Emily Zemler
View all posts by Emily Zemler September 2, 2026
Olivia Rodrigo performs at Daisy Chain Fields Festival in August Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Monica Barbaro has already embodied Joan Baez onscreen so why not Olivia Rodrigo as well? During a conversation with filmmaker Cameron Crowe at the Grammy Museum last night, Rodrigo revealed that she hopes the A Complete Unknown actress could someday play her in a movie.
“Sometimes I see a picture of Monica Barbaro and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s a picture of me. Oh no, that’s Monica,'” Rodrigo replied after being asked who would play her in a film. “So maybe her. And she’s a fantastic actress.”
“Good choice,” Crowe responded. “But then there’s also you.” “Yeah,” Rodrigo agreed. “I could do it. I mean, you’re directing it. You have to cast it.” She added, “We’ll sidebar.”
Olivia Rodrigo tells Cameron Crowe that Monica Barbaro could play her in a biopic and jokes that she’s going to “sidebar” with Crowe about making it happen. pic.twitter.com/il7rwu9SKP
— Variety (@Variety) September 2, 2026
Barbaro proved her musical prowess in 2024 film A Complete Unknown, playing Baez opposite Timothée Chalamet’s Bob Dylan. Baez later praised the performance. “I loved what she did in the film,” Baez told her hometown paper, the Marin Independent Journal. “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.”
