The Creators of ‘A Complete Unknown’ Clearly Haven’t Learned Their Lesson From ‘Walk Hard’ – Book and Film Globe

Without a doubt “How much does ‘A Complete Unknown’ suck?” is Bob Dylan’s #1 internet question, with only the 83-year-old icon’s cryptic, self-written tweets coming close.

The first photos of Timothée Chalamet on the Dylan drag set sparked concerns in May. The official teaser released in July did little to appease them. And the official trailer released earlier this month drew grim comparisons to the one film that no one involved with “Unknown” — especially director James Mangold — could have wanted mentioned: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

Some backstory. Mangold directed the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, which earned good revenue, positive reviews and an Oscar for Reese Witherspoon. One of its most harrowing scenes was the death of Cash’s younger brother, Jack, in a sawmill accident… which two years later would be brutally played for laughs in “Walk Hard.”

A box office bomb at the time, “Walk Hard” has since achieved something of cult status thanks to some truly hilarious songs and a relentless, sweeping skewering of biographical conventions. Simplistic narrative, trauma as character motivation, random visits from historical figures, thunderously heartfelt messages – they all come into play as we follow Dewey Cox’s musical odyssey from the 1950s to the present day. Love interest Darlene telling Dewey that “The sixties are an important and exciting time” is a perfect example.

So when comparisons between “Unknown” and Walk Hard are rife on social media — one tweet succinctly noting “‘I Heard Bob’s Playing Electric’ is as WALK HARD as can be written in a biopic” — that’s not good. .

And while there are limits to what we can get out of an RV, there is reasonable cause for concern. The biopic focuses on familiar yet fascinating terrain – Bob arrives in New York City, Bob takes the folk scene by storm, Bob alienates that scene by “going electric” at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. Based on an interview with Rolling Stone, it seems like Mangold is taking the most predictable course possible.

“Bob [Dylan] said, ‘What’s this movie about, Jim?’ I said, ‘It’s about a guy who’s choking to death in Minnesota, and leaves all his friends and family behind and reinvents himself in a whole new place, makes new friends, builds a new family, becomes a phenomenally successful, begins to choke to death again – and runs away.”

Again, it’s familiar territory for any Bobhead, but it’s a good story and not many people know it (although it’s fair to ask how many outside the faithful will have any interest). The concern arises when Howe describes his approach to telling the story. For example, apparently the movie Joan Baez appears on stage with Bob in Newport in 1965… which didn’t happen. Now, it’s not a sin to adjust the facts when telling a story like this and storytellers need to choose what they include and what they leave out. Mangold Defense:

[…] So does it matter that they sang that song in 1964 and I’m singing it in 1965? It’s not like I’m doing something unexpected that is a complete contradiction to reality. Also, I’m trying to put everything in an order that is dramatic and true to the things that happened. I’m always much more concerned with being true to feelings and things happening as they happened than with the date[.]

But the feelings and things that were going on between Bob and Joan are not true, as a viewing of the documentary Don’t Look Back would make very clear. And again, while mixing and matching with chronology may be justified, it also risks leading to a reductive, overdetermined narrative that turns biopics into groaners. It’s like they never made Walk Hard (have Mangold seen it?).

Time will tell. Dylan fans will certainly see this. And if you don’t like it, Renaldo & Clara can always show up when they get home. But we know one thing: as good as Chalamet is, he’s no Cate Blanchett.