Timothée Chalamet banned distractions from the set of A Complete Unknown so he could stay laser focused on his portrayal of Bob Dylan.

His co-stars Edward Norton and Monica Barbaro revealed to Rolling Stone that the Call Me By Your Name actor kept to himself on set and banned friends and representatives from visiting so he could keep his mind focused on being Dylan.

Chalamet explained to the publication that he took that approach because he didn’t want a distraction to throw him off his game after five years of preparation.

“It was something I would go to sleep panicked about, losing a moment of discovery as the character – no matter how pretentious that sounds – because I was on my phone or because of any distraction,” he said. “I had three months of my life to play Bob Dylan, after five years of preparing to play him. So while I was in it, that was my eternal focus. He deserved that and then more. God forbid I missed a step because I was being Timmy. I could be Timmy for the rest of my life!”

He noted that he took inspiration from his Hostiles co-star Christian Bale and Dune co-star Oscar Isaac about how to “guard (his) process” on set.

Norton, who plays musician Pete Seeger in the film, defended Chalamet’s approach, insisting he was “right to be that protective” over his performance.

“He was relentless. No visitors, no friends, no reps, no nothing. ‘Nobody comes around us while we’re doing this,'” the Fight Club star recalled. “We’re trying to do the best we can with something that’s so totemic and sacrosanct to many people. And I agreed totally – it was like, ‘We cannot have a f**king audience for this. We’ve got to believe to the greatest degree we can.'”

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

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