Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for A Complete Unknown!
James Mangold’s hit musical biopic A Complete Unknown tells the legendary story of Bob Dylan’s transformation from niche folk poet to mainstream rock star in the mid-1960s. In doing so, it introduces other music legends like Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and Johnny Cash to a whole new generation of Dylan fans by characterizing them as stepping stones on the singer’s journey to stardom.
The movie draws extensively from Elijah Wald’s non-fiction book Dylan Goes Electric! as well as other real-world sources, including Dylan’s actual written correspondence with Johnny Cash. It’s also clear that D. A. Pennebaker’s 1967 documentary Don’t Look Back heavily inspired A Complete Unknown. But it takes more than historical documents to render a compelling dramatization on the big screen. That’s why Mangold and his co-screenwriter Jay Cocks have turned Dylan’s musical mentors into cinematic signposts for each stage of his evolution as an artist.
Pete Seeger Makes Dylan A Hero Of Greenwich Village
His Status As Folk Royalty Opens Doors For His Young Protege
From its opening minutes, A Complete Unknown changes up the true story of Dylan’s rise to prominence, by giving folk music icon Pete Seeger a more prominent role than he really had in the artist’s early career. The portrayal of Dylan meeting Seeger, who’s played superbly by Edward Norton, at Woody Guthrie’s hospital bedside mythologizes the singer’s real relationship with his folk forefathers. As Norton recently told ScreenRant while promoting A Complete Unknown, the two musicians “were in the same lane for a while,” but not much more.
Dylan didn’t really stay in Seeger’s family home, either, but this plot point neatly serves the narrative of the elder statesman of American folk taking a young protege under his wing. It is true, though, that Seeger promoted Dylan at several Greenwich Village venues, including at a regular event he hosted called a hootenanny. It was at one of Seeger’s hootenannies that the young Dylan was first exposed to a large audience, as Wald’s book attests to (via Time). Without a big name on the New York folk scene like Seeger, it’s unlikely Dylan would have gained this level of exposure, regardless of his prodigious talent.
Moreover, A Complete Unknown depicts Dylan being introduced to New York’s underground protest movement primarily through Seeger. The film shows him meeting his first serious girlfriend, political activist Sylvie Russo (based on Suze Rotolo), in the audience of a hootenanny. With the encouragement of both Seeger and Russo, the young songwriter soon turns his attention to writing protest music for the first time.
Dylan Becomes A Star Thanks to Joan Baez
She Brings His Music To A Bigger Stage
It takes another love interest to elevate Dylan’s songwriting talent to the level of folk stardom, however. She arrives in the form of Joan Baez, who proves to be all the audience Dylan needs to share one of his biggest songs, civil rights anthem ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’, in the movie’s most captivating musical moments. Baez’s star initially shines brighter than Dylan’s, and so her decision to start covering several of his songs brings him to wider national attention.
Although this scene plays fast and loose with the timeline of Bob Dylan’s romantic life and career trajectory, it certainly reflects the overall role Baez played in boosting Dylan’s profile in folk music between 1962 and 1965.
During her headline set at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, Baez shows Dylan off to the crowd by inviting him on stage. “I wanna say hello to the man who wrote that one,” she announces, after playing one of his songs. “Come on out Bobby.” Together they sing Dylan’s break-up song “It Ain’t Me, Babe,” as a distraught Russo watches from the wings. Although this scene plays fast and loose with the timeline of Bob Dylan’s romantic life and career trajectory, it certainly reflects the overall role Baez played in boosting Dylan’s profile in folk music between 1962 and 1965.
In A Complete Unknown, Johnny Cash Inspires Dylan’s Rebellious Streak
He Tells Him To Play The Music He Wants To Play
On the other hand, Mangold takes particular liberties with the truth in portraying Johnny Cash’s role in Bob Dylan’s musical development. A Complete Unknown is right to show Dylan and Cash exchanging letters, as they did throughout the 1960s. But it adds a dollop of dramatic license when it depicts Cash urging Dylan to rebel against Seeger and others by performing his Newport set with electric instruments.
Nevertheless, it works to portray this real-life wild man of the South as the devil on Dylan’s shoulder, urging him to shed the sancтιтy of the folk establishment. Ultimately, it was Dylan himself who turned his back on protest singing, even before he decided to go electric. But A Complete Unknown does well to externalize this musical progression for theatrical purposes, in the guise of several crucial supporting characters who mentor Dylan from aspiring folk singer to the pinnacle of rock and roll.
