Oscar Isaac thought Timothee Chalamet portraying Bob Dylan in 'A Complete Unknown' was a "bad idea" at first.
The 45-year-old actor revealed that he was sceptical when his 'Dune' co-star Timothee informed him of the project but was blown away when the 'Wonka' actor performed a rendition of Dylan's 1963 song 'Girl From the North Country'.
Oscar said at the Gotham Awards on Monday (02.12.24): "My first thought was... sounds like a really bad idea. I mean it's Dylan. It's the holy of holies for me. It just didn't sound right.
"Then, Timmy takes out his guitar. Not a good sign."
Oscar revealed that he and fellow actors Josh Brolin and Stephen McKinley-Henderson were left stunned when Chalamet started performing.
The 'Robin Hood' actor said: "Josh, Stephen and I aren't your average Timmy groupies. We're grizzled movie vets; we've seen some s***.
"But to hear this kid, who had just started learning the guitar, who hadn't done much singing, and who wasn't all that familiar with Dylan's music, approach these songs not as if he was learning something new but remembering something he'd already known, just rediscovering... The three of us just sat there watching this young man connect with something mysterious."
Edward Norton features in 'A Complete Unknown' – which is released in cinemas later this month - as folk singer Pete Seeger and revealed how Chalamet was "relentless" in immersing himself as the music icon.
Norton told Rolling Stone magazine: "He was relentless. No visitors, no friends, no reps, no nothing. [Chalamet said] 'Nobody comes around us while we’re doing this.'
"We’re trying to do the best we can with something that’s so totemic and sacrosanct to many people. And I agreed totally — it was like, 'We cannot have a f****** audience for this.'
"We’ve got to believe to the greatest degree we can. And he was right to be that protective."
Dylan is supportive of the flick and director James Mangold has revealed that the 'Like a Rolling Stone' hitmaker gave him notes on the script over the course of many face-to-face meetings.
The 60-year-old filmmaker told the Happy Sad Confused podcast: "I've spent several, wonderfully charming, days in his company, just one-on-one, talking to him.
"I have a script that's personally annotated by him and treasured by me. He loves movies. The first time I sat down with Bob, one of the first things he said to me was, 'I love 'Cop Land'.'"
The movie tells the story of how Dylan shakes up the folk music world by plugging in his electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 and Mangold explained that it is "not really" a biopic.
The 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' director said: "By the way, it's not really a Bob Dylan biopic.
"The reason Bob has been so supportive of us making it, is it's about, as in all cases I think the best true-life movies are never cradle to grave but they're about a very specific moment.
"In this case, it might sound Altman-esque, but it's a kind of ensemble piece about this moment in time, the early 60s in New York, and this 17-year-old kid with $16 in his pocket hitchhikes his way to New York to meet Woody Guthrie who is in the hospital and is dying of a nerve disease."
