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  • ‘A Complete Unknown’ Interview: Edward Norton and Monica Barbaro

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    The new biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’ opens in theaters on December 25th and chronicles the early life and career of legendary musician Bob Dylan.

    Directed By James Mangold (‘Walk the Line’), the film stars Timothée Chalamet (‘Dune: Part Two’) as Dylan, Elle Fanning (‘Maleficent’) as Sylvie Russo, Monica Barbaro (‘Top Gun: Maverick’) as Joan Baez, Ed Norton (‘Motherless Brooklyn’) as Pete Seeger, Scoot McNairy (‘Speak No Evil’) as Woody Guthrie, and Boyd Holbrook (‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’) as Johnny Cash.

    Related Article: Movie Review: A Complete Unknown’ 

    (L to R) Edward Norton and Monica Barbaro star in 'A Complete Unknown'.
    (L to R) Edward Norton and Monica Barbaro star in ‘A Complete Unknown’.

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of sitting down in-person with Edward Norton and Monica Barbaro to talk about their work on ‘A Complete Unknown’, playing Pete Seeger and Joan Baez respectively, learning to sing and play instruments like their characters, Seeger and Baez’s relationships with Dylan, working with Timothée Chalamet, and what audiences will learn about Dylan’s legacy.

    You can read the full interviews below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews.

    Edward Norton in 'A Complete Unknown'. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    Edward Norton in ‘A Complete Unknown’. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    Moviefone: To begin with, Edward, can you talk about your approach to playing Pete Seeger and how challenging was it to learn how to play his instruments the same way he played them?

    Edward Norton: The music, and fortunately this enormous body of recorded music and a lot of what Pete Seeger did, he did live, and so you get to hear his music, but you also get to hear, he talked to the crowd a lot and his vocal demeanor, his kind of odd formalism, and it was a great access point and there is an amazing amount of footage of him. That was a good place to start, there’s an abundant, recorded visual and auditory library of Pete. I think until you start trying to unpack what he’s doing musically; you don’t realize how much virtuosity he had as a banjo and a guitar player. He’s a monster of a musician, and I’ve played guitar a long time, but I realized in many ways that it was going to be very difficult on the banjo because there’s a lot of modern professional banjo players who don’t even play in the style that Pete Seeger played in. He had this special long-necked, you wouldn’t call it a baritone banjo, but it was a long neck banjo, and he played a picking style that’s very old-fashioned and not a lot of people do anymore. It was an interesting process to navigate the music with our great music supervisor, and James (Mangold) and teachers that I had. It was a challenge is the short answer. That was probably the thing I felt the most. Not anxious, but you really want to get that right. You don’t want to not do justice to what amazing musicians these people were.

    Monica Barbaro attends Searchlight Pictures' 'A Complete Unknown' World Premiere on Dec 10, 2024 in Los Angeles.
    Monica Barbaro attends Searchlight Pictures’ ‘A Complete Unknown’ World Premiere on Dec 10, 2024 in Los Angeles.

    MF: Monica, I understand you had an opportunity to talk to Joan Baez before you began shooting. How did that help inform your performance and did it put you at ease about portraying her on screen?

    Monica Barbaro: Well, I was at a place, we had already started filming, and I just kept having dreams about her. It’d be specifically dreams where we were hanging out, and we kept having a great time. I’d wake up in a good mood, and so I was like, “I think subconsciously something’s telling me that it’s going to be okay, and you should reach out.” I knew at that point that Ed had spoken to her, he knows her, and all I’ve heard is that she’s a very creatively generous person, and so I felt emboldened to reach out. I felt like, if it were Joan, she would reach out. So, I was like, “Okay, this is an exercise also in preparing for the bit of confidence that I think she has.” We just had a beautiful conversation, and she was very generous with her time, and she answered my questions, and I can safely say her memoirs and her documentaries are all very honest. There was nothing that I felt like she was withholding. So that was just wonderful to confirm that the research I had been doing was on the right path, and what she had offered up was true to her experience.

    (L to R) Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro in 'A Complete Unknown'. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    (L to R) Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro in ‘A Complete Unknown’. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    MF: Monica, can you talk about the challenges of learning and preparing for all the musical sequences and really matching the sound of your voice to hers?

    MB: I think I’ve studied her so intensely that all I hear are the differences. I got to work with a lovely vocal coach and what we talked about was really trying to capture some of the more iconic qualities of her voice, the things that everyone says when they describe her voice, like she has this beautiful, tight vibrato, this sort of angelic sound, which I think comes also from singing in high keys, that I at the time couldn’t sing in. So just getting to the point of having comfortability with those qualities was the thing that I felt like would at least sell that believability early on. I didn’t play guitar either, so I had a great guitar teacher who just doubled down on teaching me her finger picking style. We just tried to formulate some version of Joan with tons of hours of training.

    Timothée Chalamet in 'A Complete Unkown'. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unkown’. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    MF: Monica, can you talk about how Baez and Dylan’s relationship is depicted in the film and what it was like working on that with Timothée Chalamet?

    MB: I mean, I’m such a fan of his work. I am an even bigger fan now. He’s an incredible actor, and knowing he was a part of this project was a part of what made me want to do it. Also, James Mangold, of course, and the subject matter. But I had complete trust in him. I mean, I had heard some of his recordings as we were preparing, and so I had even duetted with his voice as Bob. But when we met up and had a music rehearsal, I just was completely blown away. He’s an incredible actor, he worked so hard, and to me, he really got a lot of that Bob Dylan essence, and we could just, I think, kind of trust each other’s work, and we could show up as our characters and sort of let the scene unfold. We didn’t spend a lot of time sitting down and figuring out who we thought they were or what we thought this meant. We took our sort of siloed processes and bridged them in the moment in the scenes that you see. James was an incredible advocate for us and leader in that process, and it was just a beautiful, very present experience.

    (L to R) Edward Norton and Timothée Chalamet in 'A Complete Unkown'. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    (L to R) Edward Norton and Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unkown’. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    MF: Finally, Edward, can you talk about how Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan’s friendship is depicted in the film and what you hope audiences learn about both of their legacies?

    EN: I think in a funny way, I never want to impose an idea. I think an audience should get to have their own relationship with it. Here’s my point. A great filmmaker will leave people with a lot to resolve for themselves and not instruct emotionally, morally or anything. I think James’ done something quite beautiful in this, in that he lets Dylan be Dylan and Pete be Pete, and they have different kinds of integrity. Joan Baez has her own. I think he gives you this portrait of the different types of integrity that a person can have, and he lets them collide with each other. Different people are going to feel very different ways about it all and then go through the prism of their own experiences and their own mentors and their own people they think they did something for. If you get that right, it transcends the fact that these people were musicians. It can be about teachers or anyone who had a mentor or anyone who had an ally who they went sideways with. I think it’s the paradox of people being able to love each other and admire each other and get into cross-purposes with each other that makes it kind of interesting. I think that there was a moment that the film depicts that a lot of people who have great talent and great passion kind of collided with each other. This thing came up and out in the Zeitgeist through Dylan, and then it changed. You know what I mean? I love the way the film sort of almost, it’s like the Beatles breaking up. Everything can’t last. Maybe if anything, it’s like, it’s just the observation of that fact that is poignant.

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    What is the plot of ‘A Complete Unknown’?

    Set in the influential New York music scene of the early 60s, ‘A Complete Unknown follows 19-year-old Minnesota musician Bob Dylan’s (Timothée Chalamet) meteoric rise as a folk singer to concert halls and the top of the charts – his songs and mystique becoming a worldwide sensation – culminating in his groundbreaking electric rock and roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

    Who is in the cast of ‘A Complete Unknown’?

    Timothée Chalamet in 'A Complete Unkown'. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unkown’. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    List of Biopics Based on Musicians:

    Buy Tickets: ‘A Complete Unknown’ Movie Showtimes

    Buy Bob Dylan Music on Amazon

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  • ‘A Complete Unknown’ Press Conference with Cast and Crew

    (L to R) Boyd Holbrook, Ed Norton, Timothée Chalamet, Monica Barbaro, and Elle Fanning attend Searchlight Pictures' 'A Complete Unknown' World Premiere on Dec 10, 2024 in Los Angeles.
    (L to R) Boyd Holbrook, Ed Norton, Timothée Chalamet, Monica Barbaro, and Elle Fanning attend Searchlight Pictures’ ‘A Complete Unknown’ World Premiere on Dec 10, 2024 in Los Angeles.

    ‘A Complete Unknown,’ which stars Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, chronicles the music icons early days, from his initial arrival in New York to his taking the folk scene by storm with his powerful lyrics and catchy tunes.

    Directed by James Mangold, who previously brought the world the likes of ‘Walk the Line’ (about fellow music sensation Johnny Cash) and ‘Ford Vs. Ferrari’ (the true life tale of the clash between the car companies around the famed Le Mans race), the new movie sees Dylan shaking up his act by going electric and siring rock as the voice of a generation –– defining one of the most transformative moments in 20th century music.

    Related Article: Movie Review: ‘A Complete Unknown’

    With a cast that also includes Monica Barbaro as fellow folk pioneer Joan Baez, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash, Edward Norton as veteran performer Pete Seeger and Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, a character based on Dylan’s real-life girlfriend, artist Suze Rotolo.

    The movie has already made a strong entry into the awards race, and Searchlight Pictures held a virtual press conference with Mangold, Chalamet, Fanning, Barbaro, Holbrook and Norton.

    Here are 10 things we learned at that press conference, edited for clarity and length. ‘A Complete Unknown’ will be in theaters on December 25th.

    1. Mangold was Transfixed by the Real Story the Film is Based On

    Director James Mangold attends Searchlight Pictures' 'A Complete Unknown' World Premiere on Dec 10, 2024 in Los Angeles.
    Director James Mangold attends Searchlight Pictures’ ‘A Complete Unknown’ World Premiere on Dec 10, 2024 in Los Angeles.

    Mangold and Jay Cocks adapted the script from Elijah Wald’s book ‘Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan and the Night that Split the Sixties.’

    James Mangold: It came about because there was a wonderful book by Elijah Wald that covered this period and did a really beautiful job of bracketing this moment, this convulsion that happened in Newport 65 and what led up to it. Then as Jay Cocks and I were developing the script, it occurred to me that this fable really should begin with Bob’s arrival in New York. I found it almost like a fairy tale. This idea of a young man, almost a man with no name or changing his name upon arrival with a few bucks in his pocket, carrying a guitar case and a Moleskine notebook with some scrawling in it, landing at the bedside of his hero in a VA hospital in New Jersey to sing him his song. He’s traveled all this way to sing. I mean, that this is a true story blows my mind.

    2. Chalamet Went Deep into Research for the Role

    Timothée Chalamet in 'A Complete Unkown'. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unkown’. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    With a few years between landing the role and starting work on the film, the actor had time to prepare to play Dylan.

    Timothée Chalamet: It was daunting because it is Bob Dylan. At the beginning of the process, I wasn’t in the Church of Bob the way I am now, the way I’m a humble disciple now. The years I got to prepare for this role is unlike the time I’ve had for any other role. So at some point it stopped becoming work and it just became a process of osmosis and just living in the material, living in the world of the sixties. When it came time to shoot with Edward and Monica and Elle and Boyd, we were constantly throwing around little facts or tidbits or video clips or letters we were finding about these characters from the period.

    3. Monica Barbaro Also Threw Herself into Preparing to Play Joan Baez

    (L to R) Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro in 'A Complete Unknown'. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    (L to R) Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro in ‘A Complete Unknown’. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    As with Chalamet, the ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ actor had a lot of work to get ready to be Baez.

    Monica Barbaro: When Jim cast me in the film, I had five months to learn to sing and play guitar, and that did not feel like a long time. So, I was very anxious. Yet during the strike, we weren’t allowed to work with our coaches necessarily, but it was this cool time to take the training and process the work and be a little bit more solo with it, stretch and try things on my own. I think that was around the time when I started working on singing and playing at the same time, which was just a whole other level of musical proficiency that I just did not have and did not understand. Sometimes it’s like patting your head and rubbing your stomach.

    4. Edward Norton Was a Big Fan of Dylan, Seeger and co. Before Taking on the Film

    Edward Norton in 'A Complete Unknown'. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    Edward Norton in ‘A Complete Unknown’. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    Norton’s familiarity with the main players was a big plus in his own preparation.

    Edward Norton: I’ve marinated in the Church of Bob for my whole adult life. If you’re someone who came up in New York City in the theatre with even a passing interest in human affairs, Pete Seeger was a paragon. He was a folk singer who cleaned up the Hudson River. You knew about Pete Seeger. My first job as a waiter was right next to a restaurant that was in Pete Seeger’s house, and I used to go there all the time. I’ve played guitar for many years, and I know this music. So there’s the preparation that wasn’t… I didn’t walk into it happily naive to the ethos of it or the essence of it. Banjo was a new animal for me. They say dying is easy, comedy is hard. Well, I think guitar is easy and banjo is hard. So that was fun. That was a lot of fun.

    5. Elle Fanning Had to Get Creative Given Her More Fictionalized Role

    Elle Fanning attends Searchlight Pictures' 'A Complete Unknown' World Premiere on Dec 10, 2024 in Los Angeles.
    Elle Fanning attends Searchlight Pictures’ ‘A Complete Unknown’ World Premiere on Dec 10, 2024 in Los Angeles.

    With Sylvie based on a real-life figure, but with more flexibility, Fanning had different challenges.

    Elle Fanning: You can do the facts and the searching, but really your bible is the script, and working with your actors and talking to Jim and carving out a story and a cinematic experience that people are going to care about. I felt like I cared so much for her on the page, and her emotion just jumped out at me. So I wanted to do justice of honoring know Suze and Bob’s relationship, but also making sure that that emotional weight was there in the part that I had.

    6. Boyd Holbrook Was Intimidated Playing Johnny Cash For a Big Reason

    Boyd Holbrook attends Searchlight Pictures' 'A Complete Unknown' World Premiere on Dec 10, 2024 in Los Angeles.
    Boyd Holbrook attends Searchlight Pictures’ ‘A Complete Unknown’ World Premiere on Dec 10, 2024 in Los Angeles.

    Holdbrook had good reason to be nervous, since Mangold had already shepherded Joaquin Phoenix to an Oscar nomination playing Cash in ‘Walk the Line.’

    Boyd Holbrook: Yeah, it was kind of daunting in the beginning when Jim asked me to do it. But following Joaquin’s great performance, it was daunting in a way, but then as I understood what the part was about and its functionality in Bob’s life, it was a really exciting challenge. I didn’t play and sing at the same time. I think I lied to you, Jim. I think I told you I did! But there’s this extraordinary pressure that bottlenecks you down into the day of shooting where you have to figure this out. So for me it was really exciting to do it in a fresh way, and to see what this other version of Johnny Cash was, and a mentor to Bob. Maybe not a mentor, but a comrade.

    7. Mangold Hopes Audiences Seek Out Big Screens to See the Movie

    (L to R) Director James Mangold and Timothée Chalamet on the set of 'A Complete Unkown'. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    (L to R) Director James Mangold and Timothée Chalamet on the set of ‘A Complete Unkown’. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    Though so many movies go to streaming these days and something such as ‘A Complete Unknown’ might not be on the scale, of, say ‘Gladiator II,’ the director feels it deserves to be seen on a big screen.

    Mangold: I want all our movies to be seen on the big screen. That’s why we make them. I’ve been very lucky so far, particularly movies like this where it’s getting harder and harder to get them made and going out theatrically. But it is a singular experience, and I think that this movie has a kind of scale to it that really asks for that kind of experience. The enveloping sound of these concerts, whether intimate or gigantic, is just our sound team did awesome work on this movie, and it’s an anamorphic film, so it’s wide screen and just looks amazing on the big screen.

    8. Part of Chalamet’s Road to Dylan Included Visiting the Musician’s Old Haunts

    Timothée Chalamet in 'A Complete Unkown'. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unkown’. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    The actor didn’t just dig into Dylan’s musical side –– he also made pilgrimages to where he was born in Minnesota.

    Chalamet: They were hugely informative. I don’t think they were informative in an academic sense. I wasn’t trying to excavate the exact places he walked or understand what homework was assigned on a specific day. I really just wanted to put myself in the environment, the weather, the roads, the iron ore of it all that gives him that grit in his voice, that to this day makes it so surprising and impressive that he wrote songs like “North Country Blues,” or “Rocks and Gravel” and stuff that was beyond a 19– or 20–year–old at the time. Again, it was a process of osmosis. It wasn’t anything prescriptive.

    9. Chalamet Sung Most of the Songs Live in the Film

    Timothée Chalamet in 'A Complete Unkown'. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unkown’. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    Though Mangold and his team had crafted the usual pre-recorded soundtrack for Dylan and co., Chalamet had his director’s confidence to perform on set.

    Mangold: We laid down what’ll be a soundtrack album full of music in the studio. But then we started shooting and the first scene we did, you guys have seen the movie, the first scene with singing in it that we did was the one in which he sings a song for to Woody Guthrie in the hospital. Timmy came to me and said, “I just want to do it.” There was this whole moment on set where people behind the scenes are, “Well, the shots will never cut. He’ll be singing a different tempo from one shot to the next and we can’t get a good recording here.” I have my hats off to Timmy because he was the one who was like, “I just want to do it.” And he did. All I did was run interference for him in the sense of going, “Whatever happens, we can fix it later.” We didn’t have to fix a thing.

    10. Fanning was Blown Away Hearing Chalamet Play for the First Time

    (L to R) Elle Fanning and Timothée Chalamet in 'A Complete Unknown'. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    (L to R) Elle Fanning and Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unknown’. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    Elle Fanning wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to Chalamet playing Dylan, but he really nailed the role.

    Fanning: The first day on set for me was when he’s singing, “A Hard Rain’s Going to Fall.” I am an audience member in that scene. I don’t have any lines or anything, but I remember I had such an anticipation, like butterflies. You could feel like this bubbling anticipation. The audience knew what they were about to see, but I didn’t know what to expect. Obviously I know he’s a brilliant actor, and I was, ‘Of course he’s going to knock it out of the park.’ He gave us a full concert.

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    What is the plot of ‘A Complete Unknown’?

    Set in the influential New York music scene of the early 60s, ‘A Complete Unknown follows 19-year-old Minnesota musician Bob Dylan’s (Timothée Chalamet) meteoric rise as a folk singer to concert halls and the top of the charts – his songs and mystique becoming a worldwide sensation – culminating in his groundbreaking electric rock and roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

    Who is in the cast of ‘A Complete Unknown’?

    'A Complete Unknown' opens in theaters on December 25th.
    ‘A Complete Unknown’ opens in theaters on December 25th.

    List of Biopics Based on Musicians:

    Buy Tickets: ‘A Complete Unknown’ Movie Showtimes

    Buy Bob Dylan Music on Amazon

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  • Movie Review: ‘A Complete Unknown’

    Timothée Chalamet in 'A Complete Unkown'. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unkown’. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    Opening in theaters on December 25th is the new biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’, which chronicles the early life and career of legendary musician Bob Dylan.

    Directed By James Mangold (‘Walk the Line’), the film stars Timothée Chalamet (‘Dune: Part Two’) as Dylan, Elle Fanning (‘Maleficent’) as Sylvie Russo, Monica Barbaro (‘Top Gun: Maverick’) as Joan Baez, Ed Norton (‘Motherless Brooklyn’) as Pete Seeger, Scoot McNairy (‘Speak No Evil’) as Woody Guthrie, and Boyd Holbrook (‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’) as Johnny Cash.

    Related Article: Marisa Abela and Director Sam Taylor-Johnson Talk ‘Back to Black’

    Initial Thoughts

    (L to R) Elle Fanning and Timothée Chalamet in 'A Complete Unknown'. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    (L to R) Elle Fanning and Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unknown’. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    Director James Mangold delivers a brilliant and vibrant biopic about legendary musician Bob Dylan that completely captures his complex mystic and iconic music. Mangold wisely focuses on the early part of Dylan’s career, beginning with his arrival in New York, his rise in the folk music scene, and culminating with his controversial choice to “go electric” at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

    Timothée Chalamet gives a career-defining performance as Dylan and is completely hypnotic in the role. The actor completely embodies the character with the awkward cool and determination of Dylan and is remarkable in the musical sequences, so much so that at times you forget you are not actually watching Dylan. Chalamet’s performance is supported by excellent turns from both Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, and Ed Norton as folk musician Pete Seeger.

    Script and Direction

    (L to R) Director James Mangold and Timothée Chalamet on the set of 'A Complete Unkown'. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    (L to R) Director James Mangold and Timothée Chalamet on the set of ‘A Complete Unkown’. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    The movie begins in 1963 by introducing us to an awkward young song writer, who has just arrived in New York City and has already adopted the persona of Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet). Dylan’s first move is to visit his hero, Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), who is dying in a local hospital. Dylan performs a song he has written for Woody and impresses folk legend Pete Seeger (Ed Norton).

    Seeger soon introduces Dylan on the popular New York folk music scene, and while trying to get his first album produced, meets artist Sylvie Russo (Susan Rotolo in real life) played by Elle Fanning, and young musician Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro). Dylan soon begins having relationships with both women, while his musical career takes off.

    Confused by his new success and being labeled “the voice of his generation” by the media, Dylan seeks support from fellow musician Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook). Dylan continues to struggle with his success and pushes to create new music that doesn’t fit into the mold of what Seeger and others want for him. It all culminates with the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where Dylan is the headliner and famously causes a riot by using an electric guitar.

    Timothée Chalamet in 'A Complete Unkown'. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unkown’. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    Based on author Elijah Wald’s ‘Dylan Goes Electric’, the script by Mangold and Jay Cocks is excellent and the choice to focus on the first three years of Dylan’s career rather than a life-spanning biopic was a smart one. Mangold, of course, is no stranger to rock n’ roll biopics having made the Johnny Cash film ‘Walk the Line,’ but in my opinion this is a far superior movie and putting ‘Logan’ aside, may be the best work of Mangold’s impressive career.

    Focusing on this specific period allows the director to really examine how Robert Zimmerman became Bob Dylan, and his impact on music and society. 1960s New York comes alive in a vibrant way, and the images shown reflect what we’ve seen of Dylan in that time. Mangold is also able to spotlight the folk music movement of the early 60s, Dylan’s role in that, and how controversial it was in that community when Dylan “betrayed” them and went electric.

    Obviously, if you are Dylan fan you will love the music as it is mostly his, with a few traditional songs and music from Pete Seeger and Johnny Cash thrown in. All the big Dylan hits of that time are included such as ‘Masters of War’, ‘Blowing in the Wind’, ‘Maggie’s Farm’, and of course, ‘Like a Rolling Stone’. The musical performances are fantastic, and the actors, who sang themselves, remarkably sound like the people they are portraying, especially Chalamet and Barbaro.

    Criticism

    Timothée Chalamet in 'A Complete Unkown'. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unkown’. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    Full disclosure: I’m a self-proclaimed Bob Dylan expert. I’ve personally been studying his music as a fan for the last 30 years and have seen him live in concert easily over 20 times. So, I was ready to be quite critical of the movie, but to be honest, I fell so in love with the characters, the performances, the music and Mangold’s direction, that I really left the theater with very little to complain about.

    However, if I had to be critical, at 2 hours and 21 minutes, the movie is a little long. It didn’t bother me much, but I think you could have a much tighter film if you cut 10 minutes or so from the run time. The easiest way to do this would be to cut one or two of the musical numbers. Look, I love ‘Masters of War’, but do we need to see Dylan perform it twice in the same movie?

    Also, I understand having Norton perform one of Pete Seeger’s songs at the beginning of the movie to establish who that character is, but also watching him perform at the Newport Festival towards the finale seemed unnecessary. My guess would be that Mangold got a little too precious with the musical performances and didn’t want to “cut any of his babies”, and I totally get that, and in the long run doesn’t really hurt the movie much.

    Edward Norton in 'A Complete Unknown'. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    Edward Norton in ‘A Complete Unknown’. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    My other small critique would be that the film completely skips Dylan’s seminal 1965 tour of England, which is where he was first introduced to electric guitars. The movie makes mention of the trip before and after it happens, but never took the time to explore it and I have a theory as to why Mangold made that choice.

    D.A. Pennebaker’s groundbreaking 1967 documentary ‘Don’t Look Back’ chronicles in real time Dylan’s tour of England, and my guess would be that Mangold did not want to retread that territory. If that is the case, then that was a smart choice, as one of my issues with director Michael Mann’s boxing biopic ‘Ali’ was that the third act was a shot for shot remake of the Oscar-winning documentary ‘When We Were Kings’.

    Cast and Performances

    (L to R) Edward Norton and Timothée Chalamet in 'A Complete Unkown'. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    (L to R) Edward Norton and Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unkown’. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    Mangold has really assembled a wonderful ensemble cast but obviously the movie hinges on Timothée Chalamet’s performance. The young actor who has been excellent in films like ‘Call Me by Your Name’, ‘Wonka’ and the ‘Dune’ series gives his best work to date as Dylan. I would imagine this was a daunting character for Chalamet to play and he completely nails it from beginning to end.

    The actor perfectly embodies Dylan, his awkward coolness, and his legendary mystic. His musical performances are astounding and the best compliment I can give him is to say that there were times I forgot I was watching an actor and thought I was really watching Dylan. It is easily one of the best male performances of this year and I would be shocked if he doesn’t at least get nominated for an Oscar, and depending on who else is in the competition, I would imagine he’ll be the frontrunner.

    (L to R) Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro in 'A Complete Unknown'. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    (L to R) Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro in ‘A Complete Unknown’. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    Also deserving of an Oscar nomination is Monica Barbaro who is incredible as Joan Baez. Not only does the actress look like Baez, but she also sounds exactly like her when she is singing and has excellent chemistry with Chalamet. Their love story, for me, was the heart of the movie. Elle Fanning, who plays Dylan’s other love interest Sylvie, has a bit of a thankless role, as I did feel her character was given short shrift by the script. Regardless, the actress is a ray of sunshine in all her scenes and has wonderful chemistry with Chalamet too.

    Ed Norton could also end up earning an Oscar nomination for his work, as the actor gives a quiet yet strong performance as Dylan’s mentor and eventual rival, Pete Seeger. It’s also worth mentioning Boyd Holbrook’s fun performance as Johnny Cash, but with two short scenes, it is basically a glorified cameo. Finally, Scoot McNairy has the difficult job of playing an afflicted Woody Guthrie, and while his performance didn’t quite work for me, the actor made the most of the situation.

    Final Thoughts

    Timothée Chalamet in 'A Complete Unkown'. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
    Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unkown’. Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

    In the end, ‘A Complete Unknown’ is probably the best version of a Bob Dylan movie we could ever ask for. And it’s important to remember that Bob Dylan isn’t even a real person … he’s a mysterious character that a young Robert Zimmerman created in New York in the early 60s. Given that, director James Mangold has created a biopic that both honors the legend of Bob Dylan, while examining the real man behind the persona, without ruining the mystic that the artist has spent so many decades cultivating.

    I expect the film will receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, and possibly a nomination for Best Director as well. In a year that saw disappointing biopics of both Bob Marley (‘Bob Marley: One Love‘) and Amy Winehouse (‘Back to Black‘), I can safely say that ‘A Complete Unknown’ is the best biopic about a popular musician we’ve seen in recent years and features a transcending and career-defining performance from Timothée Chalamet.

    ‘A Complete Unknown’ receives 9 out of 10 stars.

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    What is the plot of ‘A Complete Unknown’?

    Set in the influential New York music scene of the early 60s, ‘A Complete Unknown follows 19-year-old Minnesota musician Bob Dylan’s (Timothée Chalamet) meteoric rise as a folk singer to concert halls and the top of the charts – his songs and mystique becoming a worldwide sensation – culminating in his groundbreaking electric rock and roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

    Who is in the cast of ‘A Complete Unknown’?

    'A Complete Unknown' opens in theaters on December 25th.
    ‘A Complete Unknown’ opens in theaters on December 25th.

    List of Biopics Based on Musicians:

    Buy Tickets: ‘A Complete Unknown’ Movie Showtimes

    Buy Bob Dylan Music on Amazon

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  • ‘The Bikeriders’ Digital Release Interview: Jeff Nichols

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    Available to own or rent at home beginning July 9th is the new film ‘The Bikeriders,’ which was written and directed by Jeff Nichols (‘Mud,’ ‘Loving’) and based on the book of the same name by author Danny Lyon.

    The movie features an all-star cast that includes Jodie Comer (‘Free Guy’), Austin Butler (‘Elvis’), Tom Hardy (‘Venom’), Michael Shannon (‘Man of Steel’), Mike Faist (“Challengers’), Boyd Holbrook (‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’), and Norman Reedus (‘The Walking Dead’).

    Director of photography Adam Stone, actor Austin Butler and director Jeff Nichols on the set of 'The Bikeriders', a Focus Features release. Credit: Kyle Kaplan/Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features. All Rights Reserved.
    (L to R) Director of photography Adam Stone, actor Austin Butler and director Jeff Nichols on the set of ‘The Bikeriders’, a Focus Features release. Credit: Kyle Kaplan/Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features. All Rights Reserved.

    Related Article: Movie Review: ‘The Bikeriders’

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with writer and director Jeff Nichols about the digital release of ‘The Bikeriders’, his passion for the project, the structure of the film, Jodie Comer and Austin Butler’s onscreen chemistry, Tom Hardy’s performance, the challenges of shooting the motorcycle scenes, and why he loves working with Michael Shannon.

    You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview with director Jeff Nichols.

    Director Jeff Nichols talks 'The Bikeriders,' which is available to own or rent at home beginning July 9th.
    Director Jeff Nichols talks ‘The Bikeriders,’ which is available to own or rent at home beginning July 9th.

    Moviefone: To begin with, I know that making ‘The Bikeriders’ was a long passion project for you. Now that the movie is finishing its theatrical run and about to be released on digital, how does it feel to know that audiences are finally seeing this film?

    Jeff Nichols: It feels great. The responses that I think I appreciate the most are from people involved in motorcycle culture, not having grown up in that culture and around bikes, especially not growing up in the Midwest, growing up in the American South. Anytime someone says, “Hey, I grew up in Chicago in the 60s and my dad rode bikes, or I was around bikes, and man, you just nailed it.” Like any comments, and I’ve gotten a few of those. They seem to mean the most to me just because it is a kind of pat on the back and it’s a little bit of validation to all the work we did. So yeah, that’s it. I think that’s the thing that’s been most enjoyable for me.

    Jodie Comer stars as Kathy, director Jeff Nichols and Austin Butler as Benny on the set of 'The Bikeriders,' a Focus Features release.
    (L to R) Jodie Comer stars as Kathy, director Jeff Nichols and Austin Butler as Benny on the set of ‘The Bikeriders,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Kyle Kaplan/Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features. All Rights Reserved.

    MF: Can you talk about what attracted you to this specific material and why were you so passionate about getting this movie made?

    JN: Look, honestly, it’s because of the people contained inside Danny’s book. You could say it’s the bikes and the hair and the clothes, that’s certainly something I was attracted to, but the truth is, in these interviews, they just felt like real people because they were. They felt like people trying to understand their place in the world, and that was very attractive to me, even more attractive than the bikes and the clothes and the hair, which was damn attractive. I think as a storyteller, you’re looking for human beings and you’re looking for human behavior that people can relate to, and they can say, “I know someone like that”, or “I am like that”, this is our connection through cinema. When I looked at Danny’s book and I read those interviews, I saw people and I saw behavior that I felt like people could connect to.

    Mike Faist as Danny and Jodie Comer as Kathy in director Jeff Nichols' 'The Bikeriders'.
    (L to R) Mike Faist as Danny and Jodie Comer as Kathy in director Jeff Nichols’ ‘The Bikeriders’. Credit: Kyle Kaplan/Focus Features © 2024 Focus Features, LLC. All RIghts Reserved.

    MF: Can you talk about the choice of telling the story from Kathy’s point of view and utilizing a documentary structure?

    JN: The truth is Kathy was just the most interesting one in the book. Her interviews, they just kind of glow and it’s because she’s completely unfiltered. Jodie said something interesting about it. She said, “It’s almost like no one ever asked Kathy what she thought about things until Danny Lyon showed up.” It was a big statement for me to hear. Yeah, this woman in the 1960s, it’s like no one had ever bothered to ask her opinion about anything, and she was ready to give it, and she did in this kind of unvarnished, completely unfiltered way. I think it was undeniable as someone looking at the book to say, “Well, she needs to be the one to take us through this world.” Not because she’s an observer, it’s because she’s a participant. It’s because she’s dealing with the same thing that these guys are dealing with, which is this tension between romance and attraction and violence, which is kind of held in the motorcycle and it’s held in the motorcycle club. As far as the documentary style, it was a real challenge for me as a filmmaker. A lot of my films are classical in the directing style. They’re very linear in the storytelling style. Part of the challenge for me as a filmmaker was, I wanted this to feel like maybe a documentary crew went back in time and captured half of this movie at least. There are certainly scenes that start to fall into more of a narrative feel, but I wanted parts of it to feel like a documentary, which is why beyond even just Kathy’s interviews, you’re having portraiture with these guys sitting on their bikes kind of explaining things. It was very much set up to feel like a documentary for, like I said, about half of the film. At some point you wake up into the narrative and you have a better understanding of these characters because of the time you’ve spent with them. It was a strange tightrope to try to walk as a storyteller and as a writer, but one I’m proud of in the film.

    Austin Butler as Benny and Jodie Comer as Kathy in director Jeff Nichols' 'The Bikeriders,' a Focus Features release.
    (L to R) Austin Butler as Benny and Jodie Comer as Kathy in director Jeff Nichols’ ‘The Bikeriders,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Kyle Kaplan/Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features. All Rights Reserved.

    MF: Can you talk about Kathy and Benny’s love story and the incredible chemistry that Austin Butler and Jodie Comer have together onscreen?

    JN: These things are magical, and I don’t mean to get kind of too dreamy with my answer, but as a filmmaker, you have very real things in front of you, budgets and schedules, actors, and you look at them and you say, “You look good and you’re a good actor. Let’s see what happens when I put you with this other person”, and then this thing happens. Part of it is they’re both just so talented, but they’re also just so charismatic. I found this with Ruth Negga on ‘Loving’, Jodie’s eyes are disproportionately sized to the rest of her face, which makes her perfect to put on camera because there’s so much information going on inside of her eyes. It’s just a beautiful thing to watch. Then you have Austin who has this supreme control over what he’s doing. When he walks into that bar, turns that chair in and sits down, it looks like something I’ve seen in cinema lexicon, that feels like it’s existed for 60 years. I knew we had something special, and I wish I could tell you that I engineered it and all these other things. It is a magical thing that happens when you put the right people together in the right setting and the right project, and it happened right in front of my eyes, and it was incredible to watch.

    Austin Butler as Benny in director Jeff Nichols' 'The Bikeriders,' a Focus Features release.
    Austin Butler as Benny in director Jeff Nichols’ ‘The Bikeriders,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features. All Rights Reserved.

    MF: Can you talk about the challenges of shooting the motorcycle scenes and because of the period setting of the movie, needing to have very famous actors ride bikes without helmets? Was it difficult just getting insurance for the film?

    JN: It was. We had a person on set whose whole job was just to coordinate with the insurance companies. At some point we collectively, the actors, the production, the studio, the insurance companies, everyone had to just accept a certain amount of risk, which as a director is terrifying because we’re just making a movie. It’s not worth hurting anyone, but when you put people on motorcycles, you’re never going to reach zero risk. So basically, we collectively had to accept that there was risk, and then move from there, do everything possible from there to make this experience as safe as possible. It was terrifying, I mean, it took years off my life. You film those scenes the way that you film stunt sequences, if you get it right, you’re done. That’s your one shot. You don’t go back for another take, to just see if something else happens, you just get it. Like the bike shot of Austin, I believe we did that in two takes and I would’ve loved a third take, but we got it in the first take, and it was like, “We’re not going to do that again. We’re going to let this be.” The truth is a lot of that credit goes to our actors for the time they spent training on those bikes. Again, you must give credit to Austin, who’s not a stunt performer. He hasn’t been on these bikes for that long, but he makes himself look so comfortable while he’s riding. That is acting because I guarantee you, he doesn’t feel that comfortable on that bike. But he sold it and I’m so proud that we did it that way. I’m so proud that it’s in the film. In an age where everything is CG, everything is fake, I can’t help but think people will show up and watch this film and know somewhere in their brains that we did that.

    Tom Hardy stars as Johnny in director Jeff Nichols' 'The Bikeriders,' a Focus Features release.
    Tom Hardy stars as Johnny in director Jeff Nichols’ ‘The Bikeriders,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Kyle Kaplan/Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

    MF: In the film, Tom Hardy’s Johnny is inspired to start the motorcycle club after watching Marlon Brando in ‘The Wild One’ and it seemed like Hardy was channeling Brando for his performance. Is that accurate and is that something you talked about with him?

    JN: Yeah, it was a bit of his calculus. I think Jodie was sharing audio clips with me all along of the work that she was doing, but that’s because she had about an hour of actual audio of the real Kathy. So, she had something specific to go off. Tom didn’t. There was only one interview with the real Johnny, and we didn’t really like his voice. So, Tom was kind of, he had all the other audio examples to listen to, so he knew the world that he’d be living in, but he wanted to develop something for his character. What he kept saying to me was that he can’t be half a gangster. That seemed to be the mantra that he applied to his character, meaning this guy is, he’s not really a gang leader. He’s a guy that’s posing as a motorcycle gang leader, and that’s going to come back on him at some point because he’s not really built for this world. He’s playing a part. So, you have Tom Hardy playing the part of a person playing a part. Tom very clearly was like, “I think this guy grew up on movies. I think he grew up watching James Cagney. I think he grew up watching Marlon Brando, and I think he is putting on a persona.” So, he very intentionally took his voice into that higher inflection, and basically, it’s Johnny doing Brando. I didn’t hear his voice until the first day on set, and he only had a couple lines, and we kind of huddled afterwards. He said, “What do you think?” For me, it was like Domino’s kind of falling backward because I understood we had had all these conversations. I understood exactly what he’s connecting to. It’s like, “I think it’s great, man. Just go with it.” It adds this odd vulnerability to that character. Imagine him only just being gruff, it is less interesting, I think, in my opinion.

    Michael Shannon as Zipco in 20th Century Studios' 'The Bikeriders'.
    Michael Shannon as Zipco in 20th Century Studios’ ‘The Bikeriders’. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

    MF: Finally, you’ve cast Michael Shannon in every movie you’ve ever directed. Can you talk about why you love working with him and having him on your sets?

    JN: Well, the set part, he adds a level of focus to everybody. We filmed his two monologues in the first week and getting this incredible group of actors together, who I’m not familiar with, who I haven’t done a lot of work with, but having everybody sit around and listen to Mike give a monologue, two monologues in a Jeff Nichols film, it was like a grounding force to the whole production, and it kind of set the bar. It was like, “Okay, we’re in a Jeff Nichols film now. We just heard Mike Shannon give a monologue”. I know that the younger actors look up to him, but Tom as well. He and Tom, I think I’ll get this correctly, they used to be in an acting troop together that Philip Seymour Hoffman led, so they knew each other. Austin tells a great story of about three takes in on Mike’s first monologue, the one leaning on the bike, Tom leaned into him and said, “Oh, he’s in it now.” It was a great actor recognizing another great actor for being in the moment. That’s always the case with Mike. I’ve learned to direct because of Mike, and the truth is he makes me look better. He makes my dialogue better. He’s so thoughtful. But you hear a lot about these actors that they’ll show up and rip out the script pages and start to do their own thing. Look, to each their own, but Mike has a tremendous amount of respect for the words that I write. He knows how much time I spend, and he likes the words I write. They make sense to him the way that I think and the way that I write dialogue and character behavior and movement, they seem to make sense to Mike. So, when he shows up, he’s taking what’s on the page and just bringing it to life in a way that I love the way it looks and sounds and moves. He makes all my work better every time. He doesn’t miss.

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    What is the plot of ‘The Bikeriders’?

    ‘The Bikeriders’ captures a rebellious time in America when the culture and people were changing. After a chance encounter at a local bar, strong-willed Kathy (Jodie Comer) is inextricably drawn to Benny (Austin Butler), the newest member of Midwestern motorcycle club, the Vandals led by the enigmatic Johnny (Tom Hardy). Much like the country around it, the club begins to evolve, transforming from a gathering place for local outsiders into a dangerous underworld of violence, forcing Benny to choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.

    Who is in the cast of ‘The Bikeriders’?

    'The Bikeriders' will be available to own or rent at home beginning July 9th.
    ‘The Bikeriders’ will be available to own or rent at home beginning July 9th.

    Movies Similar to ‘The Bikeriders’:

    Buy Austin Butler Movies On Amazon

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  • Movie Review: ‘The Bikeriders’

    Austin Butler stars as Benny in director Jeff Nichols' 'The Bikeriders,' a Focus Features release.
    Austin Butler stars as Benny in director Jeff Nichols’ ‘The Bikeriders,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

    Opening in theaters June 21st is ‘The Bikeriders,’ directed by Jeff Nichols and starring Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Mike Faist, Michael Shannon, Boyd Holbrook, and Norman Reedus.

    Related Article: ‘The Bikeriders’ Moves Off Original Opening Date In Midst Of SAG-AFTRA Strike

    Initial Thoughts

    Motorcycle club culture remains an enigma to most people; to some, it represents freedom and the ability to live outside the mainstream, while to others it appears to be a dangerous and even criminal lifestyle. Set in the 1960s, ‘The Bikeriders’ balances right on the cusp of those two extremes, with writer-director Jeff Nichols chronicling the history of a (semi-fictional) biker club and the people in its orbit navigating both a changing American landscape and the nature of their community itself.

    Bolstered by several great performances from Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, and the supporting cast, ‘The Bikeriders’ is always entertaining and often fascinating. But its shifting point of view and meandering narrative keep it from becoming the great American epic that Nichols clearly wants to make.

    Story and Direction

    Jodie Comer stars as Kathy, director Jeff Nichols and Austin Butler as Benny on the set of 'The Bikeriders,' a Focus Features release.
    (L to R) Jodie Comer stars as Kathy, director Jeff Nichols and Austin Butler as Benny on the set of ‘The Bikeriders,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Kyle Kaplan/Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features. All Rights Reserved.

    In 1968, photojournalist Danny Lyon published a book called ‘The Bikeriders,’ which illustrated through photos and text the four years he spent with a motorcycle club known as the Chicago Outlaws. Jeff Nichols, writer-director of ‘Mud,’ ‘Loving,’ and ‘Take Shelter,’ was inspired by Lyon’s book to create a fictional club, the Vandals, incorporating elements of Lyon’s book and versions of the real-life club members into the rambling narrative of his first feature film in seven years.

    Lyon appears in the movie as well, played by Mike Faist (‘Challengers’), and it’s his interviews that in some ways form the spine of the film. Much of it is told in flashback by Kathy (Jodie Comer), a blue-collar Midwestern girl who meets and falls in love with (and eventually marries) Benny (Austin Butler), a brooding, charming Vandals member who is the protégé of Johnny (Tom Hardy), the founder and leader of the club.

    Kathy is our way into the story, but it’s here that Nichols’ narrative structure begins to run into problems. With much of the story told from her viewpoint, we never quite get into the inner workings of either Benny or Johnny, the two men who dominate both her life and that of the club. We learn that Johnny – who has a wife and two daughters – decides to form the Vandals after watching the Marlon Brando movie ‘The Wild One’ on television one night. Most of the members of the club are working class, but it’s hinted that Benny – who is as non-verbal as a person can be – comes from a more prosperous background that he’s estranged from. Do these men congregate in the Vandals as a means of rebellion? Or to find a surrogate family? It’s never really made clear.

    Jodie Comer as Kathy and Austin Butler as Benny in director Jeff Nichols' 'The Bikeriders,' a Focus Features release.
    (L to R) Jodie Comer as Kathy and Austin Butler as Benny in director Jeff Nichols’ ‘The Bikeriders,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Kyle Kaplan/Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

    What is clear is that the club slowly begins to evolve from a kind of weekend hobby into a criminal organization, attracting more unsavory characters and activities into its orbit. After Benny is almost beaten to death when he walks into a rival bar wearing the gang’s colors, Kathy wants him to quit. But of course, the Vandals are the means through which Benny finds identity and purpose, and he’s also being groomed by Johnny to take over when the latter retires, although why Johnny’s motivations for wanting to bow out are murky at best.

    The heart of the film is the tug-of-war between Kathy and Johnny for Benny’s love and loyalty, set against the shifting societal background of late ‘60s America and the changing nature of the club and its purpose. Yet the way in which Nichols tells the story, shifting back and forth in time and never quite allowing us to get into the heads of either Johnny or Benny, makes for a story that lacks urgency or drama, with the allure of the club itself and the stakes for its members never as forcefully presented as they should be.

    Despite its structural flaws, ‘The Bikeriders’ still manages to be an entertaining watch. The film is bursting with exacting period details, and Nichols recreates the ramshackle late ‘60s milieu of Midwestern suburban, blue-collar enclaves, rundown homes, and darkened, grimy bars with perfectly immersive effect. And you can’t help but be fascinated, amused, and sometimes gripped by the antics of the club and its members, although Nichols never quite allows the film or its characters to make the case strongly enough for what draws them to this lifestyle.

    The Cast

    Jodie Comer stars as Kathy in Jeff Nichols' 'The Bikeriders,' a Focus Features release.
    Jodie Comer stars as Kathy in Jeff Nichols’ ‘The Bikeriders,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features ©2024 All Rights Reserved.

    While most of the characters are thinly drawn, Jodie Comer’s Kathy is the exception: Comer is outstanding as the no-nonsense, plainspoken, common-sense-smart Midwestern woman who is pulled in a feral way toward Benny and who can appreciate the protective, strength-in-numbers nature of the club (never more so than in a harrowing scene when some bikers who crash a Vandals party try to rape her).

    At the same time, Kathy’s eyes are always open to the changes in Benny, Johnny, and the Vandals. For her it’s not just matter of love, but practicality: she wants her husband to live, and their lives to stabilize. Through her voice (and dead-on accent), her reliable way of telling the story, and her agency in dealing with both Benny and Johnny, Kathy proves that she knows who she is and what her life has become, and how to change it. Comer shines throughout the film, her expressive eyes and collected demeanor telling us plenty about this engaging woman.

    Tom Hardy stars as Johnny in director Jeff Nichols' 'The Bikeriders,' a Focus Features release.
    Tom Hardy stars as Johnny in director Jeff Nichols’ ‘The Bikeriders,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Kyle Kaplan/Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

    As for the two men in her life, Tom Hardy kind of grunts and mumbles his way through a lot of the movie as a man who has never truly learned to express himself until he got on a bike, and for whom the Vandals may be the greatest thing he ever created, until it’s not. But even with minimal dialogue, Hardy is always such a formidable presence that he captures Johnny’s quiet strength and fearlessness effortlessly. Even though he becomes a criminal, one can almost empathize with Johnny thanks to his steadfast loyalty and unwavering devotion to his own ways (even as the other bikers grow their hair long, Johnny keeps his greased back, just as he saw it in ‘The Wild One’).

    Austin Butler’s Benny is less successfully fleshed out, and of the three main players has the least to do. He basically broods, sulks, and occasionally lashes out in anger, his own motivations hidden behind a curtain of tics and poses. Butler, so electrifying in ‘Elvis’ and ‘Dune: Part Two,’ is still charismatic here, but he’s the weakest link in the dramatic triangle of Kathy, Johnny, and Benny, only because he’s pulled between the two yet doesn’t offer enough insight into what he really wants.

    While much of the supporting cast, meaning basically the members of the Vandals, don’t get a chance to differentiate themselves from their compatriots, two stand out: Nichols muse Michael Shannon is excellent as always as Zipco, the often hilarious yet clearly unstable wild card of the gang, while Norman Reedus puts Daryl Dixon on steroids as Funny Sonny, a California biker who comes out to Chicago to scope out the Vandals and ends up hanging on with them (in one amusing scene, he even gets paid to stand outside a movie theater and encourage passers-by to go in and watch ‘Easy Rider’).

    Final Thoughts

    Austin Butler stars as Benny in director Jeff Nichols' 'The Bikeriders,' a Focus Features release.
    Austin Butler stars as Benny in director Jeff Nichols’ ‘The Bikeriders,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

    Jeff Nichols seems to be going for an objective portrait of the Vandals with ‘The Bikeriders’: he wants to document this lifestyle without passing judgment on it. But that leaves the movie without a point of view: the sheer freedom and exhilaration of the lifestyle is never quite captured, leaving us more often with a view of the Vandals’ grubby, hand-to-mouth, dissolute existence. The fall of the Vandals might be more tragic if we got a sense of what made being part of the gang – or any club of this kind – so compelling.

    Even at over two hours, ‘The Bikeriders’ feels in the end like a series of sketches that never quite add up to the story that Nichols seems to want to tell. In this case, a limited series might have worked better, giving us a chance to dig into the characters’ lives and the existence of the club with more clarity and understanding. As it stands, ‘The Bikeriders’ is like a photo book with no accompanying text: intriguing and often arresting to look at, without enough context of what we’re seeing.

    ‘The Bikeriders’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.

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    What is the plot of ‘The Bikeriders’?

    In the late 1960s, Kathy (Jodie Comer) begins a relationship with Benny (Austin Butler), a member of the Chicago Vandals motorcycle club led by Johnny (Tom Hardy). The couple’s ups and downs parallel that of the club as they go through a turbulent period of transformation and growth.

    Who is in the cast of ‘The Bikeriders’?

    • Jodie Comer as Kathy
    • Austin Butler as Benny
    • Tom Hardy as Johnny
    • Michael Shannon as Zipco
    • Mike Faist as Danny Lyon
    • Norman Reedus as Funny Sonny
    • Boyd Holbrook as Cal
    'The Bikeriders,' directed by Jeff Nichols, a Focus Features release.
    ‘The Bikeriders,’ directed by Jeff Nichols, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

    Movies Similar to ‘The Bikeriders’:

    Buy Austin Butler Movies On Amazon

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  • First Official Picture of Timothée Chalamet in Bob Dylan Movie

    Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in director James Mangold's 'A Complete Unknown.'
    Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in director James Mangold’s ‘A Complete Unknown.’ Photo: James Mangold’s Twitter Account.

    Preview:

    • The first official image of Timothée Chalamet in ‘A Complete Unknown’ has landed.
    • Director James Mangold posted the picture in response to a flood of paparazzi set images.
    • This new movie will chronicle a key early part of Bob Dylan’s career.

    Thanks to the recent one-two punch of ‘Wonka’ and ‘Dune: Part Two’, Timothée Chalamet’s celeb-obsession-ometer is naturally high right now. So with him out and about in New York shooting the new film ‘A Complete Unknown’, there has been a paparazzi feeding frenzy for images of the young star playing a scruffy 1960s-era Bob Dylan.

    To head off more, filmmaker James Mangold, who is directing the new movie, has released his own image of Chalamet, plus one of the clapper board from the movie, via social media.

    What’s the story of ‘A Complete Unknown’?

    Bob Dylan in director D. A. Pennebaker's documentary 'Don't Look Back.'
    (Left) Bob Dylan in director D. A. Pennebaker’s documentary ‘Don’t Look Back.’ Photo: Leacock-Pennebaker, Inc.

    Co-written by Mangold and Jay Cocks, ‘A Complete Unknown’ is set in the influential New York music scene of the early ’60s.

    It follows 19-year-old Minnesota musician Bob Dylan’s meteoric rise as a folk singer to concert halls and the top of the charts — his songs and mystique becoming a worldwide sensation — culminating in his groundbreaking electric rock and roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

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    Who else is in ‘A Complete Unknown’?

    Edward Norton as Miles in 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.'
    Edward Norton as Miles in ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.’ Photo: Courtesy Netflix.

    In the new movie, Edward Norton plays fellow folk musician Pete Seeger (a role that initially went to Benedict Cumberbatch before scheduling issues forced him to drop out), Elle Fanning is appearing as a character based on university student and artist Sylvie Russo, who was an early big love of Dylan’s, while Monica Barbaro is Joan Baez.

    The cast also includes Boyd Holbrook, Scoot McNairy, Dan Fogler, Will Harrison, Charlie Tahan, P.J. Byrne, Eli Brown, Nick Pupo, Big Bill Morganfield, Laura Kariuki, Eric Berryman, David Alan Basche, Joe Tippett, and James Austin Johnson.

    One person not in the movie? Chalamet’s ‘Dune’ co-star Austin Butler, who famously got his own big break playing another huge music icon in ‘Elvis’.

    Here’s how Chalamet joked to Butler about him appearing, as reported by NME:

    “I wish you were in it! There’s an Elvis character in the Johnny Cash biopic ‘Walk the Line’. It’s really brief, it’s very brief, but I was kind of wishing we could create a musical cinematic universe.”

    What else is Chalamet working on?

    Timothee Chalamet at a fan event for 'Wonka.' Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    Timothee Chalamet at a fan event for ‘Wonka.’ Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

    While the actor doesn’t have any roles officially lined up after the Dylan pic, he’ll likely return for ‘Dune: Messiah’ as and when director Denis Villeneuve is ready to make the next chapter in the successful sci-fi saga.

    But Warners, pleased with the box office hauls of both ‘Wonka’ and ‘Dune: Part Two’, has now signed a deal with the star, which will see the studio collaborating with him on movies he’ll lead and produce, much as it recently did with ‘Barbie’s Margot Robbie and her LuckyChap company.

    Related Article: Director Denis Villeneuve Talks ‘Dune: Part Two’ Casting and Production

    When will ‘A Complete Unknown’ be in theaters?

    Chala-maniacs will have to be patient for this one, as Searchlight Pictures has yet to set a release date for the movie.

    Director James Mangold's 'A Complete Unknown.'
    Director James Mangold’s ‘A Complete Unknown.’ Photo: James Mangold’s Twitter Account.

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    Buy Bob Dylan Music on Amazon

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  • ‘The Bikeriders’ Moves From Its Planned December 1st Launch

    Austin Butler as Benny in 20th Century Studios' 'The Bikeriders'.
    Austin Butler as Benny in 20th Century Studios’ ‘The Bikeriders’. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

    Preview

    • Who is in the cast of ‘The Bikeriders’
    • The movie will campaign for Best Original Screenplay in the upcoming award season
    • The studio is citing the SAG-AFTRA as the reason for the delay, as actors are currently prohibited from doing promotional work or publicity.

    Jeff Nichols’ upcoming film has been moved off its original release date of December 1, 2023, with no new release date on the calendar.

    ’The Bikeriders’ will star Austin Butler (‘Elvis’) as Benny, Tom Hardy (‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’) as Johnny, Jodie Comer (‘The Last Duel’) as Kathy, Michael Shannon (‘Amsterdam’) as Zipco, Mike Faist (‘West Side Story’) as Danny Lyon, Norman Reedus (‘The Walking Dead’) as Funny Sonny, and Boyd Holbrook (‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’) as Cal.

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    What Is ‘The Bikeriders’ About?

    Austin Butler as Benny in 20th Century Studios' 'The Bikeriders.'
    Austin Butler as Benny in 20th Century Studios’ ‘The Bikeriders.’ Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

    Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, the movie is inspired by the photo and interview book by Danny Lyons. It was published in 1968 and is filled with black-and-white photographs and interviews with members of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club.

    The official synopsis for the movie:

    “The Bikeriders” is a furious drama following the rise of a fictional 1960s Midwestern motorcycle club through the lives of its members. Inspired by Danny Lyon’s iconic book of photography, “The Bikeriders” immerses you in the look, feel, and sounds of the bare-knuckled, grease-covered subculture of ’60s motorcycle riders. Kathy (Jodie Comer), a strong-willed member of the Vandals who’s married to a wild, reckless bikerider named Benny (Austin Butler), recounts the Vandals’ evolution over the course of a decade, beginning as a local club of outsiders united by good times, rumbling bikes, and respect for their strong, steady leader Johnny (Tom Hardy). Over the years, Kathy tries her best to navigate her husband’s untamed nature and his allegiance to Johnny, with whom she feels she must compete for Benny’s attention. As life in the Vandals gets more dangerous, and the club threatens to become a more sinister gang, Kathy, Benny and Johnny are forced to make choices about their loyalty to the club and to each other.”

    According to Variety, even though the film is based on Lyons’ book of the same name, the WGA has classified it as original work, and the studio will campaign for Best Original Screenplay for the awards season.

    Related Article: ‘The Bikeriders’ Trailer

    The SAG-AFTRA Strike Cite As Reason For Date Change

    SAG-AFTRA on strike.
    SAG-AFTRA on strike. Photo courtesy of SAG-AFTRA.

    The studio is citing the actors’ strike for the change in the movie’s release schedule, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively. As actors are prohibited from doing any sort of promotional work or publicity during the strike, perhaps the right decision is to wait for the strike to end so the star-studded cast can talk about the movie.

    However, with the talks between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP halting, there’s no telling when this strike will be over.

    ‘The Bikeriders’ would have also shared an opening weekend with Beyoncé’s concert movie ‘Renaissance’, and given how successful Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ movie is at the box office, it gives an additional reason for moving the film off its original release date.

    20th Century Studios' 'The Bikeriders' opens in theaters on December 1st.
    20th Century Studios’ ‘The Bikeriders’ opens in theaters on December 1st.

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  • Where To Watch ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’

    Teddy (Ethann Isidore), Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in Lucasfilm's 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.'
    (L to R) Teddy (Ethann Isidore), Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in Lucasfilm’s ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.’ ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

    While this film may be the last time we’ll see Harrison Ford don the fedora and the whip, it doesn’t mean we can’t go on one final globe-trotting adventure with the famed archeologist.

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    The official synopsis for ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny‘ is below:

    “Daredevil archaeologist Indiana Jones races against time to retrieve a legendary dial that can change the course of history. Accompanied by his goddaughter, he soon finds himself squaring off against Jürgen Voller, a former Nazi who works for NASA.”

    ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ first premiered at the 76th Canne Film Festival, exactly 15 years after ‘Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ premiered at Canne. Leading man Harrison Ford also received the Palme d’Or d’honneur for lifetime achievement at the festival.

    “They say when you’re about to die, you see your life flash before your eyes, and I just saw my life flash before my eyes,” Ford said as he accepted the award.

    The previous installment, ‘The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,’ was not received well by the audience, earning a 53% score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, ‘The Dial of Destiny’ received an 88% score from the audience, with many comments calling out certain classic Indy moments in the film.

    Using the de-aging technology, the story takes us back in time to see a younger Indy, with a great action sequence aboard a moving train with the film’s antagonist Voller (Mads Mikkelsen). It had all the classic Indiana Jones movie moments and also set up the film’s McGuffin – the Archimedes dial.

    Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), Doctor Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) and Basil (Toby Jones) in Lucasfilm's 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.'
    (L to R) Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), Doctor Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) and Basil (Toby Jones) in Lucasfilm’s ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.’ ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

    Who Is In ‘Indiana Jones And The Dial of Destiny’?

    Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in Lucasfilm's 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.'
    Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in Lucasfilm’s ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.’ ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

    ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ is directed by James Mangold (‘Logan,’ ‘Ford v Ferrari’).

    Harrison Ford’s Final Bow As Indiana Jones

    Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm's 'IJ5.'
    Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s ‘IJ5.’ ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. TM. All Rights Reserved.

    Ford has been playing the globe-trotting, Nazi-punching archeologist for over 4 decades, debuting the character in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ in 1981. Now at 80, the actor returns to the role once again. We find Indiana Jones in a very interesting time – weighed down by his failed relationship with his wife Marion, being forced into retirement, and dealing with the loss of his son Mutt (Shia LaBeouf). This is certainly different than the Indy we know and remember, but Ford brings sincerity to the role and is ever committed to big action sequences and a high-speed car chase through the city as he and Helena go after the Dial.

    Related Article: ‘Dial of Destiny’ is an Uninspiring Ending to the Indiana Jones Franchise

    Where Can I Watch ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’?

    Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm's 'IJ5.'
    Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s ‘IJ5.’ ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. TM. All Rights Reserved.

    The movie opened in theaters on June 30, 2023, and is available in various formats, such as Dolby Cinema, IMAX, 4DX, and ScreenX. ‘The Dial of Destiny’ still playing in theaters, so be sure to check your local listings and Moviefone below for showtimes in your area.

    Buy Tickets: ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ Movie Showtimes

    ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’’ has a total runtime of 2 hours and 35 minutes.

    Watch the official trailer for ‘The Dial of Destiny’ below:

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    Can’t make it out to the theater? Don’t worry. Since the movie is under the Walt Disney Studio banner, it will surely make its way to Disney+. Typically, Disney Studios films adopt a 45 to 90-day theatrical release window before it arrives on the streaming platform. This was the case with films such as ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ and ‘Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantumania.’ No official date has been announced for the film’s release on the streaming platform or VOD.

    Where To Watch: ‘Indiana Jones And The Dial of Destiny’ Online

    Buy Indiana Jones Movies on Amazon

    Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm's 'IJ5.'
    Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s ‘IJ5.’ ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. TM. All Rights Reserved.

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  • Movie Review: ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’

    Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) and Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm's 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.'
    (L to R) Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) and Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.’ ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

    Opening in theaters on June 30th is the long-awaited fifth and final chapter of the ‘Indiana Jones’ franchise entitled ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,’ which was directed by James Mangold (‘Logan’).

    What is the plot of ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’?

    In 1944, American archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) helps colleague Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) against Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), a Nazi, from obtaining a mysterious dial known as the Antikythera. Twenty-five years later, Jones is uneasy over the fact that the U.S. government has recruited former Nazis to help beat the Soviet Union in the competition to make it to space. He is about to be forced into retirement when, surprisingly, his goddaughter, Basil’s daughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), accompanies him on his journey for the Dial. Meanwhile, Voller, now a NASA member and ex-Nazi involved with the Apollo Moon-landing program, is also after the dial, and wishes to use it to make the world into a better place as he sees fit.

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    Who is in the cast of ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny?’

    Harrison Ford (‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’) as Indiana Jones, Phoebe Waller-Bridge (‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’) as Helena Shaw, Mads Mikkelsen (‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’) as Jürgen Voller, Antonio Banderas (‘The Mask of Zorro’) as Renaldo, John Rhys-Davies (‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’) as Sallah, Toby Jones (‘Captain America: The First Avenger’) as Basil Shaw, Boyd Holbrook (‘The Predator’) as Klaber, Ethann Isidore (‘Mortel’) as Teddy Kumar, Shaunette Renée Wilson (‘Black Panther’) as Mason, Thomas Kretschmann (‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’) as Colonel Weber, and Karen Allen (‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’) as Marion Ravenwood.

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    Initial Thoughts

    ‘Dial of Destiny’ is an improvement from ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,’ but still not a great ending for Indiana Jones’ story. The screenplay is confusing and convoluted, while the pacing is slow at times. Director James Mangold does an efficient job but the “Indiana Jones” magic is still missing from this installment. Harrison Ford gives a strong and emotional performance, while Phoebe Waller-Bridge breathes some fresh air into the franchise, but ultimately the film feels like an epilogue rather than a definitive final chapter.

    Story and Direction

    Mads Mikkelsen and James Mangold on the set of Lucasfilm's 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.'
    (L to R) Mads Mikkelsen and James Mangold on the set of Lucasfilm’s ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.’ ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

    The movie begins in 1944 at the end of World War II with an excellent sequence that takes place on a moving train. Ford is de-aged for the scenes, and while the VFX don’t entirely work, Mangold shoots the actor as sparingly as possible, as a little bit goes a long way. The sequence is classic Indiana Jones and one of the best set pieces in the film. But once the story cuts to present day, it drags to the next action sequence. Many of the characters’ motivations are unclear, as is the true power of the dial, this film’s McGuffin. And without giving away the ending, that seemed to come out of nowhere, like Indy meeting aliens in the last movie.

    James Mangold is a very accomplished director, having made such films as ‘3:10 to Yuma,’ ‘Logan,’ and ‘Ford v Ferrari,’ and does a good job with the action sequences and the drama, but the pacing and the tone never seems quite right. This is the first film in the franchise not directed by Steven Spielberg, and while I certainly did not like ‘Crystal Skull,’ I have to wonder if the “magic” missing from this movie isn’t him? Mangold leans heavy on the nostalgia, which serves the film well with several cameos and callbacks. The director stages some impressive action scenes including the opening, a parade chase through the streets of New York, and a final mind-bending sequence.

    Overall, the movie feels more dramatic than necessary and lacks the fun of the first three films. The 1969 setting of the movie is refreshing and contrasts Ford’s age and the flashback sequences well. Using the idea of Nazis working with NASA on the space race was a clever idea, but not really explored enough. Nor is the true power of the dial, which is problematic because they’ve been chasing after it for the entire movie and we don’t really understand what it is capable of until the end.

    Harrison Ford Returns as Indiana Jones!

    Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm's 'IJ5.'
    Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s ‘IJ5.’ ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. TM. All Rights Reserved.

    Harrison Ford will always be Indiana Jones! The actor returns to the role a little more gruff, but it suits the character well. Ford gives a great performance, but it is more dramatic than I expected. As an actor, Ford is excellent, but I question taking the character in this direction, as it sucks some of the fun out of the movie. Indiana lost his son Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) in Vietnam, his wife Marion (Karen Allen) has since left him, he is being forced into retirement, and he seems to have a drinking problem. It’s a different way of looking at Indy, and while it’s not my idea of a fun time, Ford brings a lot of sincere emotion to his beloved role. And it is nice to see him wear the Fedora and crack the whip one more time.

    Supporting Cast

    Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in Lucasfilm's 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.'
    Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in Lucasfilm’s ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.’ ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

    Phoebe Waller-Bridge gives a wonderful and cheeky performance as Indy’s goddaughter Helena. It’s a fun character and Waller-Bridge breathes fresh life into the film with her role. However, I do question the way the character was written, as her motivations are unclear at times and seem to change on a whim. That said, she is a good foil for Indy, and has lovely chemistry with Ford.

    Several new characters are introduced, but most of them have limited roles. Toby Jones plays Helena’s father and Indy’s friend Basil Shaw. He’s only seen in flashbacks, but is good in his scenes with Ford, especially in the beginning. Antonio Banderas is introduced as an old friend of Indy’s, and while his presence was more than welcomed, we don’t spend enough time with the character to really get to know him. But the most confusing addition was Ethann Isidore as Teddy, an ally of Helena. No offense to the young actor, who was fine in the role, but the character seemed unnecessary and his relationship to Helena was vague and never really explained.

    Related Article: ‘Star Wars’ Movie News and a New ‘Indiana Jones’ Trailer Revealed at Star Wars Celebration

    Familiar Faces

    Renaldo (Antonio Banderas) in Lucasfilm's 'IJ5.'
    Renaldo (Antonio Banderas) in Lucasfilm’s ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.’ ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

    Again, in a far too limited role, John Rhys-Davies returns as Sallah, who first appeared in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ and last in ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.’ He has only a few scenes but they are all with Ford, and it’s great seeing the two together again. Davies also has one of the best lines in the movie, but I wish the character could have been more involved with Indy’s journey.

    Is Marion Ravenwood in Dial of Destiny?

    Yes. Karen Allen returns as Marion Ravenwood, but like Davies, she really only has a cameo. However, the character plays a pivotal role in the film and is the reason for most of Indy’s actions and motivations.

    Villains

    Doctor Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) in Lucasfilm's 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.'
    Doctor Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) in Lucasfilm’s ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.’ ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

    Mads Mikkelsen plays a strong Indiana Jones villain with his performance as Nazi turned NASA scientist Jurgen Voller. The actor plays the role surprisingly differently than you might expect, and is a worthy adversary for our hero. While the actor never hides the characters motivations or true intentions, the story fails him at times when it becomes too convoluted. Voller’s role with the CIA is also confusing, working with agent Mason (Shaunette Renee Wilson), who seems unclear on why she’s helping him. And Boyd Holbrook basically plays the same role he did in Mangold’s ‘Logan,’ as Voller’s lead henchman.

    A Conclusion to Indy’s Story

    Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm's 'IJ5.'
    Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s ‘IJ5.’ ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. TM. All Rights Reserved.

    Without giving away the end of the movie, we eventually learn that the Dial’s power has to do with time. This leads to an absolutely preposterous ending, that again, I won’t spoil. But it feels like something someone would write in fan-fiction and not a proper ending to Indiana Jones’ journey. In fact, the ending is so ridiculous its laughable and took me out of the film completely. That being said, it’s not as bad as Indy meeting aliens, but I do wonder if the franchise wouldn’t have been better off ending with ‘The Last Crusade,’ which was pretty much a perfect movie and the best in the franchise next to ‘Raiders.’ Still, it is fun seeing Ford as Indy one more time, and I do appreciate his thoughtful and emotional performance.

    Final Thoughts

    Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm's 'IJ5.'
    Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s ‘IJ5.’ ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. TM. All Rights Reserved.

    In the end, ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ just didn’t work for me. Mangold fills the movie with great action, and lots of nostalgia and dramatic emotion, but the story is all over the place, along with the tone and pacing. The returning characters that you want to see more of are limited, and too much time is spent on ancillary characters. Both Waller-Bridge and Mikkelsen give fresh and fun performances, but just like Indy, Harrison Ford swoops in and saves the movie. If for nothing else, the film is worth seeing just to get a glimpse of Ford as his signature character one more time.

    ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars

    'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.'
    ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.’ ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

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    ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ is produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. It is set to release in theaters on June 30th, 2023.

  • Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones Will Be De-Aged For New Movie’s Opening

    Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.'
    Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’

    Though the next Indiana Jones movie will find the adventurous archaeologist back in action while pondering his own mortality in the late 1960s, director James Mangold is also promising a thrilling throwback to the days of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ and Indy in his prime.

    Talking to Empire for the magazine’s latest issue, Mangold revealed that the new movie (whose title has yet to be revealed) will open with a set piece that dials the clock back to 1944, set in a castle swarming with Nazis. And, as we all know, Indy hates those guys.

    “I wanted the chance to dive into this kind of full-on George-and-Steven old picture and give the audience an adrenaline blast,” Mangold says. “And then we fall out, and you find yourself in 1969. So that the audience doesn’t experience the change between the ‘40s and ‘60s as an intellectual conceit, but literally experiences the buccaneering spirit of those early days… and then the beginning of now.”

    Using a combination of techniques, including some fancy new ILM software that pulls imagery from archived material of star Harrison Ford, the effects team took years off of the actor, while stunt and photo doubles were also utilized. For the man himself, the results were impressive.

    “This is the first time I’ve seen it where I believe it,” Ford says. “It’s a little spooky. I don’t think I even want to know how it works, but it works. Doesn’t make me want to be young, though. I’m glad to have earned my age.”

    But in case you were thinking the nefarious Nazis are confined to the 1940s… think again. Their threat has remained through the next couple of decades, and Indy encounters them once again in 1969. And the biggest menace comes from a man named Voller, played by Mads Mikkelsen. Loosely inspired by former Nazi rocket scientist-turned-NASA icon Wernher von Braun, he’ll be causing trouble particularly during the Apollo 11 ticker tape parade in New York.

    Mads Mikkelsen as Voller in Lucsafilm's 'Untitled fifth Indiana Jones film.'
    Mads Mikkelsen as Voller in Lucsafilm’s ‘Untitled fifth Indiana Jones film.’ Photo courtesy of Empire Magazine.

    “He’s a man who would like to correct some of the mistakes of the past,” Mikkelsen tells Empire of Voller. “There is something that could make the world a much better place to live in. He would love to get his hands on it. Indiana Jones wants to get his hands on it as well. And so, we have a story.”

    Also on the side of the villains? Boyd Holbrook, who plays Klaber, Voller’s henchman. Because what is a James Mangold genre movie without Holbrook as a villain after ‘Logan’s Pierce?

    Finally on the side of the goodies – or possibly her own side – we have Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Indy’s Goddaughter Helena. Helena Brody, in fact (as in Denholm Elliott’s Brody from the original movie). And she’s described as a “grifter” by Mangold.

    For Waller-Bridge, who had worked with Lucasfilm on ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’, she came on board after a request from producer Kathleen Kennedy. “Kathy was in London and asked to have dinner with me, and casually mentioned this,” recalls the actor. “I immediately ordered ten bottles of wine. Then it was the fastest I’ve ever read a script; I came out of a sort of haze afterwards. I just couldn’t believe how much fun I had and how moved I was by it. And then I had a Zoom and screamed, ‘YES!’ at them all.”

    (L to R) Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Helena, and Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Lucasfilm's 'Untitled fifth Indiana Jones film.'
    (L to R) Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Helena, and Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Lucasfilm’s ‘Untitled fifth Indiana Jones film.’ Photo courtesy of Empire Magazine.

    The next Indiana Jones movie will be in theaters from June 30th, 2023.

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