We’re just days away from the release of the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, in the UK, and one viewer (and contemporary of the great man) appears to be positive about the movie: Neil Young.
Writing on his website, Neil Young Archives, over the weekend, Young said: “I love Bob Dylan and his music. Always have. He’s a great artist. Once he was on my bus and I didn’t recognize him and threw him off but that’s another story. This movie is a great tribute to his life and music. I think if you love Bob’s music you should see this great movie. I loved it.”
Young and Dylan have been mutual admirers for some time. They both appeared in Martin Scorsese’s seminal 1978 concert film The Last Waltz, duetting on a version of the latter’s I Shall Be Released. More recently, they played a joint headlining show in London’s Hyde Park in July 2019.
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past few months, you’ll know that Timothée Chamalet stars in A Complete Unknown. The movie tells the story of Dylan’s early years, from his apprenticeship in the Greenwich Village scene of the early '60s right up to his appearance at the 1965 Newport Festival, where - much to the chagrin of the assembled folkies – he performed with an electric band for the first time.
Dylan himself was involved in the making of the film and seems positive about it. He even took to Twitter/X to sing its praises: “There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!). Timothée Chalamet is starring in the lead role. Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me.”
He added: “The film’s taken from Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric - a book that came out in 2015. It’s a fantastic retelling of events from the early 60s that led up to the fiasco at Newport. After you’ve seen the movie, read the book.”
In other Neil Young news, the veteran singer songwriter has confirmed he will headline Glastonbury after all this year. Young had pulled out a couple of weeks back, grumbling that: “Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being.”
However, just days later he did a swift about turn and trilled on his website: “Due to an error in the information received, I had decided to not play the Glastonbury festival, which I always have loved. Happily, the festival is now back on our itinerary and we look forward to playing! Hope to see you there!”
