I'm Not There (the Dylan movie starring Heath)

[MaineWriter]

There is a very long article in the New York Times about this  movie. I am just posting the first few paragraphs here, with the URL for those who want to read the whole thing.


October 7, 2007
This is Not a Bob Dylan Movie
By ROBERT SULLIVAN

You could begin the story of Todd Haynes’s Dylan movie at the very beginning, about seven years ago, while Haynes was driving cross-country in his beat-up old Honda. But since Todd Haynes’s film about Dylan is as much about Todd Haynes as it is about Dylan (or maybe even more); and since Haynes is a filmmaker who, in midcareer at age 46, is doing his best to take the experimental into the multiplex; and, further, since those who don’t like the film are likely to consider it a kind of gorgeous indulgence, a bizarre experiment, the temptation is to skip the ordinary narrative introduction and begin at the end, or very near the end, in this case in the last few days of filming, on the outskirts of Montreal, where, way in the back of a dark and cavernous and disused factory, there was a white glowing light, like something in a dream. We begin then with an image — an image that is all about, believe it or not, the relationship between Haynes and his film, between Dylan and Haynes, between the artist and the subject he is trying to portray.

Todd Haynes’s Dylan project is a biopic starring six people as Bob Dylan, or different incarnations of Bob Dylan, including a 13-year-old African-American boy, Marcus Carl Franklin, and an Australian woman, Cate Blanchett. It’s a biopic with a title that takes it name from one of the most obscure titles in the Dylan canon, a song available only as a bootleg, called “I’m Not There.” As I arrived at the set outside Montreal and pulled into a mud-swamped parking lot, disembarking and moving toward the great white light, I passed through the recreated past — namely the ’60s and ’70s. There was a sign for Folk City, for instance, and a fake cover for “Bringing It All Back Home,” a mock-up with the actress Cate Blanchett on it. There was a part of a bedroom from the ’70s and, on a nearby stand, a copy of “Les Illuminations,” by Arthur Rimbaud, the artist who seems to have inspired Dylan in his early days nearly as much as he inspired Todd Haynes. The book, the filmgoer will learn, shows up in a scene involving the ’70s superstar Dylan, a kind of jerk Dylan, played by Heath Ledger, who was just leaving the old factory: it was like a Grand Central Station of movie stars, as Ledger was on his way back to the Montreal apartment that he and the actress Michelle Williams had been staying in together for the past few weeks. Williams plays Coco Rivington, socialite, love interest of Blanchett’s Dylan, who is known in the film as Jude Quinn, the electric, rebellious Dylan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/magazine/07Haynes.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin

[RouxB]

Great trailer

 

[Ellemeno]

Here is the international trailer for I?m Not There.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid348381898/bclid348522714/bctid1271722633

I LOVED it!  Thanks Adiabatic!! 

I almost didn't watch it because I figured it was the trailer I had already seen.

[oilgun]

Has anyone bought the Soundtrack yet?  It came out Oct 30th (on my birthday!).  I couldn't find it in stores so I ordered it from Amazon.  I can't wait! (EDIT:  I cancelled my Amazon order because I just found a copy and I'm listening to it now!)  Except for the title track it's all covers of Dylan songs by different artists including Yo La Tengo, Eddie Vedder, Jack Johnson and even Charlotte Gainsbourg who sings Just Like a Woman.  Unfortunately, Heath isn't listed

Disc: 1   
1. All Along the Watchtower - Million Dollar Bashers, Eddie Vedder   
2. I'm Not There - Sonic Youth   
3. Goin' to Acapulco - Calexico, Jim James   
4. Tombstone Blues - Richie Havens   
5. Ballad of a Thin Man - Stephen Malkmus, Million Dollar Bashers   
6. Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again - Cat Power   
7. Pressing on - John Doe   
8. Fourth Time Around - Yo La Tengo   
9. Dark Eyes - Calexico, Iron & Wine   
10. Highway 61 Revisited - Million Dollar Bashers, Karen O   
11. One More Cup of Coffee - Calexico, Roger McGuinn   
12. Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll - Mason Jennings   
13. Billy 1 - Los Lobos   
14. Simple Twist of Fate - Jeff Tweedy   
15. Man in the Long Black Coat - Mark Lanegan   
16. Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) - Calexico, Willie Nelson   

Disc: 2   
1. As I Went Out One Morning - Mira Billotte   
2. Can't Leave Her Behind - Stephen Malkmus, Lee Ranaldo   
3. Ring Them Bells - Sufjan Stevens   
4. Just Like a Woman - Calexico, Charlotte Gainsbourg   
5. Mama You've Been on My Mind/A Fraction of Last Thoughts on Woody Guthri - Jack Johnson   
6. I Wanna Be Your Lover - Yo La Tengo   
7. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere - Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová   
8. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? - The Hold Steady   
9. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues - Ramblin' Jack Elliott   
10. Wicked Messenger - The Black Keys   
11. Cold Irons Bound - Million Dollar Bashers, Tom Verlaine   
12. Times They Are a Changin' - Mason Jennings   
13. Maggie's Farm - Stephen Malkmus, Million Dollar Bashers   
14. When the Ship Comes in - Marcus Franklin   
15. Moonshiner - Bob Forrest   
16. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine - John Doe   
17. Knockin' on Heaven's Door - Antony and the Johnsons   
18. I'm Not There - The Band, Bob Dylan


Also, is anyone going to see I'm Not There - In Concert on Nov 8th in New York?  It features many artists who appear on the soundtrack as well as Todd Haynes and Heath Baby as special guests.  It's at the Beacon Theatre.  There's more info at the movie's website:
http://www.imnotthere.info/

[smellykellyjay]

At the New York Film Forum
Wednesday, November 21 – Tuesday, December 4
http://www.filmforum.org/

It's been update:  http://www.filmforum.org/films/imnotthere.html

I'm planning to be there the afternoon of the 21st.  The evening shows are all sold out. 

In addition. . . 

http://www.movingimage.us/site/screenings/index.html

 I'm Not There
With Todd Haynes in person
Saturday, November 10, 7:00 p.m.
At AMC Loews West 34th Street 14, 312 West 34th Street, Manhattan

2007, 135 mins. 35mm print courtesy The Weinstein Company. Directed by Todd Haynes. With Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw. Todd Haynes reinvents and expands the biopic with his kaleidoscopic view of Bob Dylan, played by six actors.
Tickets $12 Museum members/free for Sponsor level and above/$18 non-members. Advance tickets are sold out. Stand-by tickets available at the door.

No minute like the last one, huh?  I won't be able to attend this one. 

[southendmd]

Funny you should mention that, Kelly, because I went tonight!  I wouldn't have known about were it not for the announcement in the program last night with Ang and James.  (And since most of Broadway is on strike, I took a chance for stand-by tickets to this film.)


First of all, for all you Heathens out there, Heath bares all in the first few minutes, however briefly.

I'm not a big Dylan fan, and I'm not familiar with all his "periods", but I still enjoyed the film.  It's overall quirky and choppy and a bit too long.  But, as director Todd Haynes said tonight, he wanted to preserve the genuine weirdness that is Dylan.  I would say he succeeded. 

Heath was very good, especially interacting with Charlotte Gainsbourg's character.  Michelle has a couple of brief but interesting scenes--I found it difficult to recognize her.  Christian Bale was earnest; I didn't really follow the whole Richard Gere sequence. 

The kid who plays "Woody", Marcus Carl Franklin, was astonishing.  I expect we'll see more of this gifted actor.

The film belongs to Cate Blanchett.  She is made to look--and manages to sound--the most archetypically Dylan-like, full of nervous energy and rebelliousness. 

Bruce Greenwood was a surprise guest.  He was very effective as Mr. Jones.  He spoke about how the giant sound stage was dominated by Cate's performance; the crew was drawn in by her  energy.  Later, she would appear as herself, and, Bruce said, everyone would say, "Who's the blond chick?"

It's great to be in New York!  If I lived here, I could see joining the Museum of the Moving Image with all the terrific programming they have.

[ifyoucantfixit]

        I really cant wait to  see this movie...

        Thank you Paul, for the review.

[Ellemeno]

Thanks Paul!  Can't wait. 

[MaineWriter]

Thanks for that review, Paul. Sounds great.

[Ellemeno]

I'm Not There leads Spirit noms
Wednesday, 28 Nov 2007 12:10

Cate Blanchett is one of six actors to play Dylan in Todd Haynes' dazzling biopic.

Todd Haynes' Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There has been announced as the 2008 Independent Spirit awards frontrunner, with four major nominations.

Six different actors play the revered songwriter in Haynes' film, including Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and Richard Gere.

But its unorthodox approach to the Blonde on Blonde legend's life is exemplified by the parts played by Cate Blanchett and young black actor Marcus Carl Franklin, who received best supporting actress and best supporting actor nominations.

The film was also nominated for best feature, alongside Juno, The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, A Mighty Heart and Paranoid Park, while Haynes received a best director nomination.

And I'm Not There was yesterday confirmed as the recipient of the event's inaugural Robert Altman award, a prize given in honour of the late auteur to the director, casting agent and cast of an outstanding independent film.

Tony Leung and Tang Wei, the stars of Ang Lee's Venice Golden Lion winner Lust, Caution, are named in the best actor and best actress categories, while Julie Delpy is nominated for best first feature for her debut 2 Days In Paris.

Angelina Jolie's role as widow Marianne Pearl sees her as the firm favourite in the best actress category, with Wei, Sienna Miller (Interview) Parker Posey (Broken English) and Ellen Page (Juno) nominated.

Leung faces stiff competition from Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Savages) Frank Langella (Starting Out In The Evening) Don Cheadle (Talk To Me) and Pedro Castaneda (August Evening).

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/entertainment/reviews/countries/france/im-not-there-leads-spirit-noms-$1173168.htm