DiscoverBELOW THE LINE PODCASTS23 - Ep 10 - A Complete Unknown
S23 - Ep 10 -  A Complete Unknown

S23 - Ep 10 - A Complete Unknown

Update: 2025-05-25
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How do you turn New Jersey into 1960s Greenwich Village — while navigating strikes, rewrites, and a lead performance that hinges on live music? That was the challenge behind A Complete Unknown, the 2024 Bob Dylan biopic directed by James Mangold.


This week, Skid is joined by three key crew members behind the film: Set Decorator Regina Graves, Property Master Michael Jortner, and Second Assistant Director Brad Robinson. Together, they share how they navigated shifting scripts, location changes, and the challenge of historical fidelity — all in service of a film that manages to feel both intimate and iconic.


Topics include:



  • Rebuilding momentum after the actor’s strike forced a full crew reset

  • The challenges of transforming Hoboken and Jersey City into Greenwich Village

  • Training extras to behave like real 1960s folk fans — from posture to props

  • Creating immersive environments for actors to perform (and improvise) in

  • Balancing accuracy and atmosphere when representing real figures and events

  • Behind-the-scenes dynamics with director James Mangold and star Timothée Chalamet

  • Filming the concert finale, the Viking Hotel sequence, and the Columbia studio set

  • How a film’s invisible craft can be both its triumph and its obstacle come award season


The conversation also touches on the tensions between Dylan’s legacy and the demands of dramatization — and how the crew stayed grounded despite outside opinions and mid-production curveballs.


🎧 Press play and go Below the Line on A Complete Unknown. For more, visit belowtheline.biz.

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S23 - Ep 10 -  A Complete Unknown

S23 - Ep 10 - A Complete Unknown

Skid - DGA Assistant Director