Timothée Chalamet’s commitment to go phone-free while filming A Complete Unknown really hit the mark.
On Sunday’s (February 16) 60 Minutes, the star opened up about stepping into Bob Dylan’s shoes for the musical biopic. James Mangold’s film, which dropped last Christmas, has already raked in $100 million worldwide.
The interview reveals around the 4-minute mark how Chalamet went totally off-grid during filming, keeping visitors away and cutting off from his personal life.
“I never approached a character so intensely as Bob, ’cause I had such respect for the material, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I remembered that I was lazy on a day where something went wrong,” Chalamet shared.
Chalamet mentioned that while Dylan would knock back two bottles of red wine and plow through “30 packs of cigarettes,” he kept the drinking light but did take up smoking for the role.
Chalamet spilled more details about his phone-free Dylan experience on This Past Weekend with Theo Von back in December.
“The biggest journey was the music and the voice, and also I’ve never had my phone off the entire movie. I had three months to play this guy, and the rest of my life I never get to play him again,” he revealed around the 1:13:00 mark below.
He shared his approach: “The thing I came up with—I call it ‘method energy’ … I just tried to no cell phones, nothing that reminds you of the present, and trying to treat it like Bob Dylan as much as possible, especially when you’re playing someone so iconic.”
