In the film A Complete Unknown, Elle Fanning acts alongside Timothée Chalamet. Chalamet plays Bob Dylan, and Fanning plays a version of his girlfriend Suze Rotolo, renamed Sylvie Russo in the film. Fanning has been a fan of Dylan for years, and she said Chalamet’s vocal performance as the musician blew her away. She shared what the reaction on set was like when he began to sing.
Elle Fanning shared how people reacted to Timothée Chalamet singing in ‘A Complete Unknown’
In his preparation for A Complete Unknown, Chalamet worked with a vocal coach, guitar teacher, and harmonica teacher. He played and sang live in the film, insisting that recordings would not have the same effect.
“You can’t re-create it in the studio,” he told Rolling Stone. “If I was singing to a prerecorded guitar, then all of a sudden I could hear the lack of an arm movement in my voice.”
Fanning said she teared up the first time she heard Chalamet sing on set.
“We were in an auditorium, and I was sitting amongst all these background artists,” she said. “[Director James Mangold] would let Timmy come out and give the crowd a whole concert. He was singing ‘Masters of War’ and ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,’ and I was like, ‘Jesus.’”
She said that everyone in the auditorium had the same reaction as her.
“All of us were kind of shaking, because it was so surreal hearing someone do that,” she said. “So perfectly done, but it wasn’t a caricature. It was still Timmy, but it’s Bob, and this kind of beautiful meld. That gave me chills.”
When Chalamet finished singing, Fanning overheard extras discussing whether or not he was lip-syncing to an actual Dylan recording.
“I tapped them on the shoulder and I was like, ‘He is singing. I know he’s singing!’”
Elle Fanning admitted she was disappointed to go to a rehearsal and find Timothée Chalamet
Fanning said that her longtime love of Dylan led to a disappointing moment. Her assistant informed her that she had a rehearsal with Mangold and Dylan scheduled.
“I was like, ‘Oh, my God!’” she said, adding, “I was thinking about all these things to say and ask. I was picking out my outfit. ‘I’m meeting Bob Dylan today!’”
When she arrived, however, she found Mangold and Chalamet, with Dylan nowhere in sight. She realized that Chalamet was listed as “Bob Dylan” on the call sheet.
“I’m probably the first person in life to be let down by having a rehearsal with Timothée Chalamet, right?” she said. “Like, the first girl in history.”
She shared why her character has a different name in the film
While Fanning’s storyline in the movie stays mostly true to Suze Rotolo’s life, her character is named Sylvie Russo. Fanning said this was because Dylan asked for his former girlfriend’s name to be changed.
“[She was] a very private person and didn’t ask for this life,” Fanning said. “She was obviously someone that was very special and sacred to Bob.”
A Complete Unknown will hit theaters on Dec. 25.
