The Oscar-nominated film A Complete Unknown takes audiences through the early years of Bob Dylan’s (Timothée Chalamet) impressive career, but with one important change requested by Dylan himself. Set in New York in the early 1960s, the movie depicts Dylan experimenting with his sound and getting to know other influential people in the folk music scene. As Dylan influences folk himself, he ultimately makes the decision to play an electric set at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, leading the crowd to boo him.

While A Complete Unknown‘s music, which includes some of Dylan’s most well-known songs along with Joan Baez’s (Monica Barbaro) work, is crucial to the film, the movie is equally trying to create an understanding of a man whose life and music have been impossible to pin down. Timothée Chalamet’s complex performance as the musician does a great job of representing his idiosyncrasies at the time. A Complete Unknown changes a few details about Dylan’s life for the sake of clarity, but there is only one detail that Dylan himself requested be changed.

A Complete Unknown Changed Suze Rotolo’s Name To Sylvie Russo

Sylvie Is One Of Dylan’s Main Love Interests In The Film

One of the more significant changes that A Complete Unknown made was that of changing Suze Rotolo’s name to Sylvie Russo. In A Complete Unknown, Sylvie is played by Elle Fanning, and she is one of Bob Dylan’s primary romantic interests after the pair meet at a small folk music performance. The two seem to connect immediately, but things turn complicated quickly as Sylvie feels that she can never fully trust Bob to be honest. The couple break up and make up a few times throughout the movie, though A Complete Unknown‘s ending sees Sylvie finally leave him.

In real life, Dylan met Rotolo at a similar folk music performance and immediately began pursuing her, though she was only 17 at the time and he was 20. This raises a few questions about their relationship, and while A Complete Unknown never explicitly states how old Sylvie is, she does appear to be slightly older than Rotolo would have been at the time. As was portrayed in the film, Rotolo also left Dylan to go on a student trip which lasted six months and significantly impacted their dynamic.

Even more so than is shown in the movie, Suze Rotolo mᴀssively influenced Dylan during the early years of his career, and he revisited their relationship years later through his music. She introduced him to important social and political causes and was the inspiration for many of his songs. Rotolo was famously even featured on the cover of Dylan’s album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan walking arm in arm with him along a snowy New York street.

Bob Dylan Personally Requested Suze Rotolo’s Name Change In A Complete Unknown

The Musician Requested That Rotolo’s Name Be Removed From The Film

Dylan actually did have some involvement in the early stages of A Complete Unknown‘s production, and one of the decisions that he personally oversaw was changing Suze Rotolo’s name to Sylvie Russo. Given her importance in Dylan’s early career, Rotolo was a crucial character to have represented in A Complete Unknown, but the name change gives the character just enough distance from who the real Suze Rotolo was.

Dylan and Rotolo dated from 1961 to 1964, similar to what is shown in the film. During this time, between Rotolo’s traveling and Dylan’s burgeoning musical career, Dylan did cheat on her with Joan Baez as A Complete Unknown highlights. Beyond changing Suze’s name to Sylvie, A Complete Unknown significantly altered the ending of their relationship. In 1963, Rotolo became pregnant with Dylan’s child, and she ultimately decided to have an abortion. This caused strain between the couple and eventually led to their 1964 breakup, which Dylan wrote about in “Ballad in Plain D.”

Why Bob Dylan Wanted A Complete Unknown To Change Suze Rotolo’s Name

Dylan Felt The Name Change Was More Respectful Of Rotolo’s Memory

There are some differences between the on-screen character and Dylan’s real-life girlfriend, but their similarities do make it clear who Fanning’s role was inspired by. It may seem unusual that a biopic would change the name of one of its key characters, especially when viewers can easily learn who the character is modeled after, but Dylan did have a very clear reason for wanting Rotolo’s name to be changed. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Fanning stated that Dylan made the request because Rotolo was “a very private person and didn’t ask for this life.”

While Suze Rotolo sadly pᴀssed away from lung cancer in 2011, Dylan asked that A Complete Unknown change the character’s name to respect her memory and the desire for privacy that she maintained throughout her life. After their breakup, Rotolo went on to get married and have a child, all while maintaining her political activism. However, she only began to discuss her time with Dylan years later. Rotolo eventually published a memoir called A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties that shares a different look at A Complete Unknown‘s story.

Source: Rolling Stone