Timothée Chalamet may be only 29 years old, but his performances in critically acclaimed films such as “Call Me By Your Name,” “Lady Bird” and “A Complete Unknown” have already made him a legendary actor. 

His “Dune” co-star Josh Brolin said he’ll never forget the first time he saw Chalamet in “Beautiful Boy,” and said there was nothing fake about that performance. 

“Once in awhile, and it’s not often, someone comes along that has an innate talent nobody understands,” Brolin said. “It’s striking. Timothée Chalamet is that talent of his generation.”

Chalamet was honored Tuesday night at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival with the Arlington Artist of the Year Award for his performance as Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.” 

The biopic has earned eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Chalamet’s second Oscar nomination for Best Actor. 

Chalamet said he had five years to prepare for the role and was inspired by Dylan’s body of work. 

“This was a lifetime’s work and the respect and passion I feel for Bob Dylan and his music was so great that it took me out of myself,” Chalamet said. “There was no need to find vanity in performance.”

Chalamet said his admiration for Dylan was so great that the movie took on a life of its own. 

“This is about great thinkers in a period of time where people were open, not like now where we’re beaten down,” Chalamet said. “It’s not a joke. Now we’re beaten down. Now the stakes are higher and more insurmountable. There at that time, there was hope. There was optimism and there was a gap for someone like Bob Dylan to shine through.”

Brolin and Chalamet also discussed the scene in “Little Women” in which Chalamet’s character expresses his love to Jo March, portrayed by Saoirse Ronan. Chalamet said he and Ronan only rehearsed the scene once before filming and shot the scene in just a few takes. 

He added that directors like Greta Gerwig, who directed “Lady Bird,” and “Little Women,” and James Mangold, who directed “A Complete Unknown,” are “actor-friendly directors” who allow the characters to breathe. 

“They have the being of the characters in mind. You never have to fight for your space,” Chalamet said. “They really get it, and that scene, to me, is a testament to that. We had two hours of the light, that’s all shot in magic hour so we shot that in like three seconds and I’m very proud of that.”

Mangold presented Chalamet with his award for Arlington Artist of The Year and said that acting on Chalamet’s level isn’t about lying, it’s telling the truth. 

“What we’re seeing as Timothée talks is someone who can’t help but tell you what he’s thinking or feeling, even if it’s ‘I don’t know,’” Mangold said. “The point is that there’s a commitment in him to being real, and that’s more important now, at a time when everything is snarky and full of shit and post modern and hardly anyone is sincere about fucking anything.”

He went on to say that they weren’t trying to make an exact replica of Dylan, but instead wanted to investigate the parts of his life that no one saw. 

“We were after something that when there was no one watching, but I’m also after something else, I am after Timothée,” Mangold said. “I don’t want to lose him, because that’s why I wanted to make the movie. He’s why I wanted to make it. Finding him in that role was the reason the was the reason to make the film.”

When accepting his award, Chalamet thank Searchlight executives for supporting the project, Mangold for guiding the film, and of course, Dylan himself.

“Thank you to the incomparable Bob Dylan, an artist who left behind a body of work that has come to possess me like the holy spirit,” Chalamet said. 

Chalamet went on to say that the film serves as a bridge to a time period with free thinkers and curiosity.

“I feel like I’ve gotten to be a bridge to one of the great thinkers of all time,” Chalamet said. “You’re only as vibrant as your surroundings, and I’ve been lucky in my come up to be surrounded by deep and passionate and open thinkers like James Mangold and Josh Brolin and to be inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and James Baldwin. As I grow, I seek to leave behind a body of work that can do the same for someone else one day.”