"They put a sad cone over my vomit!" A Complete Unknown star Elle Fanning reveals why Timothée Chalamet thought she was "wasted" at her first Bob Dylan show, and why she was bummed when an invite to meet the iconic musician wasn't at all what she expected

(Image credit: Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images for Searchlight Picture | Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS via Getty Images)

While much of the well-deserved praise heaped upon new Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown has understandably centred around the superb performances by Timothée Chalamet (as Dylan) and Monica Barbaro (as fellow folk legend Joan Baez), the brilliant Elle Fanning is the film's unsung hero.

The film is rooted in the New York music scene of the early 1960s, 26-year-old Georgia-born actress plays Sylvie Russo, a character heavily based on Dylan's real-life girlfriend Suze Rotolo, bringing vulnerability, strength and depth to the role, with Russo never afraid to call out Dylan on his bullshit, self-absorption and frequent lack of basic fucking manners.

In real life, Fanning is a huge Dylan fan, so she was understandably delighted to land the role, and even more excited and thrilled when she was sent her schedule for rehearsals via an email which included the instruction "You're going to have a rehearsal with James Mangold, who's the director of the film, and Bob Dylan."

"And I was like, Oh, my gosh, This is it," Fanning told US talk show host Jimmy Fallon during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show. "I was calling people asking for advice on what to ask him. I'm freaking out."

"And so then I walked into the rehearsal room, and it was just James Mangold and Timmy," she continued. "And I was like, What? I was so let down!"

"They were just calling Timmy 'Bob Dylan.'," Fanning explained, revealing that she and the actor have been friends since she was 19. "So I'm the only girl in America to be let down by having a rehearsal with Timothée Chalamet. I was like, "It's you?!"

If this misunderstanding was somewhat embarrassing for Fanning, it was nothing compared to the horror she felt when, having been invited with Chalamet to see Dylan perform at the King's Theatre in Brooklyn, New York on the eve of shooting the film, she vomited on the venue floor pre-show.

"And then Timothée comes out, and he's like, 'Are you drunk?'" Fanning remembers. "I'm like, No! I'm not wasted for the Bob Dylan concert! I had a bad turkey sandwich." They put a sad cone over my vomit. I was like, [cringing] Oh no. But it was memorable."

Watch the full interview, in which Fanning also reveals which rock star is her theoretical 'hall pass', below:

Elle Fanning Got Bamboozled into Thinking She Was Meeting Bob Dylan While Filming A Complete Unknown - YouTube

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A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.