Cape May went uncredited in ‘A Complete Unknown,’ and locals are annoyed

With Timothée Chalamet’s Bob Dylan riding west on Beach Avenue on his motorcycle, his watching Johnny Cash try to pull out of a Victorian-turned-Viking Motel parking spot, then being heartbroken at the Ferry, Cape May more than did its part playing 1965 Newport, R.I., in A Complete Unknown.

But for locals like John Cooke, former manager at the Victorian and a longtime Cape May booster, there was a final plot twist as they eagerly watched the ending credits of the biopic: a snub. No mention of Cape May, no thanking of the mayor, no nod to the good and photogenic people and architecture of Cape May.

How did it feel?

“There were more caterers credited than there were locations credited,” said Cooke, who saw the movie on Christmas Day in Stone Harbor. “I’ve made my peace with it not being in there. But being the cheerleader that I am for the town, I expected there to be credit. I wanted to applaud. It was 100 percent recognizable.”

Cooke penned a column for the local Star and Wave, titled, “Sorry to see city left out of credits for Dylan biopic.”

“You won’t see credits for the movie’s location,” Cooke wrote. “For all the hoopla, inconvenience, and hospitality our city extended the production company, the least we could have expected was a thank-you to the city of Cape May, its leaders, and residents.”

Even Cape Clean Outs, which removed production trash during filming, was hoping for a shout-out. Cape May Miniature Golf said on Facebook, “Not a single thank you to Cape May in the credits.”

There was a shout-out in the seven minutes of credits to the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission and a note that the movie was filmed in the state “with a diverse cast and crew.” Hobo Sound in Hoboken is mentioned as a recording location.

The government of Australia, where digital and visual effects work were done, was thanked for a financial incentive known as the PDV Offset.

Nastasya Morauw, a spokesperson for Searchlight Pictures, said in an email, “Specific locations are not credited in the end crawl.” Locals now assume it was something that had to be separately negotiated. Mayor Zachary Mullock described it as “a bit of a learning experience.”

Chris Flores, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, said A Complete Unknown’s total expenses incurred in the state, including pre- and postproduction costs, were $81 million, and that state film incentives require providing credit to New Jersey, which, he noted, “was included at the end of the film.”

Curtis Bashaw, owner of Congress Hall, ubiquitous in the background of the scenes filmed at the nearby Victorian, said his company negotiated with Searchlight Pictures for use of Congress Hall spaces for various production needs and room blocks for actors and crew, and for use of some other properties on the Cape May Mall that were redone for filming.

He said the idea of credit never was negotiated one way or another.

“I think for all of us, we were probably just a little bit novice in this,” he said. “There hasn’t been a million feature films. They’re in town saying can we use this, can we use this. We did negotiate fees. That’s a live and learn situation.”

Still, he said, “The whole thing has been great for Cape May. We really enjoyed hosting it.”

New Jersey is all over the movie. The Newport Folk Festival scenes, where Dylan famously shocks the folk music world by plugging in, were filmed near Echo Lake in Westfield, N.J. Jersey City was the setting for MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village, and Hoboken and Paterson, N.J., stood in for other Manhattan shots. Ocean Drive in Lower Township stood in for the bridge to Newport.

In early January, Mullock took three trolley loads of locals from Cape May to see the movie in the nearby Rio Grande (Cape May no longer has a movie theater).

People cheered with each shot of Cape May (mostly toward the last 20 minutes or so), the big yellow landmark Congress Hall unavoidable in the background, all the partying and jamming scenes filmed at the pool of the Victorian, renamed the Viking, featuring extras like local West Cape May teacher and musician Jay Eppenbach.

Mullock said he’s not going to let the lack of credit kill his vibe. The city saw a benefit of about a couple hundred thousand dollars all in all, Mullock estimated, plus got a lot of attention during filming, were paid for police, and will know better going forward. He and others in town got their brushes with fame, though Chalamet stayed in character the whole time and wasn’t up for much chitchat.

The town, Mullock said, has had discussions for a possible filming location in Steven Spielberg’s new UFO movie, currently titled Non-View, starring Colman Domingo and Emily Blunt, which announced filming in March in Cape May (County). For now, though, rural Woodbine looks likely to get most of the action.

In an interview with Condé Nast Traveler, director James Mangold called Cape May “a beautifully maintained town with turn-of-the-century wood structures right on the water.”

“It was a very good match for Newport, Rhode Island.”

Production designer François Audouy said in the story he “had never heard of Cape May before, and it is such a postcard. It feels like nowhere else in New Jersey..”

Audouy loved the Victorian Motel, where Dylan, Joan Baez, and other musicians stay, swim, and party during the festival for “a whole rooftop view of the town with the Atlantic glistening in the distance.” Dylan spends much of his time in a wood-paneled room 212.

But for all the love, Cape May is mentioned neither in the film credits or the production notes.

The Cape May-Lewes Ferry stood in for the Newport Ferry in a key scene between Chalamet and Elle Fanning, playing Dylan’s girlfriend, break up through a chain-link fence, as she is preparing to board the boat. James Salmon, a spokesperson, said the movie has sparked interest in the ferry.

The MV New Jersey was remade into the “Newport” in the film, he said, and Salmon hopes the ferry’s “newfound celebrity status” leads to more roles for it (despite the lack of a credit).

“The ferry has received significant interest from the both the public, customers, and the media following its supporting role in the movie,” he said.

Cooke, in his piece, noted the street closings and barricades and the “dozens of locals [who] found work as extras driving to Jersey City for costume fittings.” The West Cape May Firehall served as a location for makeup artists. Ed Norton, who played Pete Seeger in the film, was known to frequent Coffee Tyme.

Having traveled as a tourist to other cities featured (and credited) in films, Cooke said he felt let down that Cape May, which has its own Jazz Festival and an open mic most Sundays at the Mad Batter, may end up as, well, a complete unknown to most moviegoers.

“There was a loud applause and cheer as soon as Perry Street was recognizable,” he said. “That was good for us. But I wanted the people in California seeing it or the people in Europe to see the little smidget of recognition.”