Skip to main content
Ear, nose, throat and fingers
DAVID YEARSLEY compares Timothee Chalamet’s impersonation of Dylan to the real thing

ON the last Sunday of this past October, a Timothee Chalamet look-alike contest broke out in Washington Square Park in New York City.

Chalamet made his way through the roiling sea of admirers and impersonators and let himself be photographed with the winner, Miles Mitchell. There is still no substitute for the presence of real people — for a star’s charisma and a worshipper’s scream and shudder.

Notwithstanding Washington Square’s status as a vital site of protest, it was strangely appropriate that this recent eruption of fandom took place there. The park is in Greenwich Village, the main location for the early 1960s rise to fame of the young Bob Dylan who is depicted in James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown. The Washington Square hijinks reveal that Mitchell-as-Chalamet looks more like Dylan than Chalamet-as-Dylan does.

Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Short Story / 7 February 2025
7 February 2025
The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
BenchMarx / 28 January 2025
28 January 2025
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
Best of 2024 / 3 January 2025
3 January 2025
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
Theatre review / 29 November 2024
29 November 2024
ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes
Similar stories
Music review / 14 March 2025
14 March 2025
STEVE JOHNSON recommends that you catch an unforgettable tribute to Woody Guthrie
Album review / 21 February 2025
21 February 2025
STEVE JOHNSON recommends a stunning new tribute from one great folk artist to another
Film of the week / 16 January 2025
16 January 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends an impressive impersonation of Bob Dylan
Books / 25 October 2024
25 October 2024
STEVE JOHNSON recommends the autobiography of the great US singer-songwriter and activist, Barbara Dane