Blanchett was scared to play Dylan says director

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-09-05 09:42

In her black-and-white sequences, Blanchett's hair is dark and frizzy, and she adopts some of the mannerisms of Dylan, although the performance is not meant as a direct mimic.

DYLAN APPROVAL

The open-ended nature of "I'm Not There" meant the film was the first dramatic portrayal of his life Dylan had ever approved, Haynes said.

"I do think it was because of this open structure, something that would keep expanding who he is and what he's about and not reducing it, which I think is the tendency in the traditional biopic to do."

Also playing Dylan are Gere, young black actor Marcus Carl Franklin, Christian Bale, Heath Ledgerand Ben Whishaw.

Old-style, black-and-white footage is mixed with color sequences for Gere and Ledger and with real news footage of U.S. protests in the 1960s and scenes from the Vietnam War.

In production notes for the film, Haynes said these were his way of channeling anger he felt over the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The relatively obscure Dylan track "I'm Not There" was used for the title to portray the singer retreating from public life in the 1960s.

Gere plays Dylan as the fabled outlaw Billy the Kid, who after finding refuge in the town of Riddle is forced to abandon his sanctuary and move on.

"He (Dylan) had been living ... in the world where every step he took, every breath he took was monitored, discussed, debated," Haynes explained.

"Then he had his motorcycle crash ... and he settled in Woodstock, disappeared, raised a family, went into the basement and recorded all this mysterious music with The Band and basically in a weird way he almost never came back again.

"He never reentered that central spotlight again."

Previous 1 2 Next Page