DULUTH — As Bob Dylan's 83rd birthday was being celebrated here in his city of birth on Friday, the Jersey Shore was abuzz with recent sightings of a handsome young man in 1960s folkie costume. The young man is actor Timothee Chalamet, who is playing Dylan in a new movie set at a pivotal point in the musician's career. The movie is titled "A Complete Unknown," a reference to the lyrics of Dylan's 1965 signature song "Like a Rolling Stone.
" It's directed by James Mangold, a high-profile director whose most recent feature, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," also had a Duluth connection: It featured packs from Frost River, which sued over alleged customer confusion when the studio behind the film cut a promotional deal with a competing gear company. "A Complete Unknown" isn't expected to have any extended scenes set in Minnesota: It finds Dylan in his late teens after he's already landed in New York. Mangold has described Dylan's pilgrimage to meet the dying Woody Guthrie as being part of the story, so maybe we'll get a parting glimpse of Dinkytown if we're lucky.
Still, Chalamet — riding high on the success of the blockbuster "Dune" franchise — did visit Hibbing in January, on a research trip in preparation for his role as Dylan. (Chalamet was not, despite some confusion and satire on social media, seen visiting the Duluth Public Library or skateboarding on its plaza.) ADVERTISEMENT The filmmakers also had the kind of help they couldn't get from latter-day students .