New Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown charts the singer’s rise from folk singer to rock superstar. But why did he return Woody Guthrie's harmonica?

The Bob Dylan Center and Archives in Tulsa played a major role in making sure the look of the film was as authentic as possible.

As folk musician Woody Guthrie laid on his deathbed, Bob Dylan handed his gifted harmonica back to Guthrie to signify his departure from the folk genre, as depicted by Timothée Chalamet and Scoot McNairy in the new biopic movie about Dylan,

The beauty of the movie, and of Timothée Chalamet's performance, is it captures how the secret of Dylan's music was never about what it "means."

With the recent release of the Timothée Chalamet-starring Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown (soon to premiere in the UK), renewed interest has been expressed in Dylan's idol: folk music legend Woody Guthrie and the influence the political firebrand had on Dylan's own songwriting.

The Bob Dylan Center and Archives in Tulsa played a major role in making sure the look of the film was as authentic as possible.

Timothée Chalamet delivers an amazing performance as young Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s “A Complete Unknown,” which chronicles 19-year-old Dylan’s arrival in New York — after hitchhiking from Minnesota in 1961 — and his rapid rise to fame as a folk singer/songwriter, culminating with his dicey choice four years later to transition into a rock star.

A Complete Unknown article by Doug Collette, published on January 10, 2025 at All About Jazz. Find more Film Review articles

In the early 2000s, Bob Dylan predicted his career was nearing its end of public intrigue and celebrity—little did he know how much the 2024 film, A Complete Unknown, would rattle those plans. Two decades before the Timothée Chalamet vehicle came out,

Bob Dylan released his 15th studio album, Blood on the Tracks. Musician Kevin Odegard joins Bill DeVille to talk about the Minneapolis recording sessions that shaped half of that monumental album.

Take it away, Bob: “Bob Dylan” (1962): When Dylan was bopping around Greenwich Village and paying homage to Woody Guthrie during the movie’s timeframe, this was what he sounded like.

Bob Dylan helped inform this iconic Simon and Garfunkel track, but the end results ultimately "horrified" songwriter Paul Simon.