Midway through the new Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, Dylan has an angry confrontation with his girlfriend, Sylvia Russo, about why he never makes any reference to his past. “People make up their past, Sylvie!” he roars. “They remember what they want. They forget the rest.”

Timothee Chalamet likened his journey to playing music legend Bob Dylan to an athletic feat. It turned into a marathon that stretched longer than the actor had expected.

James Mangold ’s “ A Complete Unknown ” follows the rise of Bob Dylan, played by Timothée Chalamet, as a young musician who moves to New York in 1961, and it culminates with the 1965 Newport Folk Festival and his move to electric guitar.