Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, holding a guitar case and a suitcase, in NYC

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Monica Barbaro Transforms Into Joan Baez for New Bob Dylan Biopic

Timothée Chalamet will play Dylan in the upcoming movie 'A Complete Unknown,' which is currently filming in New York City.

by Megan Elliott

Published on March 25, 2024

2 min read

Monica Barbaro is getting in tune with the 1960s. The Top Gun: Maverick star was recently spotted in New York City filming scenes for A Complete Unknown, an upcoming biopic about Bob Dylan.

Barbaro will play iconic musician (and Dylan’s girlfriend) Joan Baez in the movie. Timothée Chalamet will play Dylan. The movie focuses on the young Dylan’s days as an aspiring folk singer in New York and his rise to fame in the early ‘60s.

Barbaro clutched a guitar and a suitcase as she filmed a scene from A Complete Unknown in NYC’s Chelsea neighborhood on March 24.

Monica Barbaro, as Joan Baez, hails a cab while filming 'A Complete Unknown' in NYC — Monica Barbaro during filming for ‘A Complete Unknown’ | Gotham/GC Images

Barbaro’s character, wearing a brown jacket, hails a cab while filming the upcoming movie, which is directed by Walk the Line’s James Mangold.

Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan, wearing sunglasses and smoking in a car while filming 'A Complete Unknown' — Timothee Chalamet on the set of ‘A Complete Unknown’ in New York City on March 24, 2024 | Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Dune star Chalamet plays 19-year-old Dylan, who moved from Minnesota to New York in 1961 to pursue music and meet his hero, Woody Guthrie. In this March 24 photo, the actor plays it cool in sunglasses as he smokes a cigarette in a car on the set of A Complete Unknown.

Composite image of Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez in 'A Complete Unknown' — [L-R] Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan; Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez | Gotham/GC Images

After he moved to New York, Dylan met Baez, who was already an established singer-songwriter. The two started a relationship and began collaborating musically. Their relationship ended in 1965.

Edward Norton as Pete Seeger holding a banjo and standing on courthouse steps while filming 'A Complete Unknown' — Edward Norton on the set of ‘A Complete Unknown’ on March 24, 2024 in New York City | Bobby Bank/GC Images

Oscar nominee Edward Norton was also spotted filming for the movie outside a courthouse in NYC on March 24. He plays folk music icon Pete Seeger.

Other confirmed cast members for A Complete Unknown include Elle Fanning as Dylan’s love interest Sylvie Russo. Nick Offerman will play Alan Lomax and Boyd Holbrook will play Johnny Cash.

Mangold has said that the upcoming movie (which does not yet have a release date) is not a traditional biopic.

“[I]t’s a kind of ensemble piece about this moment in time, the early ’60s in New York, and this 17-year-old kid with $16 in his pockets hitchhikes his way to New York to meet Woody Guthrie who is in the hospital and is dying of a nerve disease,” he told the Happy Sad Confused podcast last year (via IndieWire).

Dylan himself has offered feedback on the script, Mangold confirmed.

“I’ve spent several, wonderfully charming, days in his company, just one-on-one, talking to him,” he said. “I have a script that’s personally annotated by him and treasured by me.”

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