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Bob Dylan was heavily involved with the making of his biopic A Complete Unknown, to the point where he didn't approve the script until he did a table read where he performed all the Bob Dylan dialogue. Producer Peter Jaysen recalled Dylan's request during a recent visit to The Town With Matthew Belloni podcast.
“He met with [writer/director] Jim Mangold multiple times,” Jaysen explained. “At one point they sat there and they read the entire script out loud, with Jim Mangold reading every part and stage direction, and Bob Dylan only reading lines of dialogue for himself. Through that process, [Dylan] sat there writing notes on the script. At the end of the last session with Jim Mangold, he signed the script and said, ‘Go with God.'”
Although Dylan “did not have final cut,” the producer noted his high level of involvement. “I don’t think Bob Dylan is passive,” he said. “He’s just somebody who’s more private.”
Last month, Edward Norton (who plays Pete Seeger), divulged that the legendary singer-songwriter "insisted on [adding] at least one totally inaccurate scene" into the film. According to the actor, who wouldn't disclose exactly what part(s) of the film he was referring to, told Rolling Stone that Dylan took “obvious pleasure in obfuscation and distortion.”
“He’s such a troublemaker,” he quipped.
Norton also noted that director and co-writer James Mangold pushed back on Dylan's suggestion, expressing worry about what viewers would think, to which he replied: "What do you care what other people think?"
Timothée Chalamet, who plays Dylan in the biopic, also spoke to the publication about how impressed he was with the musician's contributions to the script. “Bob would [insert] these one-off lines that were so fantastic," the actor gushed. "[Mangold] has an annotated Bob script lying around somewhere. I’ll beg him to get my hands on it. He’ll never give it to me.”
Listen to the full podcast episode below.