Mick Jagger jokes he was a ‘younger’ replacement for Bob Dylan at Oscars

Mick Jagger is far from “A Complete Unknown,” but the rock icon may not have had top billing at the 2025 Oscars.

The Rolling Stones frontman appeared at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday night to present the award for best original song, which ultimately went to “El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez.”

While on stage, Jagger joked that another music superstar was meant to present the honor: Bob Dylan. The acclaimed singer-songwriter is the subject of James Mangold’s musical biopic “A Complete Unknown.” None of the songs from the Timothée Chalamet-led film were nominated in the best song category.

“I’m greatly honored to be invited to give this award for the best original song tonight,” Jagger said. “And much as I love doing it, I wasn’t the first choice to give this award out. The producers really wanted Bob Dylan to do this.”

 

The 81-year-old musician added that Dylan, 83, allegedly didn’t want to present the award “because he said the best songs this year were obviously in the movie ‘A Complete Unknown.’”

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He concluded: “Bob said, ‘You should find somebody younger.’ I said, ‘OK, I’m younger! I’m younger than Bob, I’ll do it.’ So, here I am.”

Released in December, “A Complete Unknown” — based on the 2015 Elijah Wald book “Dylan Goes Electric!” — chronicles Dylan’s early years of music stardom, including the folk-rock legend’s friendships with artist Sylvie (Elle Fanning), mentor Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) and superstar Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro).

The film grossed $111.6 million at the global box office and racked up a slew of nominations this awards season, including eight Oscar nominations. Some of those nods included best picture, best sound and a best leading actor nomination for Chalamet.