logo
The true story behind A Complete Unknown, as Bob Dylan biopic lands on Disney+

The true story behind A Complete Unknown, as Bob Dylan biopic lands on Disney+

Yahoo29-04-2025

Timothée Chalamet swaps his Willy Wonka top hat for Bob Dylan's harmonica in A Complete Unknown, the latest movie to tackle the life and times of a music icon. Telling a key moment in the life of a musical legend, the film is coming to Disney+ this week following its big-screen release earlier this year.
The musical biopic earned eight Oscar nominations, including nods for Best Picture and Best Actor for Chalamet. It was directed by Walk the Line filmmaker James Mangold, fresh from his time unearthing a cinematic heavy-hitter in 2023 sequel Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
Ahead of its streaming release, here's your guide to the true story behind A Complete Unknown.
A Complete Unknown will be available to stream on Disney+ from from Wednesday, 30 April, following its cinema release in January. It follows the success of other movies that showcased the lives of stage stars like Queen's 2018 feature Bohemian Rhapsody and 2019's Elton John film Rocketman.
The trailer for A Complete Unknown provides glimpses at Dylan in his early career — from a scruffy troubadour arriving in a windswept Greenwich Village to a shades-wearing folk star whose music was soundtracking an America in flux. Watch it by hitting play on the video below.
Dune star Chalamet takes the leading role in Mangold's movie, which focuses on one key moment in a career littered with important turning points that changed the direction of pop culture.
The film finds the Duluth-born songwriter in the 1960s as he's about to shake up his musical style by ditching the folk hero aesthetic that fans love and going electric.
In real life, this was a moment that occurred at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. While it was initially met with anger and confusion from Dylan fans who adored their acoustic guitar-wielding, Woody Guthrie-esque folk hero, it later emerged as a cultural shift that not only paved the way for him to write new hit songs but also gave birth to a brand new chapter of popular culture.
However, this transition didn't come without plenty of growing pains. One such issue was infamously captured during Dylan's performance at Manchester's Free Trade Hall in 1966 where a disgruntled fan loudly labelled him 'Judas!'.
The film takes artistic licence with this moment, as Mangold portrays it as happening at during Dylan's set at 1965 Newport Folk Festival. The director told Entertainment Weekly: 'That came from a concert in Manchester, England. But it happened. It was just a concert a little while later.
'But if you see the documentary interviews from the Manchester concerts where he also went electric, you can feel the hot rage from these Dylan fans who feel utterly betrayed that he has moved in this new direction.'
To prepare for playing such an influential musician, the Wonka star practised his guitar playing and singing. He performs his own vocals on the Dylan tracks used in the movie, which include hits Like a Rolling Stone, Blowin' in the Wind and The Times They Are A-Changin'.
A Complete Unknown also chronicles Dylan's relationship with university student and artist Suze Rotolo — with Elle Fanning playing a fictionalised version of her, renamed Sylvie Russo.
Rotolo dated Dylan between 1961 to 1964, and appeared alongside on the cover of 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. She later recounted their relationship in her memoir, A Freewheelin' Time, and died from cancer in 2011, aged 67.
Dylan requested that Rotolo's name was changed for the film, as their relationship was 'sacred' to him. Mangold explained that Dylan had 'given me permission to make so much of the movie that he had this one personal request about someone who'd already passed on.'
The movie features appearances from other musicians that were circulating the New York scene throughout the 1960s. Fubar star Monica Barbaro plays singer-songwriter Joan Baez, whose output and collaborations were integral in forming Dylan as an early artist.
Fight Club's Edward Norton portrays fellow musician Pete Seeger, with Boyd Holbrook stepping into the shoes of country legend Johnny Cash. Speak No Evil actor Scoot McNairy rounds out the cast as one of Dylan's biggest creative muses, Woody Guthrie.
A Complete Unknown will be streaming on Disney+ from 30 April

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

LA stars react to Trump's migrant crackdown
LA stars react to Trump's migrant crackdown

Yahoo

time37 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

LA stars react to Trump's migrant crackdown

As President Donald Trump's military-backed crackdown on immigrants continues in Los Angeles and across the US, celebrities are speaking out against the tactics and what they say are the intolerant views driving them. Some pointed to the gulf between Trump's apocalyptic descriptions of a city in flames and the reality of a vast and diverse metropolis where largely peaceful protests are limited to a small part of downtown. Here's what the glitterati had to say: - 'We have to speak up' - Many celebrities touched on the disconnect between Trump's claims about arresting dangerous criminals and raids that appear to be targeting day laborers and factory workers. "When we're told that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) exists to keep our country safe and remove violent criminals -- great," LA native and reality star Kim Kardashian wrote on social media. "But when we witness innocent, hardworking people being ripped from their families in inhumane ways, we have to speak up." The billionaire behind Skims underwear added: "Growing up in LA, I've seen how deeply immigrants are woven into the fabric of this city. They are our neighbors, friends, classmates, coworkers and family. "No matter where you fall politically, it's clear that our communities thrive because of the contributions of immigrants." Singer Doechii echoed that sentiment in her acceptance speech for best female hip hop artist at the BET Awards on Sunday. "There are ruthless attacks that are creating fear and chaos in our communities in the name of law and order. Trump is using military forces to stop a protest," the "Anxiety" singer said. "We all deserve to live in hope and not fear" - 'Not an apocalypse' - Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel gave a blistering 12-minute monologue from his studio in the heart of Hollywood, opening with footage of tourists enjoying the nearby attractions and a movie premiere. "Not only is it not an apocalypse, they're having a Disney/Pixar movie premiere right now for 'Elio', a movie about aliens -- don't tell Trump, he'll send the Green Berets in, too," the comedian said. There is something wrong, he said, with innocent people "being abducted -- which is the correct word to use -- by agents in masks, hiding their identities, grabbing people off the streets." - 'Un-American' - Grammy- and Oscar-winning musician and producer Finneas, famous for collaborations with sister Billie Eilish and for work on the "Barbie" movie soundtrack, reported being caught up in a heavy-handed police response at a protest. "Tear-gassed almost immediately at the very peaceful protest downtown — they're inciting this," the LA native wrote on Instagram. "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria, called the raids "un-American." "It's just so inhumane, hard to watch, it's hard, it's hard to witness from afar, I can't imagine what it's like to be in Los Angeles right now," she wrote on Instagram. Longoria added that the protests were a result of "the lack of due process for law-abiding, tax-paying immigrants who have been a part of our community for a very long time." sla/hg/nl

Bryan Cranston shares why TV son Erik Per Sullivan turned down 'Malcom in the Middle' revival
Bryan Cranston shares why TV son Erik Per Sullivan turned down 'Malcom in the Middle' revival

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Bryan Cranston shares why TV son Erik Per Sullivan turned down 'Malcom in the Middle' revival

Bryan Cranston was thrilled to reunite with his Malcolm in the Middle family for a revival series after nearly two decades off the air. But it was a bittersweet reunion, as the whole gang wasn't able to return. On the the latest episode of the Fly on the Wall podcast, the actor opened up about the upcoming Disney+ project, telling hosts Dana Carvey and David Spade, "It's amazing how these boys who were my boys on that show are now around the same age I was when we first started, and they've got children of their own." When Spade asked about Erik Per Sullivan, who played youngest son Dewey on Malcolm, Cranston lamented that he was "the only one who didn't come back to act in the show." He added, "I talked to Eric and I said, 'Hey, we got the show! It's going to come back.' He goes, 'Oh, that's fantastic!' And I go, 'Yeah, so we're looking forward to having you back.' He goes, 'Oh, no, no, I don't want to do it. But it's fantastic.'" Though most of the dysfunctional TV family — filled out by Jane Kaczmarek, Frankie Muniz, Christopher Masterson, and Justin Berfield — continued on in the entertainment industry, Sullivan made a radical departure. "He's actually going to Harvard," Cranston explained. "He's really, really smart, and he's getting his master's at Harvard right now. He said, 'Oh God, no, I haven't acted since I was 9 or something. So I'm not into it.'" Malcolm in the Middle ran from 2000 to 2006 on Fox, making stars out of Muniz, Cranston, and Kaczmarek and winning seven Emmys. Fans had pushed for a reboot, revival, or some kind of fulsome reunion ever since, and Cranston pushed right alongside them. "It's something I was pushing for for the last 10 years, because I thought that the audience is there," he said, but it took years of talks with obstinate series creator Linwood Boomer to get things moving."I just started wearing him down until he said, 'I've got an idea.' I said, 'good,'" Cranston quipped. Muniz, Masterson, and Berfield were confirmed to return as brothers Malcolm, Francis, and Reese earlier this year. The role of Dewey will now be played by Wynonna Earp alum Caleb Ellsworth-Clark. Titular star Muniz got fans eager to see what shape the revival will take when he posted a giddily smiling photo with Cranston and Kaczmarek in April, and though he now believes Malcolm is "the worst character on that show," he admitted to being "really excited" for fans to finally catch up with their favorite TV family. Listen to Cranston's full appearance on Fly on the Wall above. Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly

Disney has filed an AI lawsuit that could shift the future of entertainment
Disney has filed an AI lawsuit that could shift the future of entertainment

Boston Globe

timean hour ago

  • Boston Globe

Disney has filed an AI lawsuit that could shift the future of entertainment

As AI rapidly develops, tech companies have raced to build and monetize tools that generate Hollywood-grade images and videos. Now these tools are poised to transform moviemaking and the entertainment industry in coming years, experts say, and this lawsuit represents a bid by some of Hollywood's giants to secure their place in that future. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'It's sort of a 'finally' moment,' said Chad Hummel, principal at the Los Angeles office of the law firm McKool Smith. Previously, entertainment giants had stayed on the sidelines even as researchers documented how AI tools could be used to generate apparently infringing content. Now they've entered the fray in a big way. Advertisement Midjourney is one of a handful of AI generators that has captured the world's imagination by letting users spin up images on demand. What started as a novelty quickly became a major source of online content, as people used Midjourney and other generators such as OpenAI's Sora and Stable Diffusion to generate everything from memes to pornography to reimaginations of popular characters from movies and TV. Advertisement But the resulting images don't come from a vacuum - the AI models are trained by ingesting millions of words and images from across the internet, including copyrighted work from individual artists and entertainment studios. AI companies claim that their generators are spitting out entirely new creations and that the training data falls under 'fair use' according to copyright law. Artists and midsize media companies have pushed back, saying the AI is stealing their work. Disney and Universal's lawsuit frames the issue as a matter of good versus evil, calling Midjourney 'a bottomless pit of plagiarism.' AI industry advocates counter that legacy media companies are standing in the way of a technological advance that could unleash a wave of creativity. Midjourney did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the companies allege that Midjourney 'seeks to reap the rewards' of Disney's creative work by selling an AI image service that 'functions as a virtual vending machine, generating unauthorized copies of Disney's and Universal's copyrighted works.' Indeed, AI-generated content depicting beloved - and copyrighted - characters such as Mario, Shrek or Winnie the Pooh has circulated online, at times going viral on social media and spawning a new approach to fan art. Star Wars junkies, for instance, no longer have to comb the web for stories and visuals based on their favorite characters - they can use an AI video generator to create an original 11-minute Star Wars movie with photorealistic sets and characters. AI video still isn't advanced enough to produce passable full-length films or TV shows, Washington Post tests found. Advertisement That might be why copyright holders waited to file lawsuits against AI video generators, said James Grimmelmann, a law professor at Cornell University. While AI audio can now produce songs that sound human-generated, AI video hasn't made that leap, he said. OpenAI's Sora, for example, can only generate content roughly a minute long. And although the speed and fluency is a remarkable improvement compared to older models, it doesn't offer the kind of fine-grained controls directors and studios need, according to Grimmelmann. But production companies are already using AI for preproduction brainstorming, special effects and on-screen images. The quality of AI-generated content has improved rapidly since OpenAI first released its image generator DALL-E in 2021, with companies including OpenAI and Google now offering video generators to the public. Many believe it's a matter of time before content that's entirely AI generated makes its way into mainstream entertainment. SAG-AFTRA, the union representing film and TV actors, has struck deals with voice AI companies allowing actors to license their voices, and this week the union reached a tentative agreement with a collection of video game companies to pay actors if their voices or likenesses appear in AI-generated games. 'Patience and persistence has resulted in a deal that puts in place the necessary A.I. guardrails that defend performers' livelihoods in the A.I. age,' the union said in a blog post Monday. Meanwhile, a new class of AI start-ups such as Moonvalley and Runway are already working with Hollywood studios to integrate AI into the production process, the companies have said. This lawsuit is the latest in a barrage by rightsholders - including artists, authors and media companies - alleging infringement by AI firms. Among the highest-profile cases is one filed by the New York Times against OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. At the same time, many are signing multimillion-dollar licensing deals with AI firms granting them full access to their content - for a price. (The Washington Post has a content-sharing deal with OpenAI.) Advertisement The Disney and Universal suit takes a different tack from other lawsuits, demanding that Midjourney filter what it generates rather than avoid scraping the studios' intellectual property altogether. 'This one seems more aimed at establishing the kind of expectations that copyright owners have of non-AI platforms: You need to take down obvious copies of our works,' said Grimmelmann. What the movie studios don't want, according to Hummel, is for tech firms to be able to cut them out of the equation by training models on their work without having to pay for it. 'This is not going to be Hollywood trying to shut down generative AI,' Hummel said. 'It's about compensation.' Already, many visual artists are feeling the effects of AI's entry, said Jon Lam, a video game artist and creators rights activist. He said he has watched his circle of professional contacts struggle to find work when AI can replicate different art styles with the click of a mouse. Wednesday's lawsuit was 'a huge confidence boost' for creatives like Lam hoping for an upset that stops film, TV and video game studios from drawing on artists' work without paying them, he said. A win for Disney and Universal wouldn't necessarily protect artists in the entertainment industry from getting replaced by AI, said Ben Zhao, a professor of computer science at University of Chicago who helped build Glaze, a software tool that protects visual art from AI mimicry. But it could drastically limit the material that AI tools can draw from, he said. Without fresh data, AI generators would regurgitate the same visual ideas over and over, Zhao said, making them less useful for production companies. In that sense, both AI companies and entertainment studios rely on artists who produce new work and make a living wage. Advertisement Some tech industry leaders have argued that creating tools such as ChatGPT would be impossible if they couldn't be trained on copyrighted data - and that requiring AI companies to pay every creator would stall an AI boom that promises vast economic benefits. Studios such as Disney and Universal should embrace AI video rather than suing to stop it, said Adam Eisgrau, who leads a program on AI, creativity and copyright for the Chamber of Progress, a center-left trade group that represents technology companies including Midjourney. 'My initial reaction is that the movie industry has a long history and a short memory,' Eisgrau said. He compared the lawsuit to one decades ago in which studios sued the makers of videocassette players and lost - which he said was 'lucky for them,' because they ended up profiting greatly from the technology. Meanwhile, each step forward for AI video is met with rapt attention from fans of the tech. A clip posted Sunday in the Reddit forum r/aivideo showed a short trailer for a nonexistent movie - one with visual references starkly similar to science fiction series such as Star Wars. 'Please turn this into a feature film. It would be freaking crazy,' one commenter said. 'That's the plan!' replied the poster. Advertisement - - - Nitasha Tiku contributed to this report.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store