Timothée Chalamet channels Bob Dylan with warning about cult-like figures

BERLIN — Timothée Chalamet learned from his roles as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown and Paul Atreides in Dune that cult-like figures should be approached with caution, the Oscar-nominated actor said at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday.

“It’s in the nature of his music, the warnings against cult-like figures,” Mr. Chalamet told journalists when asked what he learned from the US singer-songwriter about how to deal with the current state of the world.

“My interpretation is just be wary of any savior-like figures,” said Mr. Chalamet, whose Dylan biopic was being shown in the festival’s non-competition Special section.

“That’s honestly the warning in Frank Herbert’s Dune, which was written in the same period in American history,” added Mr. Chalamet.

“Granted, Frank Herbert was on the West Coast, probably doing acid at a typewriter, and Bob Dylan was on the East Coast, but the messaging was still similar,” Mr. Chalamet said.

The 29-year-old actor starred in both parts of Dune, based on author Mr. Herbert’s highly acclaimed 1965 novel of the same name.

Mr. Chalamet, a frontrunner in the race for best actor at next month’s Oscars for his turn as Dylan, said he was grateful for his chance to play the artist.

A Complete Unknown, which also stars Edward Norton, Elle Fanning and Monica Barbaro, chronicles , his rapid ascent in folk music circles, and his divisive turn to electric rock music in 1965.

“We (the cast) know these projects are few and far between now,” he said.

“I was looking at the Berlinale film program, you guys have a lot of really intellectually driven, artistically driven projects, but I guess we do in the States too, but… these things are harder to come by.” — Reuters