Timothée Chalamet Spent 5 Years with a Harmonica Coach to Nail Bob Dylan's Iconic Style

Timothée Chalamet, Bob Dylan
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dyaln. YouTube

Timothée Chalamet worked hard on his latest movie.

In his first extensive interview about his role as Bob Dylan in the upcoming biopic A Complete Unknown, Chalamet sat down with Apple Music's Zane Lowe to reveal that he had to learn to play 13 of Dylan's iconic songs for the movie. To nail the songs, he had to work with a harmonica coach for 5 years.

"It was the best experience I've had as an actor or the most rewarding experience I've had doesn't really necessarily translate to the effect of it, not only on people, but maybe in the finished product because I've also had more challenging experiences that come out great," Chalamet said of the experience.

"I'm happy it took five, six years because I am now deep in that Church of Bob. I feel like that's my mission is the next three months, until the movie comes out, I feel like I'm in the Church of Bob, I'm a humble disciple, and I feel like I got this opportunity to kind of be a bridge to this music or this period, this time period," he continued.

Despite his extensive dive into the "Like a Rolling Stone" singer's life and character, Chalamet shared that he was not trying to just simply imitate Dylan's voice.

"This is interpretive. This is not definitive. This is not fact. This is not how it happened. This is a fable," he said.

"This is about not only myself interpreting Bob, but Edward Norton interpreting Pete Seeger, Monica [Barbaro] interpreting Joan Baez and Boyd Holbrook interpreting Johnny Cash in this moment in the '60s where American culture was a kaleidoscope and Greenwich Village was a kaleidoscope. The way culture still is now too, but without being a history teacher, that was the beginning, personalized music, stuff with intention, stuff with poetry, it all started there in the movie," Chalamet added.

In a nod to Dylan, Chalamet recalled that the singer's manager secretly came to set one day and after watching the actor he praised him for capturing the "spirit" of his client.

Chalamet said that he was "jumping up and down and went, 'man, Bob's manager loves it' and then we were like, 'oh no, the real Bob's such a contrarian that Jeff's gonna go to him and say this movie looks good and then Bob's gonna say well, it must be a piece of s--t.'"

Chalamet shared that he cannot wait to bring the the voice of a generation to a whole new generation. A Complete Unknown hits theaters on Dec. 25.

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Timothée Chalamet, Bob Dylan
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