“How does it feel?” Bob Dylan sings in his 1965 hit. “To be on your own, with no direction home. A complete unknown, like a rolling stone.”
Dylan performed the song, “Like a Rolling Stone,” live for the first time at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. It was also the first time he played an electric guitar — a Fender Stratocaster — onstage, upsetting some folk diehards who rejected the rock incursion.
“A Complete Unknown,” the upcoming Timothée Chalamet movie depicting this time in Bob Dylan’s life (the movie title references the same song), is now casting New Jersey locals for scenes recreating the music festival.
New York casting agency Grant Wilfley Casting tells NJ Advance Media that New Jersey residents are needed to work as extras in “1965 music festival scenes” in Cape May this spring (see details below).
Timothée Chalamet filming "A Complete Unknown" in New York. The production recently came to Jersey City and is bound for other local places, including Cape May.Gotham/GC Images
Grant Wilfley casting director Melissa Braun gave the title of the film as “Wurtzle Brothers,” which seems to be a stand-in name for the James Mangold-directed film about Dylan. (Famed Hollywood producer Sol M. Wurtzel of Fox Film Corporation and 20th Century Fox was one of five brothers; “A Complete Unknown” is a Searchlight Pictures film — Searchlight was formerly known as Fox Searchlight.)
Mangold and Chalamet (”Dune: Part Two,” “Wonka”) began filming in New York in March and started filming in Jersey at the end of March. Recent production locations have included Jersey City.
Mangold and Chalamet’s film — they’re both producers — is slated to expand its presence in the state. Searchlight Pictures says filming is set to continue through June. The Cape May scenes, where Jersey will play Newport, Rhode Island in scenes set at the 1965 folk festival, are scheduled for May.
Steven Gorelick, director of the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission, previously told NJ Advance Media “A Complete Unknown” would be filming in Hudson, Passaic, Essex and Cape May counties.
“Among the things they’re doing is they’re duplicating Woodstock in New Jersey,” he said in March (Dylan lived in Woodstock, New York at one time). “So they’ll be up in the northwest (of New Jersey), I’m sure, too. They’re still scouting locations but that’s one of our biggest projects on the horizon. We’re really excited about that one.”
Pete Seeger, left, in 1965 performing at the Mosque Theater in Newark. Edward Norton, right, plays Seeger in "A Complete Unknown."Sam Falk | New York Times via Getty Images; Mega/GC Images
The film, written by Mangold (”Ford v Ferrari”) and Jay Cocks (”Gangs of New York”), follows a young Dylan during his ascent in the ’60s.
New Jersey is part of that story. A teen Dylan famously journeyed from Minnesota to New York to visit his hero Woody Guthrie, who was suffering from Huntington’s disease at Morris County’s Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital.
Young Dylan met another of his major influences — folk legend Pete Seeger. Oscar nominee Edward Norton plays Seeger in the film.
The cast also includes Monica Barbaro (“Top Gun: Maverick”) as folk star Joan Baez, who was in a relationship with Dylan; and Elle Fanning, who reportedly plays a Dylan love interest based on his relationship with artist Suze Rotolo.
Other actors in the film include Boyd Holbrook (“Logan”), Scoot McNairy (“12 Years a Slave”) and Dan Fogler (the “Fantastic Beasts” movies). Jersey actors Charlie Tahan (“Ozark”), who grew up in Glen Rock, and P.J. Byrne (“Babylon”), from Old Tappan, are also part of the cast (see full list).
Chalamet in late March as Bob Dylan on the set of "A Complete Unknown" in New York.Mega/GC Images
Interested in being in the movie? Here are the details.
Grant Wilfley Casting is looking for New Jersey locals 18 and older to serve as extras in the 1965 music festival scenes in Cape May from May 12 to 16.
SAG-AFTRA pay is $208 for eight hours; non-SAG pay is $176 for 10 hours.
To submit your information, send an email with the title “Cape May Local” to brothers@gwcnyc.com.
Include you name; phone number; whether or not you are a SAG-AFTRA member; your height, weight and current clothing and shoe sizes; whether or not you’d be OK with being clean shaven or getting a period haircut, if requested; whether or not you have visible tattoos; if you are local to the Cape May area; the dates you are available from May 12 to 16; and confirmation that you are 18 or older. Attach current close-up photos that show hair length and full body.
For more information, visit gwcionlocation.com/new-jersey.
Stories by Amy Kuperinsky
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Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup.