MINNEAPOLIS — There is a world in which a movie star could portray Bob Dylan onscreen and not have a thing to do with Minnesota. That is not the world Timothée Chalamet lives in, or would want to.
Having previously visited the state twice to research his performance in the new biopic "A Complete Unknown," Chalamet returned Thursday to appear at a preview screening and an after-party, going so far as to jump onstage with the University of Minnesota Marching Band and flash an "M" sign with his hands.
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"I love, love, love coming here," Chalamet said after the screening, during a Q&A hosted by Diane of Minnesota Public Radio's The Current.
Fans were alerted to Chalamet's impending appearances just hours earlier, via clues including social media teases by the actor and marquee titles on the two venues where he popped in: The Main Cinema, where the movie was screened, and the Varsity Theater, which hosted a reception following.
That was enough notice for hundreds to swarm the sidewalks outside both venues, hoping for a glimpse of the star. The events themselves were filled with invited attendees including members of the press, Minnesota musicians and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
It wasn't Frey but a representative of Gov. Tim Walz's office who stepped up after the screening to deliver a proclamation: Thursday was officially "A Complete Unknown" Day in the state of Minnesota.
"If you had told me when I was 19 that I would be getting a proclamation from the state of Minnesota," Chalamet said to laughter and cheers, "I would have told you, f--- yeah!"
Chalamet himself proposed the visit, he told journalists before the screening.
"It was my idea, it wasn't the studio's idea," said the actor. "I just love it, because as a 28-year-old New Yorker, I don't think my path has really brought me out here, ever."
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In preparation for his role as Dylan, Chalamet said he previously visited the state twice. "The first time was only Minneapolis and Duluth. The second time was Minneapolis, Duluth and Hibbing."
Only the Hibbing visit had previously made headlines, after the actor took time in January to meet with Hibbing High students rehearsing a play.
A few more details about Chalamet's Northland visits emerged during Thursday's interviews, including the fact that he drove himself — even skidding out when he hit an icy patch on a highway while listening to Sun Records music to get himself into the head of the teenage Dylan.
At one point, Chalamet stayed in a vacation rental upstairs from the downtown location of Duluth's Best Bread. Having seen "all sorts of strange Minnesota casinos" along the highway, the actor found himself looking across East Superior Street at yet another casino, Fond-du-Luth.
"So, strange," the actor said, laughing along with his interviewers. Speaking generally about the experience of visiting northern Minnesota to better understand Dylan's "worldview," Chalamet said, "I was just so grateful, cherishing it."
Chalamet has not met Dylan himself, though the maverick musician has consulted on the movie, directed by James Mangold. To the actor's delight and bemusement, Dylan mentioned the film in a Wednesday post on social media.
"Timothee Chalamet is starring in the lead role," Dylan wrote. "Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me."
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"If my interaction with the legendary Bob Dylan is limited to that moment, it will have been more than I could have ever dreamed of," Chalamet said, later adding, "He hit me with the 'Timothee' and the 'Timmy' ... it was too good to be true."
Critics' reviews of the movie won't be published until Dec. 10 (honoring a studio embargo, a request typical for early screenings of forthcoming releases), but Thursday's crowd responded positively to the film. Its focus is on the period from 1961 to 1965, a time during which Dylan experienced a meteoric rise to fame but chafed at the expectations foisted upon him as a folksinger.
The film has Dylan juggling parallel romances with Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and a character (Elle Fanning) inspired by "Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" cover star Suze Rotolo. It also, though, includes Dylan's song "Girl from the North Country," a wistful ballad describing tender feelings for someone the singer left behind.
"I think there's four people that claim that song is about them," said Chalamet. "I think it matters less who that song is about, and more what it's about, which is a love that you miss, especially at that age."
Chalamet was particularly moved, he said, by seeing Dylan's childhood homes, including both his first house in Duluth and his family's later house in Hibbing. Bill Pagel, the Dylan collector who owns both properties, gave Chalamet a tour of the Hibbing house.
"He has drawings there and notes and things that haven't made their way online, and he refuses to let them make their way online," said Chalamet, "things that were massively informative to me about Bob's sense of pre-destiny and his drive."
(In a recent interview with podcast host Zane Lowe, Chalamet shared more detail about that visit, describing a drawing Dylan made of himself following a winding road to New York City. "Hibbing and Duluth, they're on the edge of the world, it felt like," Chalamet told Lowe.)
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After the screening, invitees made their way to the Varsity Theater: a landmark in Dinkytown, a neighborhood that was Dylan's home base while attending the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. The university's marching band greeted Chalamet with renditions of "Like a Rolling Stone" and "All Along the Watchtower."
The scene was worlds away from what Dylan would have known during his brief but impactful tenure on the Minneapolis folk scene. DJs spun hits by Chappell Roan and Charli XCX, the dance floor filling with an enthusiastic crowd much younger than one might expect for a party celebrating a movie about an artist who's now 83.
At the Varsity bars, staff were pouring drinks including the "Highway 61," a bourbon cherry mash cocktail featuring Heaven's Door whiskey — Dylan's own, premium, brand.
Minnesota musicians attending the screening included members of Trampled By Turtles, Bad Bad Hats and Keep for Cheap. Reporters and photographers representing Twin Cities, Duluth and at least one national media outlet covered the visit along with people documenting Chalamet's Minnesota appearance for Searchlight Pictures, the studio behind the film.
Oscar buzz has been building for the movie, which opens nationally Dec. 25, and Chalamet is widely considered a strong contender for Best Actor. He made clear that his preparation to channel Dylan went far beyond his normal routine when making a movie.
"I've done films where you have three months to prep," said the actor, who learned guitar and harmonica to perform Dylan's songs himself. "This was a years-long process. ... It's an honor to be here in front of Minnesota-bred musicians, because I think you hear that iron ore in Bob's voice."
Chalamet acknowledged the irony of his enthusiastic participation in Thursday's publicity event, given that Dylan has typically shunned such scrums and been famously prickly in news conferences. "He would have been taking his time, giving non-answers," said Chalamet, prompting knowing laughter from the journalists interviewing him.
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Part of his preparation for the role, Chalamet said, was listening to Dylan's own relatively rare interviews. "I've probably spoken more this week," joked the actor, "than he has his whole life."
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