A Complete Unknown director James Mangold tells IndieWire about recording songs live, working with Timothee Chalament, more for his Bob Dylan biopic.

The filmmaker first tackled the life of Johnny Cash in 2005's Walk the Line, which garnered tons of acclaim, including an Oscar win for Reese Witherspoon and a nomination for Joaquin Phoenix. Now, Mangold returns to Cash in A Complete Unknown, another musical biopic, this time centered on the rise of a young Bob Dylan ( Timothée Chalamet ).

Please don’t stereotype Timothée Chalamet. Just because he’s a serious actor doesn’t mean he’s an insane person. In a December 13 THR interview with the main cast of the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown,

The new Bob Dylan biopic, “A Complete Unknown,” hits movie theaters on Christmas Day. It’s already considered a leading contender to land Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor, with Timothée Chalamet winning raves for his performance as a young Bob Dylan.

He respects the reclusive legacy of Bob Dylan while also delivering on one heck of a show that will perhaps inspire a newfound interest in the folk genre and how Dylan came in “like a rolling stone” to shake the whole scene up by going electric.

Timothée Chalamet is stunning as Bob Dylan in James Mangold's film 'A Complete Unknown.' Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro are also great.

Dylan, a Nobel Prize winning poet, songwriter and performer, also ranks among the most enigmatic. Mangold chronicles Dylan’s Greenwich Village roots, performing in basement coffee houses, recording, forming a romantic and professional partnership with folk singer activist Joan Baez.

Chalamet has been building his Bob Dylan for so long that he’s been seen playing Dylan songs while in costume as Willy Wonka and on the set of “Dune.” His “Dune” co-star, Oscar Isaac (who famously played a fictional Dylan-adjacent folk musician in “Inside Llewyn Davis”), said, ”My first thought, it sounded like a really bad idea.”

Minor spoilers ahead. Depending how you see it, Bob Dylan — the 1960s folk singer who became the voice of a generation — was either an artistic genius or an arrogant, self-involved jerk. The latter is the conclusion fellow folk singer Joan Baez seemingly comes to in James Mangold’s latest film A Complete Unknown,

"Yeah, he was growing them," "A Complete Unknown" director James Mangold told Business Insider. "If you look earlier in the movie, there are some scenes where they aren't as long, but by the end, he had some full-on Nosferatu going on."

Our pop music critic writes about the James Mangold's Dylan biopic filmed in Cape May and elsewhere in New Jersey.