How Bob Dylan’s NYC Apartment Was “Forensically” Recreated for New Biopic

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Since Bob Dylan’s rise to fame, it has music legend have lived in one Manhattan townhouse, Malibu mansionand even one property in Scotland. But a tight apartment in New York City where he spent the first days of his career. Naturally, the new biopic, A completely unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet, the apartment makes Greenwich Village a central character. “We decided early on with (director James Mangold) that it would be fun to really recreate his apartment in a forensic way,” says production designer François Audouy.

The production team had around 200 images of the small space to refer to. Among them were original black and white negatives from famous photo shoots in Dylan’s apartment along with a few color photos that they used to match the colors of the walls, bedspread and other furniture. “He arrived in New York at 19, and he was still a young man, and he was kind of a slob,” Audouy says. “It was very relatable when you look at teenagers who have moved into their first apartment.”

In addition to the takeout boxes, empty coffee cups, and ashtrays full of cigarettes, set designer Regina Graves and her team went to great lengths to find exact duplicates of Dylan’s belongings—including the typewriter, record player, and even a stuffed animal—from antique and thrift stores.

The Wingback chair was especially hard to find “because of the channel back, gold pattern, studded arms and Cabriole leg,” says Graves. They eventually found it on Facebook Marketplace, from the seller’s grandparents’ home. Then they had it reupholstered, sanded down and torn to look worn just like Dylan’s chair.

Other furniture and art, such as the oil painting above the fireplace and his desk, were custom made. “It’s a relatively small space, but we had to get everything just right,” says Audouy.

Since the film, shot mainly in New Jersey, takes place over a few years in the early 1960s, the apartment details evolve over time. When Dylan receives Tom Paine Award from the Emergency Civil Liberties Union in 1963, it is displayed on his mantle. Things belonging to Elle Fanning’s character Sylive Russo, a painter, are also found when she lives with him. “We had paint splatters on the floor — signs that she is a presence there in his life,” says Audouy.

While there are slight differences in the layout of the set and the actual apartment – double sliding doors instead of a single door lead to the small “bedroom” – the proportions are close to the original room. Another generous difference in the kits is more windows than the real unit had. Some scenes near the windows were actually filmed in a real apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey, so the design team had to match those windows on the set construction.

“So much of the film takes place in this apartment,” says Audouy. “I was blown away by how featured it is, even more than I expected when we made it. It’s like the star of the show.”

The rooms are an extension of Chalamet’s performance, Andouy notes, helping the audience melt into his portrayal of Dylan. “You’re like a time machine back in this very specific moment and you just drink it in without any distractions.”

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