Mangold said Dylan had told him of the “loneliness he felt during this period of his life, that he felt alone writing the songs, alone in the green room before he went on, alone in the spotlight, on the stage, alone when he went home alone” and “alone with the public”.
He said Dylan “never asked for some fictional scene to be stuck in the movie”, adding: “Edward Norton, in an early interview, said that Bob asked for one untrue thing put in, but it was simply he wanted to change the name of his girlfriend from (real-life artist) Suze (Rotolo) to the character Sylvie Russo, (played by Elle Fanning), that was it.
The director claimed that “Seeger needed him to promote the folk music world”, while US folk singer Joan Baez, played by Oscar-nominee Monica Barbaro, “could not write songs like him”, and “others, like (folk recordist) Alan Lomax, wanted him to support the movement at all costs”.
A Complete Unknown has been nominated for eight Oscars and six Baftas, with best actor nods for Chalamet, best supporting actor for Norton, and adapted screenplay for Mangold and Jay Cocks.
Director James Mangold has dismissed claims that Bob Dylan requested a fabricated scene in the new biopic A Complete Unknown as “fiction” stemming from a misinterpreted interview.
