Like a Complete Unknown: How Actor Timothée Chalamet Surprised the UMN Marching Band

It all started with an email in School of Music Director Patrick Warfield’s inbox. Searchlight Pictures was writing to ask if the School would be interested in hosting “talent” from the upcoming Bob Dylan biopic, “A Complete Unknown.” 

“Not yet having seen the movie, my first thought was that Searchlight wanted to bring in some musicians from the film,” explains Warfield, “but when we met in person, they dropped the big news: Academy Award-nominated actor Timothée Chalamet had developed a close bond with Minnesota and wanted to visit the U.” Warfield’s first thought was to have Chalamet visit one of the SoM’s courses on popular music, but when the schedule didn’t work out, he knocked on the office door of Dr. Betsy McCann, Director of Marching and Athletic Bands on the suggestion of Academic Advisor and Curriculum Manager and Clarinet Affiliate Faculty Member Hilary Leonard. “Thank goodness Dr. McCann was there!”  

The stage was set for the surprise over a month in the making. Only a handful of essential University staff and faculty were involved in keeping the secret from the band, to avoid ruining the surprise. This included Assistant Director of Marching and Athletic Bands John Leonard and all the marching band graduate TAs, who played essential roles in pulling off the surprise. Preparations were made, and the date was set: December 5, the beginning of the press tour for “A Complete Unknown.”

Chalamet would surprise the band, then go on to The Main Cinema, located alongside the Mississippi River, for a press screening. Later that evening, he would make a visit to the after-party at the Varsity Theater, a classic Dinkytown hot spot. The plan was set, and the secret was kept closely. 

On the eve of the surprise, Chalamet posted a cryptic “M” block logo to his Instagram Stories. Students around campus and local media instantly started buzzing on social media. Why did Chalamet post the “M” logo? Had he become a Gopher sports fan? The next morning, excited students, in the midst of preparing for finals, started searching the campus for Chalamet. He spent the afternoon making pop-up appearances around campus, surprising students with tickets to the screening later that evening. 

As the band was preparing for an afternoon “rehearsal” to practice music and film media for their upcoming trip to Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, NC, news quickly spread about Chalamet’s visit to campus. The energy in the room sharply increased when Chalamet posed for pictures on the field at Huntington Bank Stadium and posted on his Instagram, right before the start of their rehearsal. Was it possible that he was stopping by their rehearsal? 

Despite the excitement around them, the marching band students gathered in a special room to focus on the rehearsal and filming. 300 members packed in the space, which was perfect for filming. Most wore school colors to make the visuals pop. The band was set up and ready. They made a quick warmup song, and then got the news that the “film crew” wasn’t ready yet. A classic lesson in marching band is “hurry up and wait,” and it was good practice for the upcoming bowl trip. After the brief wait, the band re-setup and started rehearsal again, performing some famous stand tunes and music from the past year. 

While they were working on a “new” song for the bowl, Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” the cue was made and in walked Chalamet. The band played more excitedly, and the surprise was a success. Chalamet leapt onto the bar table and started singing and clapping to the performance. 

“That was f— amazing, you guys!” Chalamet exclaimed to cheers and smiles from the crowd. “You guys, that was so special. This man [Dylan] means so much to me as I’m sure he means a lot to you guys, so to see you guys do a song like that was deeply moving, so thank you for popping by. I also heard you have a Dune theme being cooked up, but I’m told it’s not rehearsed.” Chalamet said. The trombones, never to shy away from a performance, stood forward and performed, followed by chants of “Lisan Al-Gaib” and accompanying hand signals from the “Dune” movie. 

Selfies and group pictures were taken, autographs were signed, and Chalamet was off to rest briefly before his big movie screening at the Main Cinema. Marching Band members were later invited to the after-party to watch their Senior peers perform on stage with Chalamet in front of other invited guests. 

The School of Music would like to thank Searchlight Pictures and Gopher Athletics for their help in coordinating this surprise. All photos in this story are by Gopher Photo.