You wouldn’t be making a film concerning the chaotic lifetime of Bob Dylan with out hitting a couple of twists and turns alongside the way in which, would you? A minimum of that’s how co-writer/director James Mangold felt about all of the partitions the world threw at him as he was attempting to get “A Full Unknown” off the bottom. First it was the COVID-19 pandemic, then it was the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, plus all of the schedules of expertise shifting consequently, however by way of all of it, Mangold refused to relent. In reality, as he shared on the first screening of the movie on Wednesday, November 20 on the Fox lot in Los Angeles, have been it not for these occasions, the movie won’t maintain the magic that it does in capturing a time, place, and enigma of a person.
“In all honesty, it ended up being a blessing, the delays we had from COVID and the strikes, within the sense that not solely Timmy, however Monica and Boyd and everybody who was concerned within the film making music had this huge period of time,” mentioned Mangold. “Timmy introduced his guitar on ‘Dune’ to wherever they went after which all the opposite films after which England on ‘Wonka’ and he was engaged on this on the facet the entire time and the purpose was by no means about turning into a virtuoso guitar participant or singer, however the level was that we have been making was a film about music wherein probably the most vital element of this sort of music is its authenticity. Folks music in and of itself is about feeling the breath and the lifetime of the storyteller solely supported by singing, guitar, and that the fantastic thing about it’s partly the minimal nature of it and that it’s so exposing simply the soul of the singer and the track, and it’s not a couple of sort of technical perfection.”
Elle Fanning was additionally readily available to supply her ideas on the method and attending to play one of many few wholly authentic characters, Dylan’s old flame Sylvie. Whereas extra consultant than traditionally correct, she’s largely based mostly on Dylan’s early girlfriend Suze Rotolo, who’s featured on the duvet of his second studio album, “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.” In explaining Sylvie’s connection to Dylan and the way it speaks to bigger themes at play, Fanning broke down why she thought they have been destined to float aside.
“I simply assume the evolution of their story is sort of lovely as a result of they’re really each fully going in numerous instructions. So it’s heartbreaking, nevertheless it’s bittersweet. I feel she is aware of that for herself, she has to let him go to ensure that him to flourish,” Fanning mentioned of Dylan and Sylvie’s relationship. “I imply, it’s the cliches of that, however it’s true and and he or she knew him earlier than the success and liked him earlier than that and knew he was proficient and knew he was a genius earlier than all of that. She was additionally somebody — Suze and our Sylvie — she didn’t need the highlight. That wasn’t actually her factor and he or she was a really non-public particular person and so I feel when he grew to become fairly well-known, coping with that was fairly exhausting and probably not the life that she essentially needed.”
The movie’s Joan Baez, Monica Barbaro, was additionally in attendance for the post-screening Q&A and opened up concerning the emotional volleying she went by way of between first auditioning in 2020, in the end touchdown the half in 2023, and taking pictures the next 12 months. Echoing Mangold’s sentiments, Barbaro did discover the additional time a “profit” by way of absolutely embracing Baez’s spirit and confidence.
“The boldness piece of it was a very attention-grabbing journey as a result of Joan, she talks about having a variety of nervousness on stage, however she is also supremely assured,” Barbaro instructed the group. “And he or she mentioned so, she instructed me that she was and he or she actually was assured in her voice, as she needs to be, so I simply needed to trick my mind into believing that it was even remotely good in any respect, only for the sake of enjoying her, for the sake of stepping right into a physique of an individual who believes of their voice, and that was extremely difficult.”
Arianne Phillips, the movie’s costume designer, labored beforehand with Mangold on his first musical biopic, “Stroll the Line,” and was struck by how “A Full Unknown” captures solely a short second in Dylan’s life in comparison with the earlier movie’s protection of Johnny Money’s story. Fairly than view it as a hindrance, she allowed herself to get extra granular, focusing much less on shifts in time and extra on shifts Dylan skilled.
“Often the trajectory of the story is from delivery to loss of life,” mentioned Phillips. “It’s a big swath and this was 4 years, so I felt that by way of costume, and hair and make-up as effectively, that we actually had a chance and a duty to indicate this progress, this 4 12 months journey that Bob took from displaying up in New York in quest of Woody Guthrie, this 19 12 months outdated child, and I felt that expertise, vehicles, they’re not gonna actually change in our story like most biopics. So having the ability to inform the story over time by way of Bob’s silhouette and doing that analysis actually had reverence for me.”
The movie’s manufacturing designer, François Audouy, felt equally about having the ability to dive deeper into the element of dwelling in New York Metropolis presently throughout the neighborhood Dylan would quickly come to outline, particularly after studying he’d have extra time to organize than he initially thought.
“I actually fell in love with the concept of Greenwich Village in 1961, like a neighborhood that was filled with artists and poets and jazz musicians and sculptors all dwelling collectively, going to the identical espresso retailers, the identical jazz golf equipment and people cafes and every thing,” Audouy mentioned. “So for me, I acquired to go beneath the floor analysis, the obsessiveness, the books and the espresso desk books — and I’ve learn each single ebook and acquired each single every thing that I might discover — however to essentially begin to join with the subtlety, the emotional subtext of what it will need to have felt prefer to be alive again then and to be strolling down the road and listening to and smelling and feeling this world.”