Joan Baez “said lovely things” to Monica Barbaro over ‘A Complete Unknown’ portrayal
Monica Barbaro has said that folk musician Joan Baez “said lovely things” to her over her portrayal of Baez in the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown.
Barbaro played the legendary folk singer in the film alongside Timothée Chalamet who played Dylan. Barbaro has earned much praise for her performance as Baez, which has been lauded by critics and fans alike and recently, it was announced that Barbaro also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal.
Speaking to Variety, Barbaro revealed that Baez left her a voicemail after watching the film saying she expressed a “wonderful kindness to me.”
She explained: “We’d had some correspondence, and she told me she planned on watching it over the break with a group of friends, but I didn’t know the day; I would have had a panic attack. Then she left me a voicemail after she saw it and said lovely things.
“I don’t want to reveal too much, it’s up to her to express her review if she wants to. But she extended a wonderful kindness to me.”
Yesterday (February 11), Barbaro shared a photo of herself on social media after finally meeting Baez. She wrote: “A beautiful night in so many ways. Absolutely surreal. Joan. You’re a legend.”
Baez has previously praised Barbaro for her portray in the film.
Speaking to the Marin Independent Journal, Baez spoke about Barbaro’s portrayal of herself in the acclaimed Bob Dylan biopic. Baez revealed she was a fan of Barbaro’s take on the role: “I loved what she did in the film.”
She continued: “If I didn’t think she was good at it, I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it in general. But she looked enough like me and she had my gestures down. You could tell who it was. She worked so hard. Kudos to her for taking the role on.”
Baez also looked back on her relationship with Dylan, and was glad that their romance was only briefly reflected in the film, laughing: “It was pleasantly brief.” Baez also mentioned her granddaughter’s reaction to seeing their romance on the big screen: “She said, ‘I don’t want to see my grandmother making out in a film.’”
Reviewing the movie, NME awarded it four stars and said: “So many of the performances in A Complete Unknown fizz with this kind of tense, gripping energy – whether it’s because Dylan and Baez are bickering through ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ or he’s managed to bottle the anxiety of an entire city awaiting nuclear armageddon in a Cold War protest song.
“The most important (and often trickiest) job of any music movie is to get the music right. And this nails that. If you’re a Bob newbie, you’ll leave the cinema ready to dive into his back catalogue. If you’re already a fan, the next few weeks will be spent making playlists of lesser-known B-sides or reading the lore around a scene you weren’t familiar with. And that’s why it was a good idea to make this film – a mad idea, but a good one.”
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Elizabeth Aubrey
NME
