Legendary musician Bob Dylan, who is the subject of the Academy Award-nominated biopic A Complete Unknown, was invited to perform and present at the 97th Academy Awards, but passed on the chance.
What do we know about Bob Dylan’s Oscars 2025 invitation?
According to a recent report from THR, the musician was invited to be a part of the ongoing Oscars ceremony, but declined the chance to do so. The decision was actually joked about on the broadcast, as Mick Jagger — who presented the Best Original Song award — noted that the producers wanted Dylan to do it, “but Bob didn’t want to,” before joking that Dylan wanted them to find someone younger, zeroing in on Jagger.
Conan O’Brien, the host of this year’s awards, also kicked off the show with a joke about Bob Dylan purposely deciding not to attend the show. “Dylan wanted to be here tonight, but not that badly,” joked the comedian.
Despite not being at the show, Bob Dylan is well represented at the Oscars. The film based on his life, A Complete Unknown, is nominated for eight awards in total, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress.
A Complete Unknown was directed by James Mangold from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jay Cocks based on author Elijah Wald’s book titled Dylan Goes Electric. The cast includes Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, Edward Norton as Peter Seeger, Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash, Nick Offerman as Alan Lomax, and P.J. Byrne as Harold Leventhal. Producers are Fred Berger, Mangold, Alex Heineman, Bob Bookman, Peter Jaysen, Alan Gasmer, Jeff Rosen, and Chalamet. It is executive produced by Dylan along with Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Andrew Rona.
(Source: The Hollywood Reporter)
