Timothée Chalamet‘s role as Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s ‘A Complete Unknown‘ is among many firsts, but it is also one of the most interesting stories he would be playing on screen. While he is set to add another feather to his cap by playing the folk icon, it is imperative to note the fame and success he has achieved in Hollywood in a short span as well as at a pretty young age.
However, even he was not spared from negativity at the beginning of his career. Speaking to Zane Lowe just recently, Chalamet revealed how when he was starting out, he faced unusual, unsolicited advice about his weight. People with the know-how of the industry told him that he needed to bulk up. Here’s what he said about it.
Timothée Chalamet Reveals How His Weight Was Seemingly An Issue For His Agent At Some Point
Timothée Chalamet has amassed an insane amount of young fans across the globe with his phenomenal performances and larger-than-life presence. The actor, unlike many others, is slender in build. While it is one of the many aspects that makes him desirable, that wasn’t always the case.
Speaking about the same during a recent interview, he said, “If I auditioned for The Maze Runner or Divergent, those kind of films which were popular when I began my career, the answer was always ‘You don’t have the right body,'” he said. He even remembered an agent gently telling him, “You have to put on weight“.
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Luckily, these comments did not come in the way of the ‘Dune’ star’s way to success. Instead, they sent him on a different path — one that would eventually help him appreciate his role as Bob Dylan. “I have experiences in life that, though not strange, enable me to understand some of the things [Dylan] went through,” Chalamet said.
“Bob wanted to be a rock ‘n’ roll star — Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Elvis Presley — that was the sort of, depending on your point of view, the sort of rice crispy pop, rock & roll music that was saturated, you know, marketed to kids in the late ’50s. Equally, I wanted to be a big movie actor,” he added.
Timothée Chalamet Opens Up About His Portrayal Of Bob Dylan
Timothée Chalamet further drew some parallels between Bob Dylan’s journey as an artist and that of his own. While it was the folk route for Bob Dylan that made him stand apart, for Chalamet, it spelled a journey of smaller, deeply personal films like ‘Call Me By Your Name‘, ‘Beautiful Boy‘, and ‘Lady Bird‘.
“These were smaller-budget but personal movies that helped me find my rhythm,” he explained. Preparing to play Bob Dylan also came with its own intense preparation for the actor.
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It meant five years of learning to play the harmonica, tracing through Chicago and Madison, and Dylan’s birthplace in Minnesota. But, as Chalamet explained, the film isn’t about strict historical accuracy. “This is interpretive. This is not definitive,” he said. “This is not fact. This is not how it happened. This is a fable.”
‘A Complete Unknown‘ will be released in theaters on Christmas Day.
