The upcoming Bob Dylan biopic from director James Mangold, A Complete Unknown, now has not only its Dylan in the form of Timothee Chalamet, but also its female lead in The Great star Elle Fanning. Deadline is reporting that she’s set to star alongside A-lister Chalamet in Searchlight Pictures’ A Complete Unknown, in the role of Dylan’s early 1960s love interest, student and artist Sylvie Russo.
The film zeroes in on a specific chapter in the legendary songwriter’s life, as he first makes the transition from acoustic to electric guitar at the height of the 1960s. Specifically, it catches him in 1965 prior to the Newport Folk Festival, when he famously evolved his sound in the first of many new directions. Mangold has previously stated that Chalamet, taking on a no-doubt difficult task in portraying the icon, will be doing all his own singing in the film.
Fanning, meanwhile, adds some more star power to the cast of A Complete Unknown, having just kicked off the third season of Hulu’s The Great–in which she plays the titular Catherine the Great–to more rave reviews. The series, alongside other series and films such as The Girl from Plainville and Maleficent, have made the younger Fanning sister one of Hollywood’s highest profile actresses on the Gen Z/Millennial border.
The film also looks like another prestigious coup for director Mangold, whose last feature was 2019’s Ford v. Ferrari. The Logan filmmaker is arguably more busy and in-demand in this moment than ever before, as his Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny arrives in June, and he was even announced as being attached to a Star Wars feature of some kind in April. Hopefully, all these projects will still leave ample time for the Dylan biopic–we’ll bring you more updates on this one as they arrive.