How does it feel? As Bob Dylan sang. To be on your own? A complete unknown? Or, rather, how did it feel to wander the streets of Greenwich Village New York in 1961 like a fresh-eyed 20-year-old aspiring songwriter - at a time when 'The Village' was a cultural crucible for art, poetry, music and politics. This was the question award-winning production designer François Audouy has looked to answer in multi-Oscar nominated biopic A Complete Unknown.
For, as remarkable as the performances of Timothée Chalamet and others are, Auduoy's recreation of this scene and some of the most iconic settings in American popular history is also quietly noteworthy. From the great early folk venues like Cafe Wha?, the Gas Light and Folk City to coffee shops, bars, galleries, record and liquor stores.
The handmade old-school set building craft detail is something else. 'The Village', Audouy tells Culture 101, was principally filmed in two blocks in New Jersey - the actual location today proving too expensive and cleaned up to stand-in for its former self. AudoUy moves on to recreate such seminal cultural spaces as Columbia Records' Studio A, the interior of the Chelsea Hotel and the wooden pop-up stages of the Newport Folk Festival. And, arguably, the pièce de résistance - Bob Dylan's Village apartment faithfully recreated from previously unseen and little seen photographs. It's there in its entirety complete with Dylan's record collection and working plumbing. Audouy calls it a character in itself.
François Audouy has previously worked with A Complete Unknown director James Mangold on Ford vs Ferari, The Wolverine and Logan. Other design credits include Ben Affleck's film Air and Jason Reitman's Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Recently he has been working on Netflix screwball whodunnit series The Residence, involving the most comprehensive recreation of the entire White House ever. Auduoy has also designed sets for music videos for the likes of Billie Eilish and Harry Styles.
