Music biopics have been quite the hit in the past couple of years— Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman, Piece by Piece. But any music fan wants to know if the actor used their real vocals or lip-synced in the movie. Timothée Chalamet accepted the challenge to fully embrace his raw vocals for A Strange Unknown.
Timothée is incredibly open about how this movie impacted him, while also wanting to do the “Mr. Tambourine Man” crooner justice. People are deeply protective of Bob Dylan and his music legacy,” he told Rolling Stone, “because it’s so pure in a sense, and they don’t want to see a biopic mishandle that.”
Related: Meet Timothee Chalamet’s Girlfriends Before Kylie Jenner—Including Another Nepo Baby
He even got the seal of approval from Mr. Bob Dylan himself. He wrote on X, “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.” Timothée quoted the post, “Floored. I am so grateful. Thank you Bob”
Does Timothée Chalamet really sing in A Complete Unknown?
Yes, those are definitely Timothée’s vocals you hear in A Complete Unknown. The star lends his voice, guitar, and harmonica skills to the soundtrack and has been training for the role for quite some time. In an interview with Graham Norton, Timothée recalled practicing for five years. “I had a lot of time to practice because we were meant to make the film five and half years ago, then there was Covid and then there was the actors’ strike, so I have years to prepare. I was confident about singing and by the time we got to do the film I wanted to sing and play the songs live.”
Like any performer, Timothée was nervous to perform the songs in front of his fellow actors. He told Zane Lowe on Apple Music Radio about the experience. “I went home and I wept that night, not to be dramatic, but it’s a song I’d been living with for years and something I could relate to deeply,” he said. “And I also felt, I come back to this word a lot, I felt like it was the most dignified work I’d ever done.”
“It was ‘Song to Woody,’ which is one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs ever,” the actor recalled. “It was the first one we shot in the movie. You couldn’t do it to a playback because it’s such an intimate scene. It’s in a hospital room with Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. And I did it live. I’m making mistakes in the guitar a little bit here and there, but you can kind of fill those in after.”
By the time production ended, the star could “probably play 30” of Bob Dylan’s songs, although only “13, let’s say,” made it into the film. During early production, he and Edward Norton tried to pre-record the songs, but ultimately decided to do live recordings. “The metaphor was like I was throwing this delicately made china on the ground each time we didn’t use a prerecord, something we had crafted in LA for six months, but there’s not a single prerecord in the movie,” Timothée said.
Timothée worked extensively with Hollywood vocal coach Eric Vetro to prepare. “Timmy’s like a unicorn,” the vocal coach told Variety. “I think that people forget how layered and nuanced Dylan’s voice is, and how much different he sounded in his youth – the single time period specific to A Complete Unknown.”
He continued, “It’s easier to be an impersonator, but that never does justice to these icons’ artistry. Besides, when Dylan started, I’m pretty sure that people didn’t go to see him in order to hear his voice. They went to hear those lyrics that were so powerful – songs that had resonance to people in turmoil and youth embroiled in politics. His music articulated what so many people were feeling.”
For those who aren’t familiar with Timothée’s stints as a vocalist, may we introduce you to the likings of Lil’ Timmy Tim. Timothée used to perform at LaGuardia High School as a rapper and has gone viral during many instances with his talented performance of Nicki Minaj’s “Roman’s Revenge.” He even made a totally unserious rap for his statistics class in order to get extra credit and not fail. And must we not forget his incredible skills as candymaker Willy Wonka in Wonka. He’s truly a wonder.
