How old is Bob Dylan? Mick Jagger claims singer was the first choice to present the Best Original Song category at the Oscars

Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger revealed that Bob Dylan was the first choice to present the Best Original Song category at the 2025 Oscars. Jagger presented it in Dylan's place after Dylan declined the invitation.

On Sunday, March 2, Mick Jagger took the stage with a huge standing ovation to present the Academy Award for the Best Original Song category at the event in Los Angeles. The award went to El Mal from the soundtrack of the musical drama, Emilia Perez. While presenting the award, Jagger revealed that the Academy's original choice to present this award was Bob Dylan. He joked:

"As much as I love doing it, I wasn’t the first choice to give this award out. The producers really wanted Dylan to do this. Bob didn’t want to do it because he’s had the best songs this year, well obviously, in the movie A Complete Unknown. Bob said, ‘You should find somebody younger.’ I said, ‘OK, I’m younger’ – so here I am."

Bob Dylan is 83 years old as of writing. He was born on May 24, 1941, and has been in the music industry for over 60 years. Meanwhile, Mick Jagger is 81 - two years younger than the Nobel Prize-winning lyricist.

Interestingly, the 2025 Academy Awards nominated Bob Dylan's 2024 biopic, A Complete Unknown, in eight categories. These include the coveted Best Picture, Best Director for James Mangold, Best Actor in a Leading Role award for Timothee Chalamet, Best Supporting Actress for Monica Barbaro, Best Supporting Actor for Edward Norton, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

However, A Complete Unknown did not win in any of its nominated categories. Adrien Brody beat Timothee Chalamet in the Best Actor category for his performance in The Brutalist, while Zoe Saldana (Emilia Perez) and Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and Actor, respectively. Anora won Best Picture while Sean Baker took home the Oscar for Best Director for the same film.

---

When A Complete Unknown director James Mangold claimed Bob Dylan never watched his Oscar-nominated biopic

Photo of Bob DYLAN - Source: Getty

In a December 2024 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, director James Mangold revealed that Bob Dylan has not watched his biopic, A Complete Unknown. He said:

"He hasn’t seen the film. He’s welcome to. All he’d have to do is call. But [Dylan’s manager] Jeff Rosen says he doesn’t think he’s ever watched any of the documentaries about him. That’s a clue too, isn’t it? Into a kind of self-protection, a protection of one’s own psyche that I think he’s zealously practiced for years."

Starring Timothee Chalamet as Dylan, A Complete Unknown is based on the 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric! by Elijah Wald. Director James Mangold co-wrote the film's screenplay with Jay Cocks. The title of the film is also derived from one of Dylan's iconic tracks - the chorus of his 1965 single, Like A Rolling Stone. The film featured an ensemble cast including Edward Norton, Monica Barbaro, Elle Fanning, Boyd Holbrook, and Dan Fogler.

In an earlier interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast from July 2023, Mangold also revealed that Bob Dylan gave him several notes for the making of A Complete Unknown. Mangold revealed that he spent "several, wonderfully charming days" in the company of the singer.

“I have a script that’s personally annotated by him and treasured by me. He loves movies. The first time I sat down with Bob, one of the first things he said to me was, ‘I love Cop Land.'," Mangold said.

For those uninformed, Mangold directed the 1997 film, Cop Land, starring Sylvester Stallone. In his aforementioned interview, Mangold added that Bob Dylan was supportive of the making of A Complete Unknown as it was not a traditional biopic. For the large part, the film focuses on Dylan's journey from Minnesota to New York City for his performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. During this performance, Bob Dylan notably used an electric guitar - which was a controversial decision among a folk audience.

According to Mangold, Dylan has been supportive of the film also because of its concept that the best "true-life movies" are never about an entire journey but about "a specific moment."

In a tweet dated December 5, 2024, Bob Dylan urged his followers to watch A Complete Unknown, claiming Timothee Chalamet would fit his role on screen. He wrote:

"There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!). Timothee Chalamet is starring in the lead role. Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me. The film’s taken from Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric – a book that came out in 2015. It’s a fantastic retelling of events from the early ‘60s that led up to the fiasco at Newport. After you’ve seen the movie read the book."

---

A Complete Unknown was both critically and commercially acclaimed worldwide and was widely considered among the best films of 2024. The film received eight Academy Award nominations - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound, and Best Costume Design.