Watching James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown – starring Timothée Chalamet as the one and only Bob Dylan during the early years of his career – is like unearthing a time capsule and being transported back in time to the early ’60s of the burgeoning folk scene. This includes everything from the famed block on MacDougal Street where much of that scene got its start, the Columbia Records studios where Dylan recorded his early records, the iconic Chelsea Hotel, and eventually, the Newport Folk Festival. Those are just a few of the dozens of locations necessary to tell Dylan’s story.
As much as the movie is about the astounding performances by Chalamet and the rest of Mangold’s cast, the authenticity in recreating the times can be attributed to the work of production designer François Audouy and his team. They literally found most of the locations in New Jersey and then built or dressed up whatever was necessary to make you truly feel as if you’re back in the ’60s, watching Dylan’s rise to fame.
Cinema Daily US had a chance to speak with Audouy about how Mangold approached him to design their fourth movie together. Besides speaking about some of the specific locations and how they came about, we also spoke to Audouy about how he and the filmmaker made two very different looking Wolverine movies with The Wolverine and Logan. You can watch the interview in the video above, which includes many great behind-the-scenes photos of the designs and work done by Audouy and his team.
A Complete Unknown opens nationwide on Christmas Day, December 25. You can watch Nobuhiro Hosoki’s interviews with actors Edward Norton and Monica Barbaro, as well.
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Director: James Mangold
Screenwriter: James Mangold, Jay Cocks
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Edward Norton, Scoot McNairy, Boyd Holbrook, Dan Fogler, Norbert Leo Butz, PJ Byrne
Producer: Fred Berger, James Mangold, Alex Heineman, Bob Bookman, Peter Jaysen, Alex Gasmer, Jeff Rosen, Timothée Chalamet
Production Co: Searchlight Pictures, Veritas Entertainment, The Picture Company, Range Media Partners
Distributor: Searchlight Pictures
Rating: R (Language)
Genre: Drama, Music
Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): December 25, 2024
Runtime: 2 hours, 21 minutes
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Check out more of Edward Douglas’ articles.
You can watch the trailer below: