I'm Not There - Bob Dylan biopic

[john]

Haynes hasn't steered me wrong yet. I'm very excited.

I watched that clip twice, the second viewing only to give it the attention it deserves.

Elegant and etherial. If the whole film works in these moods, or at least builds to them deservedly, this is going to be something special.

Blanchett was quite good. I no longer fear her casting being a gimmick and hope everyone else can represent the different periods in Dylan's career with such grace.

David Cross further establishes that he, essentially, plays himself with every role he gets... at least with this and Eternal Sunshine, he's doing it in better films. Actually, to drift off subject for a bit, I think Cross will one day deliver an exceptional performance if a director can find the write a part/script to compliment the personalty he's already crafted for himself. Just to generalize... maybe something by Noah Baumbach. Though his performance as Ronnie Dobbs nears comedic brilliance... too bad the film it was attached to was not.

Anyway... back on track... I forgot how much I should be looking forward to a new Haynes film.

[MacGuffin]

I'm Not There, but the Trailer is here.

[modage]

http://www.filmforum.org/films/imnotthere.html

Wednesday, November 21 – Tuesday, December 4 • On Two Screens
Showtimes: 1:00, 1:15, 3:45, 4:00, 6:30, 7:00, 9:15, 9:30

[cron]

HOLY CRAP

[Pubrick]

^agreed.

except for 'HE IS EVERYONE. HE IS NO ONE.' that's lame.

[©brad]

^double agree. w/o that line it's really perfect.

[JG]

thats a great teaser. 

[Reinhold]

is the little black boy also playing bob dylan? i like his music but i guess i don't know as much about him as i should.

[MacGuffin]

Dylan Movie to Open Like a Rolling Premiere
Source: New York Times

Imagine you're a film distributor, handling an experimental movie by one of the country's most iconoclastic directors. The subject is an enigmatic occasional recluse who is being portrayed by four actors, an actress and a 13-year-old boy. Where do you open that film?

If you're very lucky, you get to book it at Film Forum, perhaps the most exclusive art-house cinema in Manhattan.

Now what do you do with a movie that stars Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Christian Bale and Heath Ledger; whose subject is Bob Dylan; and whose director is the Oscar-nominated Todd Haynes?

Same answer. Same film. Which is what's making the planned Nov. 21 release of "I'm Not There," Mr. Haynes's rumination on Mr. Dylan's lives and times, something of a curiosity.

In addition to Film Forum, the film's distributor, the Weinstein Company, will be opening the movie in just three other theaters, one more in New York and two in Los Angeles, giving it the kind of debut that might be afforded a Mexican documentary. Even "Velvet Goldmine" — the previous Weinstein-Haynes collaboration, about the British glam-rock scene of the 1970s, which starred an unknown Jonathan Rhys Meyers — began in 85 theaters in 1998.

But Harvey Weinstein, the company's co-chairman, said the slow rollout was the best way to nurture an unconventional, nonlinear movie like "I'm Not There," in which the above-mentioned stars play Mr. Dylan at particular stages of his life. Shot in styles that correspond to each Dylan epoch, "I'm Not There" sometimes looks like "A Hard Day's Night," elsewhere like "McCabe and Mrs. Miller," with Mr. Dylan's life being imbued with mythic American qualities.

"With a movie like this you have to build it," said Mr. Weinstein, who founded the company with his brother, Bob, two years ago after an acrimonious split from the Walt Disney Company saw them relinquish control of Miramax. "I don't think you can go out on 500 screens. The reason for Film Forum is you go where the best word of mouth is on the movie. I like the movie; I think it's adventurous. The audience is going to have to work — work in a good way."

Mr. Weinstein said that a similar approach had worked for two of Miramax's biggest successes. "Good Will Hunting" opened in New York and Los Angeles and eventually brought in nearly $140 million at the domestic box office, while "Chicago" began the same way and grossed $170 million. Those films had larger openings, however: "Good Will Hunting" (with the rising stars Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) in 7 theaters, "Chicago" in 77.

"I'm not saying this movie's going to come anywhere near those," Mr. Weinstein said, "but I have a tendency to start small and go big. If we threw this movie out wide, I don't know what it would do. I think we have to start somewhere."

The "somewhere" means Film Forum, "a real cathedral of cinema" according to Mr. Haynes's longtime producer, Christine Vachon, which has presented the premieres of work by Ingmar Bergman, Jean-Luc Godard, Hal Hartley, Claude Chabrol, Spike Lee and Lars von Trier, among many others. But rarely does it get star-laden films like "I'm Not There." And for it to agree to have another theater share a New York premiere is a rare move.

"We did it with 'Saraband,' " said Karen Cooper, Film Forum's director, referring to Mr. Bergman's last American release. "Lincoln Plaza opened it the same day, and I don't think either of us were happy. I thought the same crowd that lined up to see 'Scenes From a Marriage' would want to see 'Scenes From a Divorce.' I was wrong."

Ms. Cooper said that she was offered shared openings all the time and regularly turned them down. But she said that she and Mike Maggiore, Film Forum's programmer and publicist, decided the Haynes film was so remarkable that they would not mind sharing it with Lincoln Plaza. In Los Angeles, "I'm Not There" will open at the Westside Pavilion and ArcLight Cinemas.

Conventional movie-business wisdom says that if a film fails to catch fire at its opening theater, it will not move much farther. But Mr. Weinstein said there was "not a chance" he would not take this film into more theaters and cities, regardless of its fate on the coasts. "I'm going to play every major city in the United States with this movie," he said. "I'll play 100 cities, at least."

He said he also planned to position Ms. Blanchett, who plays Mr. Dylan during his "Blonde on Blonde" phase, for an Oscar. (Mr. Bale corresponds to "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," Mr. Ledger to "John Wesley Harding.")

"I may be jumping the gun," Mr. Weinstein said, "but if Cate Blanchett doesn't get nominated, I'll shoot myself."

Films considered Oscar-worthy are released in various ways. Last year, Pedro Almodóvar's "Volver" and its star, Penélope Cruz, were seen as possible contenders, but Sony Pictures Classics opened the film in only six theaters. (It ultimately grossed close to $13 million.) Another nominee-to-be, "Pan's Labyrinth," opened on 17 screens. It has made approximately $37 million. Both those films, however, were in Spanish, and foreign-language films are a hard sell to the American moviegoer.

"I'm Not There," which will play at film festivals in Venice, Toronto and New York, is Mr. Haynes's first movie since "Far From Heaven," his critically acclaimed 2002 homage to the melodramas of Douglas Sirk. The film, which has Mr. Dylan's blessing, is also, according to Ms. Vachon, his most expensive film, although she declined to divulge the amount. ("Far From Heaven" cost $13.5 million, according to boxofficemojo.com.)

Though Mr. Haynes, who was unavailable for this article, has never had a major commercial success except for "Far From Heaven," he has never suffered a lack of critical acclaim. His "Poison," for example, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991, and "Far From Heaven" received four Academy Award nominations, including one for its star, Julianne Moore. But Mr. Weinstein said the decision to pick up "I'm Not There" was not purely about making money but about an obligation to have important movies distributed.

"That's the story of my life," he said. "That's exactly what I believe in. 'I'm Not There' and some of the tougher stuff — it's not going to be 'The Nanny Diaries,' you know. But I've been very fortunate that what I've believed in has worked, and even when it doesn't work, we make money in other areas to cover that. It is my responsibility and, more importantly, it's my passion."

[modage]

more pics: http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/15883457/bob_dylans_im_not_there/1

[MacGuffin]

I'm Not There
Source: Entertainment Weekly

''I wanted to explore Bob Dylan's almost violent need to reject the thing that everybody expected him to be,'' says director Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven) of his approach to the first Dylan feature to be approved by the music legend. ''I figured the strongest way to do that would be to dramatize the changes by depicting him as a series of shifting personas.'' To that end, actors such as Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, and even Cate Blanchett portray him. ''Of course,'' says Haynes, ''we're dying for him to see it.''

[MacGuffin]

You Cate believe who is playing Bob Dylan
Source: Daily Mail

As the 'chameleon' of actors Cate Blanchett is used to adopting a number of guises.

From her breakthrough role as Elizabeth I - through to her Oscar-winning turn as Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator - she is as mesmerising playing historical figures as she is modern ones.

However her next role will surely outdo all the others when her performance inspired by legendary folk singer Bob Dylan hits the big screen.

Looking unrecognisable from her usual polished blonde self, Blanchett has donned a wig, shades and leather jacket - all black of course - to rival that of the Mr Tambourine Man's distinctive '60s look.

There is of course the mandatory guitar, harmonica and cigarette close at hand to add to the air of authenticity.

The Australian actress, 38, is one of six actors including Heath Ledger, Richard Gere and up-and-coming British actor Ben Whishaw who will make an appearance as Dylan - each embodying a different aspect of his life story and music.

However Blanchett's casting is by far the most unconventional - and the usually unflappable actress said the prospect of it "terrified" her.

Blanchett told the Guardian: "I have always loved his (Dylan) music, but I'm terrified about this because I am besotted".

"I watched the press conference he gave in San Francisco in 1965, or whenever it was, and just think, 'I love you'.

She added: "The worst thing an actor can do is fall in love with someone they're about to portray, but I'm not playing him - my character is called Jude.

"It's a riff on who Bob Dylan could possibly be. When I saw the script I thought, 'This is so out there I can't run away from this'."

'I'm Not There' will look at Dylan's early days as a struggling folk-singer, his rise to the forefront of the early '60s folk scene, the controversial switch to rock, the motorcycle accident and his subsequent retreat from public view.

As well as his latter day de-emphasis of recording and his concentration on the concert series known as the Never Ending Tour.

[modage]

i have seen cate blanchett as bob dylan so many times already that the idea no longer seems weird at all.

[SiliasRuby]

this is going to be fantabulous. I love Bob's stuff. I don't care if I have high expectations, I really can't wait.

[Pubrick]

dylan looked like a fag when he was young anyway, so the idea of a bunch of fags and a woman playing him no longer seems weird at all.