Bob Dylan Biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’ Shut Out at Golden Globes

The Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown was shut out at the Golden Globes, losing all three of the categories in which it was nominated.

Expectations were understandably high for the film entering the night, especially for its star, Timothee Chalamet, who has generated substantial awards buzz for his portrayal of Dylan. Many oddsmakers had the 29 year-old as the favorite to take home Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama, however the award instead went to Adrien Brody for The Brutalist.

READ MORE: Timothee Chalamet Spent Five Years Working on Bob Dylan Role

Edward Norton, who plays Pete Seeger in A Complete Unknown, was met a similar Golden Globes fate. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor - Drama, but lost to Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain. Norton previously took home Golden Globe in 1997 for his captivating turn in the film Primal Fear.

The third and final nomination of the night for A Complete Unknown was Best Picture - Drama. That honor went to The Brutalist.

The Golden Globes have been good to rock biopics in recent years. In 2019, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody earned Best Picture, while Rami Malek won Best Actor for his portrayal of frontman Freddie Mercury. A year later, Taron Egerton won Best Actor for playing Elton John in Rocketman, while John and Bernie Taupin took home the Golden Globe for Best Original Song. 

Timothy Chalamet Describes 'Unique Challenge' of Playing Bob Dylan

While Chalamet didn't add a Golden Globe to his trophy collection, the star has nevertheless received ample praise for his embodiment of Dylan. Chalamet previously described the part as "the most unique challenge I’ve taken on," adding that "where my confidence came through is eventually doing all the music live.”

In preparation for the role, Chalamet worked for years with both dialect and harmonica coaches. The actor, who also served as one of the producers of A Complete Unknown, admitted to feeling a certain connection to Dylan.

“Bob wanted to be a rock ’n’ roll star – Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Elvis Presley… Equally, I wanted to be a big movie actor," he explained during a conversation with Apple Music 1. “I’m now deep in the church of Bob, and I feel like I get this opportunity to kinda be a bridge to this music.”

'Don't Look Back' (1967)

Most of us have not been on the road with Bob Dylan (which is either a blessing or a curse depending on which way you look at it), but the closest you can probably get is through watching D. A. Pennebaker's 1967 film Don't Look Back. Shot during Dylan's 1965 concert tour in England, it provides a window into what his professional life looked like then: raucous, drug-riddled and full of people who claimed to understand him and his message. In practically real time, you can watch Dylan begin to shed his youthful folksinger persona for something much more turbulent and intrepid.

'Eat the Document' (1972)

You know those home movies you have where the content doesn't really make sense since it's just random snippets of family members or friends? The kind that don't really matter but also you can't bring yourself to get rid of since they're memories of good times? That's kind of what Eat the Document is, except instead of your family it's Dylan and the Hawks traveling through Europe in 1966. This is partly because Dylan edited the footage himself, leading to an interesting if choppy journey.

'Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid' (1973)

Starring James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson, 1973's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid could be described as your run-of-the-mill Western flick about an outlaw versus the sheriff. Except it's different when you factor in Dylan's presence as both on-screen actor — he plays a quiet but curious character fittingly named Alias — and film scorer. The soundtrack LP, which included "Knockin' on Heavens Door," was nominated for a Grammy for Album of Best Original Score.

'Renaldo and Clara' (1978)

This writer will openly confess: she's only seen around half of 1978's Renaldo and Clara, not the entirety of it. But can you really blame a person when the film in question is nearly four hours long? It's difficult to discern what exactly is happening in it — it's part concert film, part tour diary, part fictional story. The film was so confusing to people, in fact, that its theatrical release was discontinued in several cities following after just a few weeks. But you can't really beat the cast, which includes Joan Baez, Sara Dylan, T-Bone Burnett, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Allen Ginsberg, Arlo Guthrie, Ronnie Hawkins, Roger McGuinn, Joni Mitchell, Mick Ronson and more.

'Hearts of Fire' (1987)

We know that ‘80s Dylan isn’t everyone’s favorite, but if you’re into all that — blonde hair, one pierced ear, cutoff leather vests, strangely tan skin — you will find it in 1987’s Hearts of Fire. Here Dylan plays a rockstar who has done everything possible to remove himself from the public eye, only to be dragged back into it by an aspiring musician named Molly McGuire. Sure, it’s a little concerning to watch Dylan’s character get weirdly intimate with an 18-year-old and the film itself is pretty cliche, but there are a few highlights. At one point Dylan lands a whopping stage punch, which is somehow both funny and impressive. At another he presciently says: “I guess I've always known I was never one of them rock 'n' roll singers that was gonna win any Nobel prize.” 

'Catchfire' (1990)

Bob Dylan was left uncredited in the 1990 film Catchfire starring Jodie Foster as an artist who witnesses a mafia hit and must evade both the mob and police. Dylan shows up for all of about 60 seconds, portraying a fellow artist who knew Foster's character many years prior. Dressed in jeans and a hard hat, he's gone just as quickly as he appeared, and yet it's a highlight of the entire movie.

'Masked and Anonymous' (2003)

"I wanted to make a Bob Dylan movie that was like a Bob Dylan song," Larry Charles, director of 2003's Masked and Anonymous once said. "One with a lot of layers, that had a lot of poetry, that had a lot of surrealism and was ambiguous and hard to figure out, like a puzzle." Mission accomplished. Here Dylan plays more or less a version of himself named Jack Fate, who is bailed out of prison for a one-time benefit concert. A host of famous faces surround him: John Goodman, Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, Val Kilmer, Jessica Lange and more. Is it a cinematic masterpiece? No. But as Fate's character says at the film's conclusion: "Truth and beauty are in the eye of the beholder. I stopped trying to figure everything out a long time ago."

'No Direction Home' (2005)

If historical footage from Dylan's life between the years of 1961 and 1966 is what you're looking for, chances are it can be found in Martin Scorsese's 2005 documentary No Direction Home. The whole thing first began taking shape in 1995 when Dylan's longtime manager Jeff Rosen began scheduling interviews with people like Allen Ginsberg, Dave Van Ronk, Mavis Staples and many more. Scorsese came into the picture in 2001, helping to craft a film that chronicles Dylan's life from the time he arrived in New York City in 1961 until the 1966 motorcycle accident that took Dylan off the touring road.

'I'm Not There' (2007)

This is, admittedly, this writer's favorite "fictional" portrayal of Dylan. (At the time of this writing, this writer has not seen A Complete Unknown — Chalamet could wow her.) I'm Not There, directed by Todd Haynes, is both puzzling and entirely straightforward — a host of rotating actors depict Dylan's various public personas during his earlier years from scruffy folk singer to plugged-in, polkadot-wearing rebel. Or as the film's logline puts it: "Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Ben Whishaw are all Bob Dylan."

'Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese' (2019)

If there's one thing you must know about Bob Dylan, it's that he has no problem lying to the public about who he is and what has happened to him in life. He definitely did so in 2019's Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, which includes some made-up scenes such that it blurs the lines between fact and fiction (a rather fitting metaphor for Dylan the man). But there's also very much real life segments with Joan Baez, Sam Shepard, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Roger McGuinn, Ronnie Hawkins and more.

Next: How 'A Complete Unknown' Director Earned Bob Dylan's Approval