Jeff Bridges has delivered an uncertain verdict on A Complete Unknown, a biopic based on the life of his close friend Bob Dylan.
Directed by Walk the Line’s James Mangold, it stars Timothée Chalamet as the Nobel Prize-winning singer-songwriter, during the period when he controversially “went electric”. Dylan himself appeared content with his portrayal in the biopic calling Chalamet a “brilliant actor”.
Oscar-winning actor Bridges, who has been open about his passion for music over the years, appeared alongside the “Knockin’ on Heavens Door” singer in the 2003 film Masked and Anonymous.
Asked if he’d watched A Complete Unknown, which secured eight Oscar nominations but did not win a single one, The Big Lebowski star is said to have appeared confused.
“Yeah, yeah, they all did such a great job but …” he told The Guardian. “You know, you got the real thing …”
While he may have felt that the film was a premature creation, he revealed that he gave the legendary musician acting lessons during their time on the set of the musical drama directed by Larry Charles.
“’Why don’t you and Bob go off and you teach Bob some acting? Go and do some improvisation or something,’” Bridges recalled being asked by Charles on Masked and Anonymous. “He was so great to work with. He’s such an incredible actor. I mean his presence, right?”
Bridges recalled the story in an interview on The Howard Stern Show last year. Appearing ecstatic he said: “I spent half a day pretending with Bob, man. We just played. He loved it. He was just incredible at it. We just jammed around the scene, we just improv’d around the scene to find the reality of the scene. I’ve always admired him. I remember him in Billy the Kid.”
The compliment was returned when Bridges says Dylan appeared in his trailer. “He said ‘Hey man, you want to jam?’”
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Bridges was asked if he’d been intimidated by the proposition. “I was just in another zone entirely,” he said. They played ‘You Belong to Me’, “I played rhythm, and he’s a masterful guitarist”.
The actor won an Oscar in 2010, forty years after first being nominated for his role in Crazy Heart. He was also nominated in 2011 for played US marshal Rooster Cogurn in the western, True Grit.
