Former Parkland student Harrison Denithore was part of the new movie A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet, which released December 25th 2024.
Directed by Jack Mangold, A Complete Unknown follows the early life of singer Bob Dylan (Chalamet) as he arrives in New York in 1960 with his guitar, ready to change the course of American Folk music. It shows his relationships with other celebrities, such as Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning), Peter Seeger (Edward Norton), and even Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook). The movie follows Dylan as he becomes involved with New York City’s folk scene, and his internal conflict with trying new music styles and the expectations of the folk community.
Denithorne talked about his experience on the set and he said it was incredible. He said he never got to meet any of the major actors and actresses personally but being in their presence was enough to make him starstruck. “However Timmy, Elle Fanning, and Ed Norton were all stuck with us in between the takes, so it was cool being in such close proximity with them for an extended period of time and noticing their little behaviors and mannerisms while in character.”
His thoughts on the movie itself were overwhelmingly positive, noting how interesting it was to see how the scenes were set up and what went into it, how the weather contributed to that day’s filming, and how different the recording footage appears differently on the screen. “It’s very cool to watch something, and be able to know just a little of what was going on behind the scenes.”
Even though he was only in a few scenes, Denithorne said the experience was totally worth it. “The experience felt very heightened, especially being able to do it at this young of an age. I found out about the project, and then I was on the set only about a week later. The entire process was so incredibly fast, and thinking about it now makes me feel beyond lucky.”
Denithorne highly recommends this movie, saying that if the plot isn’t compelling enough, former President Barack Obama selected A Complete Unknown as one of his top ten movies of 2024. “That’s a pretty big deal considering there were about 500 movies released in the U.S. in 2024 and he said it was in his top ten! No way, top 0.2%! I don’t know if he watched all 500 films that were released, but even if not it’s still pretty cool. If that doesn’t win people over then I truly don’t know what will.”
