Monica Barbaro Shares How Timothée Chalamet Made Beautiful Music with Her

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Monica Barbaro didn’t delay her excitement when she landed the role of Joan Baez opposite Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in the critically-acclaimed biopic, “A Complete Unknown”. She admitted to a brief moment of celebration before swiftly grabbing her sister’s guitar. Barbaro acknowledged that embodying and performing one of the ’60s most renowned and enchanting voices was a formidable task. However, she was eager for the challenge, despite confessing to MovieWeb that “I had no musical background whatsoever”. Barbero elaborated:

I borrowed my sister’s guitar, changed its strings, and began creating videos on YouTube. I knew a few simple ukulele songs and occasionally sang along. … The kind folks at Searchlight provided me with exceptional mentors to help me improve. However, it was definitely intimidating. At the start of the movie, we encounter Joan Baez as an amazing musician. My task was to make that portrayal convincing, and yes, it required a lot of effort.

Timothée Chalamet, one of her fellow actors, spent a span of five years meticulously preparing to portray Bob Dylan. This extensive preparation not only elevated his own acting skills but also significantly contributed to the development of Barbaro’s.

Timmy is an exceptional actor, I always had absolute confidence in him. He arrived with a fully developed Bob Dylan character and a truly remarkable creative approach. Meanwhile, I brought my thoroughly studied Joan Baez persona, and we simply allowed the scenes to unfold, also having great faith in Jim, who is an outstanding director. As a result, it wasn’t about intellectual debates or theoretical concepts. Instead, we arrived with our prepared performances and let the scenes take their course.

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Star Monica Barbaro Is No Stranger to New Skills

Barbaro is undoubtedly experienced with roles that immerse her deeply into character development, requiring the acquisition of genuine life skills. As a costar alongside Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick, she found herself among numerous actors who had to grasp flying fundamentals. She perceives such challenges as benefits of the profession and integral parts of the process that contribute in multiple ways: they not only enrich her performance, but also expand her horizons beyond acting.

Among the joys of acting is the privilege to acquire new knowledge while simultaneously performing my job. This continuous learning journey, whether it’s about aviation, music, dance, or other skills, significantly shapes the characters I portray since at some point in their lives, they too must have learned those abilities. It’s truly rewarding to have the opportunity and freedom to undertake this educational process. Fortunately for this project, we were granted a year to prepare.

As an actor, you begin to discover a great deal about yourself while mastering new abilities. You become familiar with hitting a skill plateau, experiencing feelings of sheer incompetence at the onset of something novel, encountering that pivotal moment when you think, “I’m getting the hang of this now,” and gaining a boost in confidence compared to your initial self-perception.

The chemistry between Saoirse Ronan as Baez, opposite Timothée Chalamet’s character Dylan, in the film “A Complete Unknown,” is nothing short of remarkable. The rapport between them is palpable and evident to anyone who watches or listens to their interactions. To put it simply, they complement each other beautifully on-screen.

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2025-01-08 17:33