Bob Dylan is trying to block the release of a new film based on the life of Edie Sedgwick, the actress, model and society girl who played muse to Andy Warhol, Velvet Underground, and, allegedly, Dylan himself.
In 'Factory Girl', Sedgwick, played by Sienna Miller, is portrayed as having been involved in a romantic relationship with a musician called Danny Quinn, who, it's claimed, is based on a number of real people - Dylan, Jim Morrison and Mick Jagger. However, the first draft of the film's screenplay actually named Dylan as a character and implied a direct link between their break-up and her untimely death from a barbiturates overdose, a fact which angered Dylan, not least because he claims that he never had a romantic relationship with Sedgwick at all. The name of the character was changed as a result.
Dylan's lawyer Orin Snyder says that the Quinn characters still bears obvious likenesses to his client, and is pushing for the film to be pulled. Snyder told Weinstein, the company distributing the film: "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 a suit. That is not so. Even though Mr Dylan's name is not used, the portrayal remains both defamatory and a violation of Mr Dylan's right of publicity. Until we are given an opportunity to view the film, we hereby demand that all distribution and screenings immediately be ceased."