dylan cover they made was assisted by real-life photographs. Audouy said they got the high-resolution original negatives from the photographer, so they just threw Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning in Bob Dylan and Suze Rotolo's places.
What is A Complete Unknown about?
The new biopic A Complete Unknown depicts Bob's rise to fame in the sixties in the folk scene. As time evolves, so does his music. Bob begins to record electrically amplified music, which upsets the folk community.
This leads to his infamous performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. He and his band performed new material, including “Like a Rolling Stone.”
James Mangold, who previously directed the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, directs A Complete Unknown. He co-wrote the script with Jay Cooks and based it on the 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric!
A Complete Unknown will be released on December 25.
