Timothée Chalamet went home and “wept” after performing one of his favourite Bob Dylan songs live on set for the biopic A Complete Unknown.

In James Mangold’s upcoming biographical drama, the Dune star sings and plays guitar in character as the famed musician live on set.

During an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Chalamet admitted he cried after his first time performing live.

“It was Song to Woody, which is one of my favourite Bob Dylan songs ever,” he recalled. “It was the first one we shot in the movie. You couldn’t do it to a playback because it’s such an intimate scene. It’s in a hospital room with Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. And I did it live and it went great. And I’m making mistakes in the guitar a little bit here and there, but you can kind of fill those in after. I went home and I wept that night, not to be dramatic, but it’s a song I’d been living with for years and something I could relate to deeply.”

The Oscar-nominated actor added that the film felt like “the most dignified work (he’d) ever done” because he was bringing to life moments that took place “67 years ago”.

During the interview, the 28-year-old also revealed that he learned to play 13 Dylan songs for the movie. He spent six months in Los Angeles pre-recording his vocals, but those were ultimately discarded in favour of singing live on the day.

While it was a nerve-wracking prospect, Chalamet felt like “something clicked in (his) voice” performing live as opposed to recording in a studio.

“There was a certain rawness. Those microphones, those old school microphones we were using when playing in concert halls, I could get the strum better and I could get how he was singing,” he noted.

A Complete Unknown will be released in U.S. cinemas on 25 December and in the U.K. on 17 January.

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