We know that Hollywood takes liberties with truth and accuracy when it comes to films about actual people and events. They usually call it something like "creative license." A story can allegedly be made more compelling or sensational if a few facts are altered here and there. Viewers are just supposed to overlook the changes and enjoy the ride. So it is with the new biopic about Bob Dylan, A Complete Unknown. It has been quite well-received, along with the performance of the star, the gifted and versatile actor Timothee Chalamet.
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But what about Dylan's girlfriend, Suze Rotolo? In the film, she is renamed 'Sylvie Russo' and played by Elle Fanning. The New York Post asks a salient question, however - "So why, when she was so prominent in his life and in the movie — which stretches from Dylan's 1961 arrival in New York to him controversially going electric in '65 — is Rotolo erased?" the answer is worth pursuing.
Elle Fanning Reportedly Said That The Name Change Was At The Singer's Request
Suze Rotolo Died In 2011
Per the outlet, "Fanning told Rolling Stone that the name change was made at the request of Dylan himself, because Rotolo, who died in 2011, "[was a] very private person and didn't ask for this life." That may be the case, but she talked to the Post the year prior to her death about being on the jacket of his album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.
One insider commented about the situation to the Post. That person hinted that the singer/songwriter might have felt remorseful about how he treated her all those years ago.
There Seems To Have Been A Lot Going On Behind The Scenes With Suze Rotolo and Dylan
Rotolo's Sister, Carla, Was Not Keen On Dylan
Some resentment apparently existed between Rotolo's sister, Carla, and Dylan. Carla reportedly did not like the way he treated Suze. As for Dylan himself, he penned a song lyric that apparently referenced Carla - "For her parasite sister I had no respect." Later on, in 1985, he voiced some contrition about that to Bill Flanagan via the Post. Flanagan wrote a book titled Written in My Soul. "I look back and say, 'I must have been a real schmuck to write that. Maybe I could have left that alone."
The two eventually split and went their separate romantic ways. He took up with Joan Baez. She wed Enzo Bartoccioli, a film editor.
So, in short, if you see A Complete Unknown, perhaps take it with a grain of salt.
