Bob Dylan's film “A Complete Unknown” hits theaters on Christmas Day

The Bob Dylan film “A Complete Unknown” will be released in cinemas on Christmas Day.

The film, in which “Dune” star Timothée Chalamet plays the influential folk singer, follows Dylan's beginnings in the 1960s and culminates in his controversial performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 after he switched to electric music.

In a post announcing the release date, the film's producers, Searchlight Pictures, said: “A glimpse into the future.

“A Complete Unknown, a film directed by James Mangold and starring Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan, will be in theaters only on December 25th.”

In a trailer for the film, the 28-year-old actor can be seen wearing Dylan-style clothing and singing “A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall.”

The teaser begins with brief glimpses of Chalamet, with curly brown hair and dark glasses, walking through the streets of what is presumably New York City, where Dylan's career began.

Fight Club actor Edward Norton – as folk singer Pete Seeger – introduces the young Dylan to a small audience in a venue.

He says: “I want to tell you a little story. A few months ago, my friend Woody Guthrie and I met a young man who appeared out of nowhere and played us a song. At that moment, we felt like we were glimpsing the future.”

Chalamet then appears as Dylan. The clip is interspersed with footage of him in a church, watching “The Great” actress Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo. The character is based on Suze Rotolo, an artist who was Dylan's girlfriend in the early 1960s.

Idiosyncratic actress Monica Barbaro co-stars as folk singer and counterculture figure Joan Baez, who performed duets with Dylan such as “With God On Our Side.”

The film is directed by James Mangold, who also directed the acclaimed Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. The film was nominated for five Oscars, with Witherspoon winning one for Best Actress.

Dylan, 83, returns to the UK in November to play the Royal Albert Hall as part of his Rough And Rowdy Ways tour, which will also see him perform in Wolverhampton, Nottingham and Liverpool.

He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters of all time, having won 10 Grammys and been nominated 38 times. In the UK he has had six top 10 singles and nine number one albums.

He began his career in 1962 with the single “Mixed-Up Confusion”, which failed to chart in either the UK or the US.

However, he became a star in 1965 with a series of singles, including “The Times They Are A-Changin'”, “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and “Like A Rolling Stone”.

Dylan's songs have been covered by artists such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Rolling Stones and Adele.