Timothée Chalamet‘s anticipated turn as a young Bob Dylan in the upcoming biopic A Complete Unknown is getting an A-list release date. Searchlight Pictures announced on Tuesday (August 6) that the anticipated film from director James Mangold (Logan) will hit theaters on December 25.
That Christmas release date falls in the heart of what is typically considered Oscar bait season, when a number of prestige films that are thought to be Academy Award-worthy hit screens across the country in the hopes that any buzz or box-office boom will carry over into the Oscar nominations when they are announced on Jan. 17, 2025.
The film will feature the Dune star singing Dylan’s songs in a story set in New York in the early 1960s when, according to a description of the screenplay by Mangold and Jay Cocks (Gangs of New York), “an enigmatic 19-year-old from Minnesota arrives in the West Village with his guitar and revolutionary talent, destined to change the course of American music.”
It continues, “As he forms his most intimate relationships during his rise to fame, he grows restless with the folk movement and, refusing to be defined, makes a controversial choice that culturally reverberates worldwide.” In addition to Chalemet as Dylan, the film will feature Edward Norton as folk legend Pete Seeger, Elle Fanning as Dylan’s early muse and girlfriend Sylvie Russo, Monica Barbaro as fellow folkie Joan Baez and Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash.
Oscar nominee Chalemet drew early praise for his embodiment of the enigmatic folk rock icon in the first trailer that dropped in late July in which he sings Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” in the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s signature nasal wheeze and drops into some of the singer’s favorite New York hang spots, including Cafe Wha? and Gerde’s Folk City.
Watch the trailer for A Complete Unknown below.
