Timothée Chalamet, whose portrayal of the young Bob Dylan in James Mangold's acclaimed biopic A Complete Unknown has been greeted with near-universal praise, has made his first appearance as the musical guest on long-running comedy show Saturday Night Live.
Chalamet, who also hosted the show – his third time – performed his three favourite Dylan songs on the night, none of which appeared in A Complete Unknown.
"You might not know the Bob Dylan songs I’m performing, but they’re my personal favourites,” he told the audience during the show's introduction. "I’m so grateful Saturday Night Live is still doing weird stuff like this 50 years in. They’re either really nice for letting me do this or incredibly mean and this is all a big prank."
First up was Outlaw Blues from 1965's Bringing It All Back Home, the album that saw Dylan controversially use electric instruments for the first time, performed with an electric band. From there it was a segue into Three Angels, which originally appeared on Dylan's 1970 album New Morning, with backing from English singer-songwriter James Blake on keyboards and vocals.
The final track finds Chalamet singing Tomorrow Is A Long Time, again accompanied by Blake. Dylan first performed the song live in 1963 – a recording that later emerged on 1971's Greatest Hits Vol. II – and a demo version recorded around the same time saw the light of day on 2010's The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964. Dylan also taped a version of Tomorrow Is A Long Time during the New Morning sessions.
Chalamat used a guitar teacher, a vocal coach, a dialect coach and a movement coach over the course of five years to prepare for his role as Bob Dylan. He also employed the services of a harmonica teacher, and was reportedly taught to fingerpick by an Italian heavy metal guitarist.
"It was really a process of osmosis, he told NPR. "You know, I don't have categories. I don't have a ruler with different sections of stuff that I'm learning. I really try to do it all at once, and my way in was the music. I love this man's music. These are the songs of life."
A Complete Unknown has received eight Oscars nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director.
