Monica Barbaro contacted Joan Baez before playing her in 'A Complete Unknown'.

The 34-year-old actress portrays the folk legend in the Bob Dylan biopic and covertly arranged a meeting with the musician - although she has no idea if Baez plans to watch the film.

Monica told IndieWire: "I wasn't sure if I should reach out personally.

"I sort of went behind (the production's) back and asked my agents... she agreed to it, we picked a time. It was professionally done just sort of sneakily so.

"When we spoke on the phone, I was saying something to the effect of deferring to her on something. She was like, 'I'm just in the backyard, sitting outside, watching the birds.' I was like, yeah, you're not wrapped up in what we say about you. This doesn't define you in any way."

Baez had a turbulent affair with Dylan, who is played by Timothee Chalamet in the movie, during the 1960s and Monica revealed how director James Mangold and co-writer Jay Cocks used creative licence to have the pair sing the breakup ballad 'It Ain't Me Babe' together onstage at the Newport Folk Festival - which didn't happen in real life.

The 'Top Gun: Maverick' star said: "(Joan) was at the height of her career when she met Bob in reality and in this film. She was looking for new music, and he was writing everything she was trying to say and couldn't find the words to say.

"So they have this beautiful collision of spirits, but she held her own, and she remained a solo performer as much as she continued to collaborate with him throughout decades. She's Joan, and she had her own identity as a musician."

Barbaro continued: "Even in a symbolic, visual sense, a lot of times when Joan and Bob would play together, in footage of them, Bob is playing the guitar and Joan doesn't have her guitar.

"I, being a bit of a slave to the research, would say to Jim, 'Oh, she didn't have a guitar when they sang at this festival together.' What do you do with two guitars?

"He loved the imagery of Joan with the guitar. He felt like she maintained her independence and stood beautifully on her own. I've said autonomy like 17 times, but that was the name of the game for me."

Monica worked with vocal coach Eric Vetro - who previously assisted Austin Butler for 'Elvis' - for her depiction of Baez.

She said: "I met with Eric two, three times a week for the entirety of this process aside from the strike... in that time, I just sang alone and used the recordings he had created for me. He's the guy. He knows how to do this.

"We talked in the beginning about getting her iconic vocal qualities... the tight vibrato and the pitch. I couldn't sing in that key when I first auditioned.

"It was about trying to nail those elements of her voice and get that initial believability that this is Joan up there. Replicating her voice is impossible."