How ‘A Complete Unknown’ Director Earned Bob Dylan’s Approval

James
Mangold,
director
of

Bob
Dylan
biopic


A
Complete
Unknown,
has
detailed
the
moment
he
pitched
the
film
to
the
legendary
singer.

Inspired
by
1984
movie

Amadeus,
which
explored
the
life
and
times
of
18th-century
composer
Mozart,
Mangold
wanted
to
examine
the
nature
of
people
dealing
with
someone
who’s
a
genius,
and
the
challenges
they
endure
in
doing
so.

In
a
new
interview
with
the


Guardian, the
director
recalled
having
to
explain
his
concept
to
Dylan
himself
in
a
coffee
shop,
knowing
he
had
to
provide
as
brief
an
outline
as
possible.

READ
MORE: Bob
Dylan ‘Bootleg
Series’
Albums
Ranked

“I
thought
very
carefully,
because
I
knew
he
didn’t
want
a
20-minute
answer,”
Mangold
explained. “I
said:
‘It’s
about
a
young
guy
in
Minnesota
who’s
suffocating
and
feeling
desperate
and
who
leaves
everything
–
friends,
family
–
behind
and,
with
just
a
few
dollars
in
his
pocket,
makes
his
way
across
the
country
and
creates
a
new
identity
and
makes
new
friends,
finds
a
new
family
and
blossoms,
becomes
successful,
then
starts
to
suffocate
again
and
runs
away.’”

Mangold
was
pleased
with
Dylan’s
subtle
reaction.

“He
smiled,
and
that
was
all,”
the
director
recalled. “Like,
he
didn’t
have
anything
more
to
say,
but
I
knew
that
meant…
he
didn’t
take
issue.”

Mangold
went
on
to
discuss
Milos
Forman’s

Amadeus,
describing
it
as
“a
film
about
genius
and
the
way
all
of
us
react
to
genius,
which
is
with
admiration
and
some
resentment;
where
the
characters
around
Mozart
are
really
significant
and
the
wake
the
genius
leaves
upon
them
is
as
important
as
anything
we
learn
about
him.”

Bob
Dylan
Was ‘Threat’
to
the
Folk
Music
Scene

When
applied
to
Dylan,
the
director
said,
a
similar
approach
also
involved
“tribal
politics
and
tribal
cultural
issues.”
He
presented
the
folk
music
scene
as
a
form
of
establishment,
despite
having
had
its
battles
with
the
political
establishment
of
the
time.

Dylan,
he
argued,
was
a
“threat”
to
the
folk
scene.
“Obviously,
the
movie
is
about
a
lot
of
people
on
the
left,
but
it’s
also
about
intolerance
for
anyone
who
breaches
the
code,
whether
you’re
on
the
left
or
the
right,”
Mangold
noted.

He
accepted
the
suggestion
that
the
Village
neighborhood
in
Manhattan
was
almost
another
subject
of
his
movie.
Calling
it
a
“magical
place”
where
he’d
grown
up
in
the
‘60s,
Mangold
remembered
it
“before
every
apartment
was
worth
$10m
…
when
there
was
no
such
thing
as
cell
phones
or
computers.”
He
added:
“You
wanna
be
there,
right?”