December 15, 2006

"Even though Mr Dylan's name is not used, the portrayal remains both defamatory and a violation of Mr Dylan's right of publicity."

Bob Dylan is suing to block the release of a movie -- "Factory Girl" -- that depicts the life and suicide of Edie Sedgwick:
The Californian heiress was the troubled muse of artist Andy Warhol, whom she met in 1965, and starred in many of his films.

The character that Dylan has issues with is called Danny Quinn and the part is reportedly a mix of him, Jim Morrison and Mick Jagger.

"You appear to be labouring under the misunderstanding that merely changing the name of a character or making him a purported fictional composite will immunise you from suit," Orin Snyder, Dylan's lawyer, wrote to the filmmaker.
The lawsuit is in Britain, so I have no opinion about the legal merit of the claim, but I certainly find it rather absurd that a public figure like Bob Dylan even cares that a fictional composite character is based in part on him. And if he's really so sensitive about how he's portrayed, why isn't he sensitive about portraying himself so damned sensitive that he'd sue to block the release of a film. It's not even a Borat film.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

...is reportedly a mix of him, Jim Morrison and Mick Jagger.

I'd be careful how you handle yourself at that buffet, Mr. Auteur man.

I picture a guy coming back from the buffet table with a plate of radishes, salt, napkins, sporks, chutney, and sterno.

They sure got a lot of stuff up there! Let's eat!

Anonymous said...

...is reportedly a mix of him, Jim Morrison and Mick Jagger.

I'd be careful how you handle yourself at that buffet, Mr. Auteur man.

I picture a guy coming back from the buffet table with a plate of radishes, salt, napkins, sporks, chutney, and sterno.

They sure got a lot of stuff up there! Let's eat!

Mark Daniels said...

Dylan cares about this because he's Dylan. It's a way of getting his name in the news, but for indecipherable reasons. He learned from Rimbaud and Garbo to cultivate a certain amount of mystery and the appearance of volatilities of unknown origin. It's all part of the schtick. No rhyme or reason, all image manipulation. They'll probably settle out of court, no one will know what the suit was about, the movie will do better than it might otherwise have done, and the international man of mystery will burnish his image as the deep and impenetrable genius. Case closed. Next.

The truth is that Dylan really is a song and dance man, as he once said. He's that with an incredible facility for creating just the kind of quirky publicity that continues to set him apart.

Mark

Anonymous said...

BD was and always will be a notorious control freak. People who have worked with him attest to that. This is just an extension of that need.

reader_iam said...

He learned from Rimbaud and Garbo to cultivate a certain amount of mystery and the appearance of volatilities of unknown origin.

Wow, that's not a bad way to describe a certain aspect of the Althouse persona. Cool.

Mark Daniels said...

Reader:
That's funny!