In the 2024 musical biopic “A Complete Unknown”, director James Mangold and actor Boyd Holbrook explain how the discovery of Johnny Cash’s letters to Bob Dylan led to alterations from the source material. Adapted from Elijah Wald’s “Dylan Goes Electric”, which chronicles Dylan’s landmark 1965 performance at the Newport Folk Festival, the movie zeroes in on the musical side of Dylan’s (Timothée Chalamet) life from 1961 to 1965 and the people who influenced him. Initially, the story didn’t include Cash (Boyd Holbrook).
Mangold and Holbrook discussed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly how finding the letters between Dylan and Cash brought about the addition of Johnny Cash to the narrative. Holbrook disclosed that he was initially considered for other potential roles, but the role of Johnny Cash only emerged after “some research with Bob [Dylan]”. Mangold, who had previously delved into Cash’s life in his 2005 biopic “Walk the Line”, didn’t know about their correspondence as Cash no longer had the letters. So, he incorporated parts of the letters into the movie’s dialogue. Here’s what they said:
Boyd Holbrook: “The Johnny Cash part wasn’t in [the book] Going Electric. It was only after doing some research with Bob that [Jim] found out that Johnny and Bob were pen pals. He didn’t know that when he made Walk the Line.
He found them through Bob. That really tells you which person is which. I read those and they’re great, man. They’re on the back of airplane sickness bags. These guys are at the pinnacle of their lives, road dogs traveling in the isolation of maximum fame. They’re a big insight into them and their lives and what made them tick.”
James Mangold: “It’s a beautiful series of letters. Johnny started writing to Bob after his Freewheelin’ album came out.”
What this means for “A Complete Unknown” is that the movie draws inspiration from real life. In the film, the friendship between Cash and Dylan begins with their exchange of letters, which eventually leads to them meeting in person at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. However, while much of this portrayal has elements of truth, their first real-life encounter in the movie is one of the inaccuracies. According to Dylan’s eulogy for Cash, they met long before the ’64 Newport Folk Festival. Cash’s son also stated that they met in a hotel room in New York, not in Newport, Rhode Island.
In the same interview, Mangold, having become well-versed through making both “Walk the Line” and “A Complete Unknown”, shared insights into depicting Cash and Dylan’s lives on screen. He noted that although Johnny Cash features in both biopics, they offer “entirely different perspectives”. Here’s what the director said about Cash’s role in Dylan’s musical life:
“I found myself watching Boyd sing a song that Joaquin sang 20 years ago in a different movie, but the movies have such entirely different perspectives. Johnny Cash is crossing through the New York Folk world because he was such a fan of all music and was an early advocate of Bob’s. It’s a very different story, but one that does overlap.”
Holbrook’s remarks about the two being “road dogs traveling in the isolation of maximum fame” help to clarify the movie’s take on their friendship. While it’s largely based on real-life details, as a biopic, it’s still a work of fiction, and some aspects have been adjusted for artistic purposes.
“A Complete Unknown’s” inclusion of Johnny Cash remains an intriguing and relevant musical biopic, regardless of its historical accuracy. The significant first meeting between Dylan and Cash isn’t the only fictionalized element. In fact, the film modifies many of Dylan’s relationships; for instance, Joan Baez didn’t meet Dylan at an open mic night, and she wasn’t an up-and-coming artist when they crossed paths, as she was already internationally famous by then. Nevertheless, these changes have served to tell a more engaging story and introduce Dylan’s music to a new generation of music enthusiasts.
“A Complete Unknown” currently holds a 96% audience approval rate and 79% critic approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes, with many viewers captivated by the nuanced and fascinating relationships depicted in the movie. In Screen Rant’s review, Mae Abdulbaki praised Chalamet’s “solid performance”, the “lasting impression” Barbaro leaves as Joan Baez, and Edward Norton’s “interesting contrast” as Pete Seeger.
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