A complete stranger is a biographical film that follows the young Bob Dylan as he integrates with New York and attracts the attention of folk singers in the region. As everyone knows, this eventually led to stardom, something he was not prepared for. Timothée Chalamet leads brilliantly as Bob Dylan, completely immersing himself in the role, even performing live as a singer.
Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael is not new to biopics. He worked with director James Mangold several times, including on Walk the linewhich tells the story of Johnny Cash. A complete stranger hits theaters on December 25th.
TelaRant interviewed Phedon Papamichael about his latest collaboration with James Mangold. He discussed the journey that Bob Dylan takes, in terms of musical performances and intimate moments, throughout A complete stranger. Papamichael also spoke about the decision to record live performances rather than having actors lip-sync to pre-recorded tracks.
Phedon Papamichael says Timothée Chalamet is inspiring
“It’s just inspiring for us as filmmakers to have these opportunities and really capture a great artist portraying another genius artist.”
TelaRant: A complete stranger It starts with a very intimate musical performance, and then the final is much more chaotic. Can you talk about the meaning of that?
Phedon Papamichael: It's true that it starts with what I call his true love in the film, which is Woody. So start with that. To begin with, that's the purpose of his journey, and it's a beautiful scene where I wrote this song for you, I was going to play a song for you. And then, throughout the film, he finds himself, he develops, he becomes Bob Dylan, the famous Bob Dylan that we know from this little boy who came from Minnesota with a backpack and a guitar case.
So that whole journey of him exploding into the world in that scene and him dealing with it. I mean, it's just a beautiful, conflicted journey, which your whole life has been like that. He continued to reinvent himself throughout his life. But this particular phase, until the concert in Newport where he gives it his all and rebels, in a way, against his loves in many ways.
But I like, after that big climb and the high-energy concert that, also visually, we exploded, it becomes intense, not only your performance, dictates everything. We followed with a camera and started with this very young and innocent face. And he turns into this guy with his hair and the Ray-Bans and the polka dot shirts and the leather jacket and the motorcycle.
It was really fun to create this arc visually as well. Times are changing. But I like the book to end in a certain way. My other favorite scene is when he comes back to Woody in the hospital. And the book ends with this, where he sits there, just quiet, kind of the calm after the storm, not before the storm. And he listens to this Woody record with him and tries to return the harmonica he borrowed. And he leaves on his motorcycle.
It's great to do a biography like this. We've done this with Mangold before. This is our seventh film. We did that on Walk the Line. When you have an artist like Joaquin or Timothée in this case, they are inspiring. His energy and his love and attention to detail, his focus, because he's also a young man like Bob. It's just inspiring for us filmmakers to have these opportunities and really capture a great artist portraying another great artist. I think everyone felt the same, including Timothée. We all feel privileged to be part of this experience.
Timothée Chalamet pushed for musical performances to be recorded live
“But Timothée, before our eyes, he transformed into this person, and he kept saying, let me do this live.”
ScreenRant: Timothée was recorded live during the musical performance, rather than being pre-recorded and used for playback. What motivated this decision?
Phedon Papamichael: Of course, we pre-recorded the songs and initially, for a lot of logistical and technical reasons, it was kind of the plan to have Timothée's voice but continue with playing back his pre-recordings. But, as he embodied this character, even during production, he practiced, as you probably know, for a long time. The film has been delayed several times. He had five years to work on it and became an excellent guitarist, harmonica player and learned piano. It's very intimidating to play Bob Dylan.
But Timothée, before our eyes, he transformed into this person, and he kept saying, let me do this live. Let me do it live. Can I do one live? Let me do that, and we were like, yeah, sure, go ahead. And we were amazed every time, every take. Of course, it adds something beyond lip syncing to even your own pre-recorded recordings. [track]. There are many such songs. They are not perfectly timed. It's not like a Taylor Swift concert. It's how they all have their own individuality and their own imperfections most of the time, and it's not just the stage thing.
It's also him in his apartment trying to figure out a song. When Joan Baez comes here and throws him a piece of paper with some letters on it [at him]play this. You can't do reproduction for this. He's sitting in his underwear on the bed and she comes over and joins in, like, you can't do this pre-recorded, you can't do this like this. This has to be live. And not just Timmy, I mean, Ed is amazing.
And Monica Barbaro surprised us. Her voice is incredible. I don't know, is it singing through acting? Is this simply incredible acting? I don't know how they do it. I mean, Joaquin doesn't sound anything like Johnny Cash when you talk to him either. I don't know how they do it, but I think that's what great actors are capable of.
Phedon Papamichael thinks Bob Dylan is very relevant to what we are going through today
“I think it's great because it could be a movie that attracts a whole new generation, Gen Z, to maybe check out more Bob Dylan music.”
ScreenRant: Congratulations, this movie is fantastic.
Phedon Papamichael: We're all very, very excited about this. I think it's a beautiful film and has many love stories. Love for art and music and, more or less, the era. I think it's kind of relevant. And I think it's great because it could be a movie that attracts a whole new generation, Gen Z, to maybe check out more Bob Dylan music. He seems like a very relevant character even with what we are going through today. So hopefully this will make a lot of people curious about him.
More about a complete stranger (2024)
New York, 1961. Against the backdrop of a vibrant music scene and tumultuous cultural upheaval, an enigmatic 19-year-old from Minnesota arrives with his guitar and revolutionary talent, destined to change the course of American music. He forms intimate relationships with Greenwich Village musical icons in his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking and controversial performance that reverberates around the world. Timothée Chalamet stars and sings as Bob Dylan in James Mangold's A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, the electric true story behind the rise of one of history's most iconic singer-songwriters.
Be sure to check out our others A complete stranger interviews:
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Edward Norton
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Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning
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Costume Designer Arianne Phillips
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Monica Barbaro
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Ted Caplan, Tod Maitland, Paul Massey and Donald Sylvester
A complete stranger hits theaters on December 25th.