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Editor’s note: This post contains light spoilers for “A Complete Unknown.”
Bob Dylan is one of the greatest musicians of all time, but modern-day teenage girls are not traditionally his biggest fans. Elle Fanning, however, insists she’s been a massive champion of the singer since her middle school years.
“Cameron Crowe actually introduced me to Bob Dylan,” Fanning told IndieWire. “I was filming ‘We Bought a Zoo.’ I had my 13th birthday on that set, and he would play music constantly on set, and he would always play ‘Buckets of Rain.’ And I was like, ‘Who is this?’ And Cameron introduced me to the whole world of Bob Dylan and told me what albums to listen to. I would listen to ‘Blood on the Tracks’ driving to set every day, and I wrote ‘Bob Dylan’ on my hand every day in junior high, which is, you know, odd, but I did. I had posters of him on my wall, so I feel like I manifested this part in a lot of ways, because Bob Dylan has always been part of my life.”
Fanning portrays Dylan’s girlfriend “Sylvie Russo,” a fictional person based on Dylan’s real-life paramour at the time, Suze Rotolo. The actress signed on to “A Complete Unknown” because of director James Mangold (“Walk the Line”), whom she was supposed to work with previously, not to mention her friend Timothée Chalamet as Dylan. Mostly, she wanted to see what he would do with such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “My ears really perked up,” she noted. Whose wouldn’t?
Even prior to the Christmas Day release, the actress had already scored the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in the musical biopic. Ahead, she talks to IndieWire about her goal of making Russo a three-dimensional person who doesn’t get totally buried by Dylan’s magnetism — and whether or not she thought their characters’ powerful ending breakup scene really was the duo’s final go-round.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
You were a Bob fan as a teen. Were you the “music person” among your friends growing up?
I think I have good taste in music, but it’s quite eclectic. I’m really into Doechii right now. I think everyone is, but I actually got to see her perform, and she was unbelievable. I’m completely obsessed. I have good playlists, like oldie playlists. I always loved Johnny Cash, Joni Mitchell, and Dolly Parton. So I lean a little bit more old school.
In many biopics, there is “The Girlfriend” role, and sometimes it can be a little bit thankless. Sylvie was different. How did you and James talk about making her stand out?
I hate calling her that, because, yes, she was his partner, but she’s such an important part of the film and of his journey specifically. And I think what sets her apart is that she doesn’t sing; she doesn’t play an instrument. She’s not there for the fame. She’s really there out of pure love for Dylan. It’s something we talked about a lot to also make sure that she has this extreme vulnerability, but also a real groundedness and strength in her own beliefs and in herself, and to make her a truly three-dimensional character.
She is based on Suze Rotolo, who was a phenomenal woman. She’s since passed, but I read her memoir “A Freewheelin’ Time,” and she was an artist in her own right, and so politically involved in the ‘60s, and really brought Bob into politics. That wasn’t something that he wasn’t interested in until he met her. She was such an inspiration to him, and was the one who encouraged him to sing his own songs, and then was there for him up until the end, when she realized she wasn’t built for that life. To get to see a character that is close to someone who’s just catapulting into stardom and [explore] kind of the sadness [of], ‘Gosh, I can’t go there with you. It’s not the life I want.’ And inevitably, they had to break apart.
But for me, the most challenging part is making her a full human being, and kind of the eyes of the audience. That’s the guide in which we can view Bob in because she’s just kind of one of the people.
I loved the scene at the end when Sylvie is ending her relationship with Bob, where she’s pulling away, not him. She goes back to him many times. Clearly, it’s based on a real person, but in the reality of the movie, do you think she goes back to him again as he becomes even more famous? Did you think about that at all, or did it feel very final to you when you were filming that moment?
I know I thought about that. I think that their love affair was possibly final. But I do think that you can’t help but have a string, a connectedness to that person always. Because what’s so beautiful about their relationship [is] they started so young. It was when Bob was just a boy from Minnesota in a cap, and he wasn’t Bob Dylan yet, and so she’s really the last person who knew him before he became who he was. Having to let that piece go, it’s bittersweet, but I think that you can’t help but always be connected.
I know in real life, Bob and Suze were still friends [until] she passed. And, that was part of the reason why he wanted her name changed in the movie to Sylvie, which was something that really touched me and was kind of subconsciously in my mind when I was doing the film. I don’t know if he’ll ever see the movie, but still, I wanted to do justice and capture the essence of their relationship in some way that maybe he would remember fondly.
‘ A Complete Unknown’What do you think this movie gets at about Bob Dylan? When it was announced, people thought it was going to cover more of his life, but it’s really just about these couple of life-changing years.
I thought it was such a smart choice that Jim just zoned in on this particular time in Bob’s life. And it didn’t just take the traditional biopic route. Being a Bob fan, I still learned so much.
It really inspires me as an artist and an actor, just to remind myself to be bold and to step outside of the box, because that’s really what Bob did. It was the simple gesture of just picking up an electric guitar. He was still playing folk songs, but just with an electric guitar, but he revolutionized music kind of forever. I think people in this industry sometimes want to categorize you into one thing. I think making sure that you’re following your own instincts and your own self is really important. And so I love that part of the film that Jim kind of zoned in on. It’s really kind of very emotional.
Oh, the first time he sings, I unexpectedly got choked up while watching. What do you remember about the first time you heard Timothée doing the voice?
It wasn’t until I was on set. He performed “A Hard Rain’s A‐Gonna Fall,” and I was just audience member, and he walked out and had this full Bob [impression], but it was so beautiful that it wasn’t like a caricature of of Bob at all, I still could see Timothée in there; it was this beautiful blend of Bob and Timothée. And it really moved me. The camera was just on the back of me, and I was in the sea of background artists, and we were watching him, and he gave us a full-on concert; he did so many more songs [than] was even written in the scene that day. It gave me chills.
I was just proud of my friend up there! I know how hard that is to do, and how hard he’s been working for so many years. To have to play such an iconic character, and someone that people know so well, that’s a lot. He exceeded my expectations, for sure.
I wanted to quickly ask you about doing “The Nightingale” adaptation with your sister Dakota. From your perspective, is that totally dead at this point? Do you have an update?
Oh, I think that right now I don’t think we’re going to do it, but we are going to work together soon on something.
You better! I know you guys are planning on producing Paris Hilton’s memoir. What was interesting to you about that story?
Oh, my gosh. Well, I’ve gotten to hang out with Paris Hilton, which is a lifelong dream come true. My sister and I would play “The Simple Life,” and we had stuffed chihuahuas and we bought dog purses for dogs that we didn’t even have just so we could pretend to be them growing up.
The fact that we get to work closely and produce her memoir with her has been just an unbelievable dream come true. I’ve been to her house! I’m still a fangirl, but I think she’s faced so many horrible obstacles in her life and overcome them so incredibly. And the businesswoman that she is, and the strength that she has, I think it’s all in the memoir right there. It’s fascinating to hear the behind the scenes of it all. The early 2000s and tabloids, it was not a pretty time for women. I’m just so happy to be a part of her coming into her power. She’s quite extraordinary.
I love you putting these spins on these real women. And even with Catherine the Great (Hulu’s “The Great”), obviously, you’re doing a take on it but still real.
Catherine the Great, she was known for the horse rumor that she’s had sex with the horse! How did we reduce this woman to that?
Searchlight Pictures released “A Complete Unknown” in theaters December 25.
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