Bob Dylan "personally annotated" script for upcoming biopic A Complete Unknown

Director James Mangold has revealed that Bob Dylan contributed to the script for his upcoming biopic A Complete Unknown.

Speaking about the upcoming flick based on the legendary folk musician on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Mangold revealed the film's title, as well as Dylan's involvement. When asked if Dylan had been involved in the film's production, the director revealed that the musician had “personally annotated” the script, and that Dylan and Mangold had spent several days together discussing the film.

A Complete Unknown is set to star Timothée Chalamet as the titular folk singer and Benedict Cumberbatch as fellow folk legend Pete Seeger. Filming is due to begin in August, according to Mangold. Mangold also confirmed that, in Taron Egerton's Rocketman fashion, Chalamet will be doing his own singing in the film.

While talking to Happy Sad Confused, Mangold also revealed that the film will not be a “typical biopic”, in that it won’t tell the entirely of Dylan’s life and career thusfar. Instead, it will focus on “a very specific moment” in the 1960s.

Elaborating on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Mangold explained that it will be “a kind of ensemble piece about this moment in time, the early ’60s in New York".

"This 17-year-old kid with $16 in his pockets hitchhikes his way to New York to meet Woody Guthrie who is in the hospital and is dying of a nerve disease,” Mangold explained.

“And he sings Woody a song that he wrote for him and befriends Pete Seeger, who is like a son to Woody. And Pete sets him up with gigs at local clubs and there you meet Joan Baez and all these other people who are part of this world, and this wanderer who comes in from Minnesota with a fresh name and a fresh outlook on life, becomes a star, signs to the biggest record company in the world within a year, and three years later, has record sales rivalling the Beatles.”

The project has been delayed indefinitely since it's initial announcement in early 2020, and a release date is yet to be confirmed.