A Complete Unknown director forced to clarify Bob Dylan fake scene request - ‘But anyone can disbelieve me and search about for whatever fiction they think meets the criteria of the story’

James Mangold, the director of A Complete Unknown, has said claims that singer Bob Dylan wanted a fake scene added to the biopic are pure "fiction" which stem from a misunderstanding in an interview.

It might at first seem obvious why filmmakers won’t leave the subject of Bob Dylan alone. Search “Dylan” and “movies,” and the list — from documentaries like “Don’t Look Back” (1967) to fictionalized treatments like “I’m Not There” (2007) — turns out to be surprisingly extensive.

The film’s title, “A Complete Unknown,” serves as a guide for how it approaches its subject material. Mangold’s script works to uphold the mythology of Dylan as an unknowable artist — who, from the beginning, was reluctant to be defined by others and by himself.

Bob Dylan goes from feeling stuck in the folk bubble to branching off into an experimental sound, becoming one of the pioneers of folk rock. The movie encapsulates the “experimental creative” and was made for those who want to put their artwork into a world that may not be ready for it.

At first glance, you might not have guessed behind the sunglasses, bushy hair and general shaggy appearance that it was Timothée Chalamet playing the iconic, eccentric Bob Dylan. Yet, for the nearly two and a half hours that is “A Complete Unknown,