I'm Not There
Encyclopedia
I'm Not There is a 2007 biographical
musical film
directed by Todd Haynes
, inspired
by iconic
American singer-songwriter
Bob Dylan
. Six actors depict different facets of Dylan's life and public persona: Christian Bale
, Cate Blanchett
, Marcus Carl Franklin
, Richard Gere
, Heath Ledger
, and Ben Whishaw
. At the start of the film, a caption reads: "Inspired by the music and the many lives of Bob Dylan". Besides song credits, this is the only time Dylan's name appears in the film.
The film tells its story using non-traditional narrative techniques, intercutting the storylines of the six different Dylan-inspired characters. The title of the film is taken from the 1967 Dylan Basement Tape recording, "I'm Not There", a song that had not been officially released until it appeared on the film's soundtrack album
. The film received a generally favorable response, and appeared on several top ten film lists for 2007, topping the lists for The Village Voice
, Entertainment Weekly
, Salon
and The Boston Globe
. Particular praise went to Cate Blanchett for her performance, culminating in a Volpi Cup
from the Venice Film Festival
, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, along with an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
nomination.
The film was released two months prior to the death of the actor Heath Ledger
, and was one of his last films.
) (representing Dylan circa 1966) walking on stage to perform at a concert, before cutting to him riding on a motorcycle and then crashing. The film then cuts to Quinn's body on a mortuary slab and an autopsy begins. (This opening sequence refers to Bob Dylan's motorcycle accident in July 1966).
Woody Guthrie (Marcus Carl Franklin
), an 11-year old African American
boy, is seen carrying a guitar in a case labeled "This machine kills fascists
" as he travels the country, pursuing his dream of becoming a singer (Folk singer Woody Guthrie
had an identical label on his guitar.) Woody befriends the African-American Arvin family, who give him food and hospitality, and Woody in turn performs Bob Dylan's 1965 song "Tombstone Blues
", accompanied by Richie Havens
(as Old Man Arvin). At dinner, Mrs. Arvin advises Woody: "Live your own time, child, sing about your own time".
Later that night, Woody leaves the Arvins' home, leaving behind a note thanking them, and catches a ride on a train, where a group of thieves attempt to rob him. He jumps from the speeding train and dives into a river, where a white couple rescue him and take him to a hospital, before bringing him home. They receive a phone call from a juvenile correction center in Minnesota
from which Woody had escaped. The phone call prompts Woody's swift departure, and he takes a Greyhound bus to Greystone Park Hospital
in New Jersey
, where he visits (the real) Woody Guthrie, leaving flowers at Guthrie's bedside and playing his guitar. (Over the hospital sequence, Bob Dylan performs his song "Blind Willie McTell
".)
Ben Whishaw
plays a young man who shares his name with the nineteenth century French poet Arthur Rimbaud
. Arthur is solely seen in an interrogation room where he gives oblique answers to (unseen) questioners.
Christian Bale
plays Jack Rollins, a young folk singer, whose story is framed as a documentary and told by interviewees such as fictional folk singer named Alice Fabian—described by some critics as a Joan Baez
-like figure—played by Julianne Moore
. Rollins is praised by folk fans who refer to his songs as anthems and protest songs, whereas Jack himself calls them finger-pointing songs. When Rollins accepts the "Tom Paine Award" from a civil rights organization, a drunken Rollins insults the audience and claims that he saw something of himself in JFK's alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald
. (Rollins's speech quotes from a speech Dylan made when receiving the Tom Paine Award from the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee
in December 1963.)
Bale also plays Pastor John, a Born Again Christian preacher, who appears to be the Jack Rollins character several years later, having traveled to California and entered a church to engage in Bible studies. He becomes a preacher and is seen declaring his faith to his fellow church members, where he performs "Pressing On" - a song written and performed by Dylan on his 1980 gospel
-influenced album Saved
.
Heath Ledger
plays Robbie Clark, an actor who is starring in a biopic about the life of Jack Rollins (the folk singer played by Christian Bale). This film-within-a-film is entitled Grain of Sand. (The film's title is a reference to the Dylan song "Every Grain of Sand
".) We see how Robbie met his French artist wife Claire, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg
, in a Greenwich Village
diner and they fell in love. (The scene in which Robbie and Claire run romantically through the streets of New York re-enacts the cover of the 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
which depicts Dylan arm in arm with his then-girlfriend Suze Rotolo
walking down West 4th Street in Greenwich Village.) Robbie and Claire attend the premiere of the movie, which turns out to be a disappointment for Claire and the audience. Robbie and Claire's relationship begins to unravel, as Claire glimpses Robbie touching another woman at a party and is disturbed by his misogynistic
attitude in comments such as "chicks can never be poets". At the end of their marriage, Robbie and Claire argue over custody of their children and Robbie and Claire file for divorce. The result of the custody battle seems to be in Claire's favor, but Robbie leaves taking his daughters on a boat trip while archival clips show Henry Kissinger
and Le Duc Tho
signing the Paris Peace Accords
. (Bob Dylan was divorced from his first wife, Sara Dylan
, on June 29, 1977 and the divorce involved legal wrangling over the custody of their children.) In the film, the relationship between Robbie and Claire lasts precisely as long as American involvement in the Vietnam War
.
Cate Blanchett
plays Jude Quinn, seen at a concert in a New England town, performing a rock version of "Maggie's Farm
" to the outraged folk music fans. (Dylan performed this song at the Newport Folk Festival
in 1965, which provoked booing and controversy
.) Jude is seen arriving at a press conference in London
and answering questions. (Some of these questions are quotes from Dylan's KQED press conference in San Francisco on December 3, 1965.) Later, in his hotel suite, Jude is threatened by a hotel waiter brandishing a knife, who is knocked out by Jude's lover with a vase. Jude's operations in London are supervised by his manager, Norman (who bears a resemblance to Bob Dylan's 1960s manager Albert Grossman
), played by Mark Camacho
. In a surreal episode, Jude is seen gambolling at high speed in a park with the Beatles
, following a cloud of smoke presumed to represent Dylan's introducing the band to cannabis
. (The speeded-up film echoes the style of Dick Lester's direction in A Hard Day's Night
). Jude is then confronted by BBC cultural reporter, Keenan Jones, played by Bruce Greenwood
(The name of this character echoes Dylan's song "Ballad of a Thin Man
" with its chorus: "Something is happening here/ And you don't know what it is, do you Mr. Jones?").
Jude and his entourage meet the poet Allen Ginsberg
, played by David Cross
, who suggests that Jude may be "selling out" to God. Keenan Jones later asks Jude whether he cares about what he sings about every night, to which Jude replies, "How can I answer that if you've got the nerve to ask me?" and walks out of the interview. (Dylan made a similar response to a reporter from Time magazine in D. A. Pennebaker's
documentary covering Dylan's 1965 English tour, Dont Look Back
). The Dylan song "Ballad of a Thin Man" plays as Keenan Jones moves through a surreal episode in which he appears to act out the song's lyrics. Jones is seen obtaining a copy of Jude Quinn's high school year book. In concert, Jude performs "Ballad of a Thin Man", when one of his outraged fans shouts "Judas!" Jude replies "I don't believe you". (This scene re-enacts the "Judas!" shout at Dylan's Manchester concert on May 17, 1966. The moment is captured on Dylan's album Live 1966.) As the fans rush the stage in an apparent attempt to attack Jude, he narrowly escapes with his band.
Back in his hotel suite, Jude watches Keenan Jones on television reveal that the true identity of Jude Quinn is "Aaron Jacob Edelstein" (In October 1963, Newsweek
published a hostile profile of Dylan, revealing that he was originally named Robert Zimmerman, and implying that he had lied about his middle-class origins.). Jude later throws a party where his guests include Brian Jones
, The Rolling Stones
guitarist, and wealthy socialite and "queen of the underground" Coco Rivington, whom Jude insults. (The description of Rivington as "Andy's new bird" suggests that this character is modeled on Edie Sedgwick
, a socialite and actress within Andy Warhol
's circle.) As Jude's condition from drug usage worsens, he vomits in his friend's lap. Jude and Allen Ginsberg are later seen at the foot of a huge crucifix, apparently talking to Jesus. Jude shouts at the figure on the cross: "Why don't you do your early stuff?" and "How does it feel?!". After being whisked off in a car, Jude passes out on the floor while his friends stare down at him. Jude's manager, Norman observes: "I don't think he can get back on stage. He's gotten inside so many psyches – and death is just such a part of the American scene right now." Jude is last seen in his car directly addressing the viewer, "Everyone knows I'm not a folk singer".
Richard Gere
portrays the outlaw Billy the Kid
. Billy searches unsuccessfully for his dog, Henry, and then meets his friend, Homer. Homer tells Billy about Pat Garrett's destruction of Riddle County and the high incidence of suicide and murder. As the townspeople celebrate Halloween
, a funeral takes place and a band performs Dylan's Basement Tapes song "Goin' to Acapulco" (sung by Jim James
and backed by the band Calexico). Following the service, Pat Garrett
(Bruce Greenwood – who earlier in the film played Keenan Jones, a journalist who had tried to interrogate Jude Quinn) arrives and confronts the townspeople. Billy dons a mask to disguise himself and tells Garrett to stay clear of Riddle County. Garrett then orders the authorities to arrest Billy and he is taken to the county jail. Billy escapes from the jail (with the help of Homer) and hops a ride on a train. Billy then sees his dog, Henry, one last time. Billy finds a guitar on the train that reads "This Machine kills Fascists", the same guitar that Woody Guthrie played at the beginning of the film. Billy's final words are "People are always talking about freedom, the freedom to live a certain way without being kicked around. 'Course the more you live a certain way the less it feels like freedom. Me? I can change during the course of a day. When I wake I'm one person, when I go to sleep I know for certain I'm somebody else. I don't know who I am most of the time. It's like you got yesterday, today and tomorrow all in the same room. There's no telling what can happen."
The film ends with a close-up of the real Bob Dylan playing an extended harmonica solo during a live performance of "Mr. Tambourine Man
". The footage was shot by D. A. Pennebaker
during Dylan's 1966 World Tour
.
The above six characters represent different aspects of Bob Dylan's life and music.
, approached Bob Dylan's manager, Jeff Rosen, to obtain permission to use Dylan's music and to fictionalize elements of Dylan's life. Rosen suggested that Haynes should send a one page synopsis of his film for submission to Dylan. Rosen advised Haynes not to use the word 'genius'. The page Haynes submitted began with a quote from Arthur Rimbaud
: "I is someone else", and then continued:
Dylan gave Haynes permission to proceed with his project. Haynes developed his screenplay with writer Oren Moverman
. In the course of writing, Haynes has acknowledged that he became uncertain whether he could successfully carry off a film which deliberately confused biography with fantasy in such an extreme way. According to the account of the film that Robert Sullivan published in the New York Times: "Haynes called Jeff Rosen, Dylan’s right hand, who was watching the deal-making but staying out of the scriptwriting. Rosen, he said, told him not to worry, that it was just his own crazy version of what Dylan is."
In a comment on why six actors were employed to portray different facets of Dylan's personality, Haynes wrote:
A seventh character, a Charlie Chaplin
-like incarnation of Dylan, was present in the script but was dropped before filming began.
, Quebec
, Canada
.
The film premiered at the 34th Telluride Film Festival
on August 31, 2007. It opened in theaters in Italy
and played the Toronto International Film Festival
in September 2007. It opened in limited release
in the United States
and Canada
in November, and was released in Australia
on Boxing Day
2007. It was rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America
for language
, some sexuality, nudity and drug use.
Rotten Tomatoes
reported that 78% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 141 reviews. Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 73 out of 100, based on 35 reviews.
Writing in The Chronicle of Higher Education
, critic Anthony DeCurtis
said that casting six different actors, including a woman and an African-American child, to play Dylan was "a preposterous idea, the sort of self-consciously 'audacious'—or reassuringly multi-culti—gambit that, for instance, doomed the Broadway musical based on the life and music of John Lennon
. Yet in I'm Not There, the strategy works brilliantly." He especially praised Blanchett:
Several reviewers praised Blanchett's performance as the mid-60s Dylan. Newsweek
magazine described Blanchett as "so convincing and intense that you shrink back in your seat when she fixes you with her gaze." The Charlotte Observer called Blanchett "miraculously close to the 1966 Dylan." The film won the Grand Jury Prize and Best Actress honors for Blanchett at the 64th Venice Film Festival
. Blanchett also won the Golden Globe Award
for her performance, in addition to several critics awards. She was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Academy Award.
Ed Siegel's piece in the Boston Globe called the film "A noble failure in grasping Dylan," but finds Haynes' film worthy to be considered part of "the wealth of high-quality material that Dylan has allowed to emerge in recent years." His article is equally focused on Dylan, whose ambiguity has inspired a variety of interpretations, compelling Siegel to suggest his own interpretation: "I'm All Here."
Luke Davies
, film critic for The Monthly
, declared it "a beautiful failure of a film" with "so much to love in it" but "unintentionally comical and inadvertently pretentious." Davies labelled the film a "biopic as kaleidoscopic poem rather than historical interpretation." Davies acclaims Blanchett's performance as the greatest success within the film, but claims that Blanchett's performance "actually draws energy inwards, creating a split between the failed Haynes film, and the successful Blanchett mini-film." However, Davies says such joy is inaccessible for non-fans of Dylan, because "I'm Not There would be utterly incomprehensible if you knew nothing of the Dylan story" as it is "an encyclopaedic poem of all that Bob Dylan passed through, in grand sweeps, over two decades."
Todd McCarthy
, writing in the film trade magazine Variety
, concluded that the film was well-made, but was ultimately a speciality event for Dylan fans, with little mainstream appeal. He wrote: "Dylan freaks and scholars will have the most fun with I'm Not There, and there will inevitably be innumerable dissertations on the ways Haynes has both reflected and distorted reality, mined and manipulated the biographical record and otherwise had a field day with the essentials, as well as the esoterica, of Dylan's life. All of this will serve to inflate the film's significance by ignoring its lack of more general accessibility. In the end, it's a specialists' event."
For Roger Ebert
, the film was enjoyable cinematically, yet never sought to resolve the enigmas of Dylan's life and work: "Coming away from I'm Not There, we have, first of all, heard some great music (Dylan surprisingly authorized use of his songs both on his own recordings and performed by others). We've seen six gifted actors challenged by playing facets of a complete man. We've seen a daring attempt at biography as collage. We've remained baffled by the Richard Gere cowboy sequence, which doesn't seem to know its purpose. And we have been left not one step closer to comprehending Bob Dylan, which is as it should be."
from Haynes, deleted scene
s, featurettes, a music video
, audition tapes for Marcus Carl Franklin
and Ben Whishaw
, a gag reel, a tribute to Heath Ledger
, a series of unreleased trailers featuring the six actors re-enacting the "Subterranean Homesick Blues
" promo film and a Bob Dylan filmography and discography.
" by The Monkees
, which plays in the background of a party scene set in London.
Biographical film
A biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...
musical film
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
directed by Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...
, inspired
Artistic inspiration
Inspiration refers to an unconscious burst of creativity in a literary, musical, or other artistic endeavour. Literally, the word means "breathed upon," and it has its origins in both Hellenism and Hebraism. The Greeks believed that inspiration came from the muses, as well as the gods Apollo and...
by iconic
Pop icon
A pop icon is a celebrity, character, or object whose exposure in pop culture constitutes a defining characteristic of a given society or era. The categorization is usually associated with elements such as longevity, ubiquity, and distinction. Moreover, "pop icon" status is distinguishable from...
American singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
. Six actors depict different facets of Dylan's life and public persona: Christian Bale
Christian Bale
Christian Charles Philip Bale is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses....
, Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
, Marcus Carl Franklin
Marcus Carl Franklin
Marcus Carl Franklin is an American actor. He is best known for portraying an incarnation of Bob Dylan who calls himself "Woody Guthrie" in the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There, written and directed by Todd Haynes...
, Richard Gere
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
, Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...
, and Ben Whishaw
Ben Whishaw
Benjamin John "Ben" Whishaw is an English actor who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Whishaw is perhaps best known for his breakthrough role as Hamlet, and his role as the lead character in Tom Tykwer's film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.-Early life:Whishaw was born and raised in...
. At the start of the film, a caption reads: "Inspired by the music and the many lives of Bob Dylan". Besides song credits, this is the only time Dylan's name appears in the film.
The film tells its story using non-traditional narrative techniques, intercutting the storylines of the six different Dylan-inspired characters. The title of the film is taken from the 1967 Dylan Basement Tape recording, "I'm Not There", a song that had not been officially released until it appeared on the film's soundtrack album
I'm Not There (soundtrack)
The soundtrack album for the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There was released as a double CD on October 30, 2007. It features only one recording by Dylan himself—his previously unreleased recording of the title song "I'm Not There" recorded during The Basement Tapes' sessions in 1967—plus...
. The film received a generally favorable response, and appeared on several top ten film lists for 2007, topping the lists for The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, Salon
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
and The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
. Particular praise went to Cate Blanchett for her performance, culminating in a Volpi Cup
Volpi Cup
The Volpi Cups are the principal awards given to actors at the Venice Film Festival. Formal acting awards were introduced in the second festival . Initially they were called Great Gold Medals of the National Fascist Association for Entertainment. The name Volpi Cup was introduced the following year...
from the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, along with an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
nomination.
The film was released two months prior to the death of the actor Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...
, and was one of his last films.
Plot
The film opens with Jude Quinn (Cate BlanchettCate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
) (representing Dylan circa 1966) walking on stage to perform at a concert, before cutting to him riding on a motorcycle and then crashing. The film then cuts to Quinn's body on a mortuary slab and an autopsy begins. (This opening sequence refers to Bob Dylan's motorcycle accident in July 1966).
Woody Guthrie (Marcus Carl Franklin
Marcus Carl Franklin
Marcus Carl Franklin is an American actor. He is best known for portraying an incarnation of Bob Dylan who calls himself "Woody Guthrie" in the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There, written and directed by Todd Haynes...
), an 11-year old African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
boy, is seen carrying a guitar in a case labeled "This machine kills fascists
This machine kills fascists
"This Machine Kills Fascists" is a sticker on Woody Guthrie's guitar, that has inspired many artists. It is based on inscriptions painted on the sides of airplanes used in the Spanish Civil War....
" as he travels the country, pursuing his dream of becoming a singer (Folk singer Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
had an identical label on his guitar.) Woody befriends the African-American Arvin family, who give him food and hospitality, and Woody in turn performs Bob Dylan's 1965 song "Tombstone Blues
Tombstone Blues
"Tombstone Blues" is the second track off Bob Dylan's album Highway 61 Revisited. Musically it is a straightforward blues song, however the lyrics are typical of Dylan's free-associate surreal style of the period, with such lines as "the sun's not yellow, it's chicken".It was performed by Marcus...
", accompanied by Richie Havens
Richie Havens
Richard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...
(as Old Man Arvin). At dinner, Mrs. Arvin advises Woody: "Live your own time, child, sing about your own time".
Later that night, Woody leaves the Arvins' home, leaving behind a note thanking them, and catches a ride on a train, where a group of thieves attempt to rob him. He jumps from the speeding train and dives into a river, where a white couple rescue him and take him to a hospital, before bringing him home. They receive a phone call from a juvenile correction center in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
from which Woody had escaped. The phone call prompts Woody's swift departure, and he takes a Greyhound bus to Greystone Park Hospital
Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital
Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital refers to both the former psychiatric hospital and the historic building that it occupied in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township .A new facility was built on the large Greystone campus and bears...
in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, where he visits (the real) Woody Guthrie, leaving flowers at Guthrie's bedside and playing his guitar. (Over the hospital sequence, Bob Dylan performs his song "Blind Willie McTell
Blind Willie McTell (song)
"Blind Willie McTell" is a song by Bob Dylan, titled after the blues singer Blind Willie McTell. It was recorded in 1983 but left off Dylan's album Infidels and officially released in 1991 on the The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 1961-1991. The melody is loosely based on "St. James Infirmary Blues"...
".)
Ben Whishaw
Ben Whishaw
Benjamin John "Ben" Whishaw is an English actor who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Whishaw is perhaps best known for his breakthrough role as Hamlet, and his role as the lead character in Tom Tykwer's film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.-Early life:Whishaw was born and raised in...
plays a young man who shares his name with the nineteenth century French poet Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
. Arthur is solely seen in an interrogation room where he gives oblique answers to (unseen) questioners.
Christian Bale
Christian Bale
Christian Charles Philip Bale is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses....
plays Jack Rollins, a young folk singer, whose story is framed as a documentary and told by interviewees such as fictional folk singer named Alice Fabian—described by some critics as a Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
-like figure—played by Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
. Rollins is praised by folk fans who refer to his songs as anthems and protest songs, whereas Jack himself calls them finger-pointing songs. When Rollins accepts the "Tom Paine Award" from a civil rights organization, a drunken Rollins insults the audience and claims that he saw something of himself in JFK's alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
. (Rollins's speech quotes from a speech Dylan made when receiving the Tom Paine Award from the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee
National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee
The National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee was an organization formed in 1951 to "to reestablish the freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and The Bill of Rights", and was called the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee until 1968...
in December 1963.)
Bale also plays Pastor John, a Born Again Christian preacher, who appears to be the Jack Rollins character several years later, having traveled to California and entered a church to engage in Bible studies. He becomes a preacher and is seen declaring his faith to his fellow church members, where he performs "Pressing On" - a song written and performed by Dylan on his 1980 gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
-influenced album Saved
Saved (album)
Saved is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 20th studio album, released by Columbia Records in June 1980.Saved was the second album of Dylan's "Christian trilogy," following his conversion to born-again Christianity. It expanded on themes explored on its predecessor, Slow Train Coming, with gospel...
.
Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...
plays Robbie Clark, an actor who is starring in a biopic about the life of Jack Rollins (the folk singer played by Christian Bale). This film-within-a-film is entitled Grain of Sand. (The film's title is a reference to the Dylan song "Every Grain of Sand
Every Grain of Sand
Every Grain of Sand is a song written by Bob Dylan and originally released on his 1981 album Shot of Love. It was subsequently included on the compilation Biograph. An alternate take of this song was released in The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 1961-1991...
".) We see how Robbie met his French artist wife Claire, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg is an Anglo-French actress and singer. After releasing an album with her father at the age of fifteen, more than twenty years passed before she released two albums as an adult to commercial and critical success...
, in a Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
diner and they fell in love. (The scene in which Robbie and Claire run romantically through the streets of New York re-enacts the cover of the 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in May 1963 by Columbia Records. Whereas his debut album Bob Dylan had contained only two original songs, Freewheelin initiated the process of writing contemporary words to traditional melodies....
which depicts Dylan arm in arm with his then-girlfriend Suze Rotolo
Suze Rotolo
Susan Elizabeth Rotolo , known as Suze Rotolo , was an American artist, but is perhaps best known as Bob Dylan's girlfriend between 1961 and 1964 and a strong influence on his music...
walking down West 4th Street in Greenwich Village.) Robbie and Claire attend the premiere of the movie, which turns out to be a disappointment for Claire and the audience. Robbie and Claire's relationship begins to unravel, as Claire glimpses Robbie touching another woman at a party and is disturbed by his misogynistic
Misogyny
Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...
attitude in comments such as "chicks can never be poets". At the end of their marriage, Robbie and Claire argue over custody of their children and Robbie and Claire file for divorce. The result of the custody battle seems to be in Claire's favor, but Robbie leaves taking his daughters on a boat trip while archival clips show Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
and Le Duc Tho
Le Duc Tho
Lê Đức Thọ , born Phan Đình Khải in Ha Nam province, was a Vietnamese revolutionary, general, diplomat, and politician, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1973, although he declined it....
signing the Paris Peace Accords
Paris Peace Accords
The Paris Peace Accords of 1973 intended to establish peace in Vietnam and an end to the Vietnam War, ended direct U.S. military involvement, and temporarily stopped the fighting between North and South Vietnam...
. (Bob Dylan was divorced from his first wife, Sara Dylan
Sara Dylan
Sara Dylan , born Shirley Marlin Noznisky and later known as Sara Lownds, was the first wife of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and mother of singer Jakob Dylan. She was married to Bob Dylan from November 1965 until June 1977.-Early life:Little is known about Sara Dylan's early life or family...
, on June 29, 1977 and the divorce involved legal wrangling over the custody of their children.) In the film, the relationship between Robbie and Claire lasts precisely as long as American involvement in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
plays Jude Quinn, seen at a concert in a New England town, performing a rock version of "Maggie's Farm
Maggie's Farm
"Maggie's Farm" is a song written by Bob Dylan, recorded on January 15, 1965, and released on the album Bringing It All Back Home on March 22 of that year...
" to the outraged folk music fans. (Dylan performed this song at the Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival
The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...
in 1965, which provoked booing and controversy
Electric Dylan controversy
By 1965, Bob Dylan had achieved the status of leading songwriter of the American folk music revival.Paul Simon suggested that Dylan's early compositions virtually took over the folk genre: "[Dylan's] early songs were very rich ... with strong melodies. 'Blowin' in the Wind' has a really strong...
.) Jude is seen arriving at a press conference in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and answering questions. (Some of these questions are quotes from Dylan's KQED press conference in San Francisco on December 3, 1965.) Later, in his hotel suite, Jude is threatened by a hotel waiter brandishing a knife, who is knocked out by Jude's lover with a vase. Jude's operations in London are supervised by his manager, Norman (who bears a resemblance to Bob Dylan's 1960s manager Albert Grossman
Albert Grossman
Albert Bernard Grossman was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music scene and rock and roll. He was most famous as the manager of Bob Dylan between 1962 and 1970.-Biography:...
), played by Mark Camacho
Mark Camacho
Mark Camacho is a Canadian actor who has starred in many films, and more notably, some voice acting roles, such as Oliver Frensky in Arthur, Lyle in Animal Crackers, Dad in Rotten Ralph, Harry and Dragon in Potatoes and Dragons, Spritz T...
. In a surreal episode, Jude is seen gambolling at high speed in a park with the Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, following a cloud of smoke presumed to represent Dylan's introducing the band to cannabis
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
. (The speeded-up film echoes the style of Dick Lester's direction in A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night (film)
A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists...
). Jude is then confronted by BBC cultural reporter, Keenan Jones, played by Bruce Greenwood
Bruce Greenwood
Bruce Greenwood is a Canadian actor and musician. He is generally known for his roles as U.S. presidents in Thirteen Days and National Treasure: Book of Secrets and for his role as Captain Christopher Pike in the 2009 Star Trek film...
(The name of this character echoes Dylan's song "Ballad of a Thin Man
Ballad of a Thin Man
"Ballad of a Thin Man" is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan, released on the album Highway 61 Revisited in 1965.-Meaning:"Ballad of a Thin Man" comments on a conventional "Mr. Jones", who walks into a room of intentionally bizarre circus freaks and doesn't "know what's happening".The...
" with its chorus: "Something is happening here/ And you don't know what it is, do you Mr. Jones?").
Jude and his entourage meet the poet Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, played by David Cross
David Cross
David Cross is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian perhaps best known for his work on HBO's sketch comedy series Mr...
, who suggests that Jude may be "selling out" to God. Keenan Jones later asks Jude whether he cares about what he sings about every night, to which Jude replies, "How can I answer that if you've got the nerve to ask me?" and walks out of the interview. (Dylan made a similar response to a reporter from Time magazine in D. A. Pennebaker's
D. A. Pennebaker
Donn Alan Pennebaker is an American documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers of Direct Cinema/Cinéma vérité. Performing arts and politics are his primary subjects.-Biography:...
documentary covering Dylan's 1965 English tour, Dont Look Back
Dont Look Back
Dont Look Back is a 1967 documentary film by D.A. Pennebaker that covers Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour in the United Kingdom.In 1998, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically...
). The Dylan song "Ballad of a Thin Man" plays as Keenan Jones moves through a surreal episode in which he appears to act out the song's lyrics. Jones is seen obtaining a copy of Jude Quinn's high school year book. In concert, Jude performs "Ballad of a Thin Man", when one of his outraged fans shouts "Judas!" Jude replies "I don't believe you". (This scene re-enacts the "Judas!" shout at Dylan's Manchester concert on May 17, 1966. The moment is captured on Dylan's album Live 1966.) As the fans rush the stage in an apparent attempt to attack Jude, he narrowly escapes with his band.
Back in his hotel suite, Jude watches Keenan Jones on television reveal that the true identity of Jude Quinn is "Aaron Jacob Edelstein" (In October 1963, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
published a hostile profile of Dylan, revealing that he was originally named Robert Zimmerman, and implying that he had lied about his middle-class origins.). Jude later throws a party where his guests include Brian Jones
Brian Jones
Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones , known as Brian Jones, was an English musician and a founding member of the Rolling Stones....
, The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
guitarist, and wealthy socialite and "queen of the underground" Coco Rivington, whom Jude insults. (The description of Rivington as "Andy's new bird" suggests that this character is modeled on Edie Sedgwick
Edie Sedgwick
Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
, a socialite and actress within Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's circle.) As Jude's condition from drug usage worsens, he vomits in his friend's lap. Jude and Allen Ginsberg are later seen at the foot of a huge crucifix, apparently talking to Jesus. Jude shouts at the figure on the cross: "Why don't you do your early stuff?" and "How does it feel?!". After being whisked off in a car, Jude passes out on the floor while his friends stare down at him. Jude's manager, Norman observes: "I don't think he can get back on stage. He's gotten inside so many psyches – and death is just such a part of the American scene right now." Jude is last seen in his car directly addressing the viewer, "Everyone knows I'm not a folk singer".
Richard Gere
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
portrays the outlaw Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid
William H. Bonney William H. Bonney William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. est. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881, better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier...
. Billy searches unsuccessfully for his dog, Henry, and then meets his friend, Homer. Homer tells Billy about Pat Garrett's destruction of Riddle County and the high incidence of suicide and murder. As the townspeople celebrate Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
, a funeral takes place and a band performs Dylan's Basement Tapes song "Goin' to Acapulco" (sung by Jim James
Jim James
James Edward Olliges Jr. , professionally known as Jim James or Yim Yames, is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of Louisville, Kentucky-based rock band My Morning Jacket. James grew up in the Hikes Point neighborhood of Louisville, attended St. Martha grade school and graduated...
and backed by the band Calexico). Following the service, Pat Garrett
Pat Garrett
Patrick Floyd "Pat" Garrett was an American Old West lawman, bartender, and customs agent who was best known for killing Billy the Kid...
(Bruce Greenwood – who earlier in the film played Keenan Jones, a journalist who had tried to interrogate Jude Quinn) arrives and confronts the townspeople. Billy dons a mask to disguise himself and tells Garrett to stay clear of Riddle County. Garrett then orders the authorities to arrest Billy and he is taken to the county jail. Billy escapes from the jail (with the help of Homer) and hops a ride on a train. Billy then sees his dog, Henry, one last time. Billy finds a guitar on the train that reads "This Machine kills Fascists", the same guitar that Woody Guthrie played at the beginning of the film. Billy's final words are "People are always talking about freedom, the freedom to live a certain way without being kicked around. 'Course the more you live a certain way the less it feels like freedom. Me? I can change during the course of a day. When I wake I'm one person, when I go to sleep I know for certain I'm somebody else. I don't know who I am most of the time. It's like you got yesterday, today and tomorrow all in the same room. There's no telling what can happen."
The film ends with a close-up of the real Bob Dylan playing an extended harmonica solo during a live performance of "Mr. Tambourine Man
Mr. Tambourine Man
"Mr. Tambourine Man" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan, which was released on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. The Byrds also recorded a version of the song that was released as their first single on Columbia Records, reaching number 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and...
". The footage was shot by D. A. Pennebaker
D. A. Pennebaker
Donn Alan Pennebaker is an American documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers of Direct Cinema/Cinéma vérité. Performing arts and politics are his primary subjects.-Biography:...
during Dylan's 1966 World Tour
Bob Dylan World Tour 1966
The Bob Dylan World Tour 1966 was a concert tour undertaken by American musician Bob Dylan, from February to May 1966. Dylan's 1966 World Tour was notable as the first tour where Dylan employed an electric band backing him, following his "going electric" at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival...
.
Cast
- Marcus Carl FranklinMarcus Carl FranklinMarcus Carl Franklin is an American actor. He is best known for portraying an incarnation of Bob Dylan who calls himself "Woody Guthrie" in the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There, written and directed by Todd Haynes...
as "Woody GuthrieWoody GuthrieWoodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
". This character refers to Dylan's youthful obsession with folk singer Woody GuthrieWoody GuthrieWoodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
. Woody also reflects the fictitious autobiographies that Dylan constructed during his early career as he established his artistic identity. - Christian BaleChristian BaleChristian Charles Philip Bale is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses....
as Jack Rollins / Pastor John. Rollins is a portrayal of Dylan during the acoustic Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and The Times They Are a-Changin'The Times They Are a-Changin'The Times They Are a-Changin opens with the title track, one of Dylan's most famous songs. Dylan's friend, Tony Glover, recalls visiting Dylan's apartment in September 1963, where he saw a number of song manuscripts and poems lying on a table. "The Times They Are a-Changin'" had yet to be recorded,...
period. Pastor John refers to Dylan's "born-again" period when he recorded Slow Train ComingSlow Train ComingSlow Train Coming is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 19th studio album, released by Columbia Records in August 1979.It was the artist's first effort since becoming a born-again Christian, and all of the songs either express his strong personal faith, or stress the importance of Christian teachings...
and SavedSaved (album)Saved is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 20th studio album, released by Columbia Records in June 1980.Saved was the second album of Dylan's "Christian trilogy," following his conversion to born-again Christianity. It expanded on themes explored on its predecessor, Slow Train Coming, with gospel...
. - Cate BlanchettCate BlanchettCatherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
as Jude Quinn. Quinn is a portrayal of Dylan in 1965-1966, when he controversiallyElectric Dylan controversyBy 1965, Bob Dylan had achieved the status of leading songwriter of the American folk music revival.Paul Simon suggested that Dylan's early compositions virtually took over the folk genre: "[Dylan's] early songs were very rich ... with strong melodies. 'Blowin' in the Wind' has a really strong...
played electric guitar at the Newport Folk FestivalNewport Folk FestivalThe Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...
, toured the UK with a band and was booed. This phase of Dylan's life was documented by D.A. Pennebaker in the films Dont Look BackDont Look BackDont Look Back is a 1967 documentary film by D.A. Pennebaker that covers Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour in the United Kingdom.In 1998, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically...
and Eat the DocumentEat the DocumentEat the Document is a documentary of Bob Dylan's 1966 tour of the United Kingdom with the Hawks. It was shot under Dylan's direction by D. A. Pennebaker, whose groundbreaking documentary Dont Look Back [sic] chronicled Dylan's 1965 British tour...
. - Richard GereRichard GereRichard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
as "Billy the KidBilly the KidWilliam H. Bonney William H. Bonney William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. est. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881, better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier...
". Billy refers to Dylan's appearance in Sam Peckinpah'sSam PeckinpahDavid Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch...
film Pat Garrett and Billy the KidPat Garrett and Billy the KidPat Garrett and Billy the Kid is a 1973 Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson. Co-star Bob Dylan composed multiple songs for the movie's score and the album Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid was released the same year.The film was noted for...
and to Dylan's descriptions of himself as an outsider, a trait he believed he shared with the outlaw Henry McCarty (better known as Billy the Kid). The Billy sequences also allude to ways in which Dylan tried to evade the spotlight of unwanted attention, and employ AmericanaAmericanaAmericana refers to artifacts, or a collection of artifacts, related to the history, geography, folklore and cultural heritage of the United States. Many kinds of material fall within the definition of Americana: paintings, prints and drawings; license plates or entire vehicles, household objects,...
-style images from songs on The Basement TapesThe Basement TapesThe Basement Tapes is a 1975 studio album by Bob Dylan and The Band. The songs featuring Dylan's vocals were recorded in 1967, eight years before the album's release, at houses in and around Woodstock, New York, where Dylan and the Band lived...
. - Heath LedgerHeath LedgerHeath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...
as Robbie Clark, an actor who portrays Jack Rollins in a biopic and becomes as famous as the person he portrays; he navigates the course of a dissolving marriage (as well as flashbacks to their courtship), reflecting Dylan's own personal life roughly around the time of 1975's Blood on the TracksBlood on the TracksBlood on the Tracks is Bob Dylan's 15th studio album, released by Columbia Records in January 1975. The album marked Dylan's return to Columbia after a two-album stint with Asylum Records....
. - Ben WhishawBen WhishawBenjamin John "Ben" Whishaw is an English actor who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Whishaw is perhaps best known for his breakthrough role as Hamlet, and his role as the lead character in Tom Tykwer's film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.-Early life:Whishaw was born and raised in...
as "Arthur RimbaudArthur RimbaudJean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
". Rimbaud is depicted as a man being questioned and responding with quotes from Dylan's interviews and writings. Dylan has referred frequently to the influence of Rimbaud's poetry.
The above six characters represent different aspects of Bob Dylan's life and music.
- Charlotte GainsbourgCharlotte GainsbourgCharlotte Lucy Gainsbourg is an Anglo-French actress and singer. After releasing an album with her father at the age of fifteen, more than twenty years passed before she released two albums as an adult to commercial and critical success...
as Claire, wife of Robbie Clark (a representation of Sara DylanSara DylanSara Dylan , born Shirley Marlin Noznisky and later known as Sara Lownds, was the first wife of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and mother of singer Jakob Dylan. She was married to Bob Dylan from November 1965 until June 1977.-Early life:Little is known about Sara Dylan's early life or family...
and Suze RotoloSuze RotoloSusan Elizabeth Rotolo , known as Suze Rotolo , was an American artist, but is perhaps best known as Bob Dylan's girlfriend between 1961 and 1964 and a strong influence on his music...
) - David CrossDavid CrossDavid Cross is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian perhaps best known for his work on HBO's sketch comedy series Mr...
as Allen GinsbergAllen GinsbergIrwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression... - Eugene Brotto as Peter OrlovskyPeter OrlovskyPeter Anton Orlovsky was an American poet.-Life and work:Orlovsky was born in the Lower East Side of New York City, the son of Katherine and Oleg Orlovsky, a Russian immigrant. He was raised in poverty and was forced to drop out of Newtown High School in his senior year so he could support his...
- Bruce GreenwoodBruce GreenwoodBruce Greenwood is a Canadian actor and musician. He is generally known for his roles as U.S. presidents in Thirteen Days and National Treasure: Book of Secrets and for his role as Captain Christopher Pike in the 2009 Star Trek film...
as Keenan Jones, a fictional reporter who interrogates Jude Quinn, and as Pat GarrettPat GarrettPatrick Floyd "Pat" Garrett was an American Old West lawman, bartender, and customs agent who was best known for killing Billy the Kid...
, nemesis of Billy the KidBilly the KidWilliam H. Bonney William H. Bonney William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. est. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881, better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier... - Julianne MooreJulianne MooreJulianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
as Alice Fabian, friend of Jack Rollins in his protest days (a representation of Joan BaezJoan BaezJoan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
) - Michelle WilliamsMichelle Williams (actress)Michelle Ingrid Williams is an American actress. After starting her career with television guest appearances in the early 1990s, Williams achieved recognition for her role as Jen Lindley on the WB television teen drama Dawson's Creek, which she played from 1998 to 2003...
as Coco Rivington (a representation of Andy Warhol it-girl, Edie SedgwickEdie SedgwickEdith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
) - Kim GordonKim GordonKim Althea Gordon is an American musician, vocalist, artist, record producer, video director and actress. She has sung and played bass and guitar in the alternative rock band Sonic Youth, and in Free Kitten with Julia Cafritz...
as Carla Hendricks - Alison FollandAlison FollandAlison Folland is an American actress.Folland was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a travel agent mother and a cardiologist father. She grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and attended high school at Buckingham Browne & Nichols, a private school in Cambridge, Massachusetts...
as Grace - Mark CamachoMark CamachoMark Camacho is a Canadian actor who has starred in many films, and more notably, some voice acting roles, such as Oliver Frensky in Arthur, Lyle in Animal Crackers, Dad in Rotten Ralph, Harry and Dragon in Potatoes and Dragons, Spritz T...
as Norman, the manager of Jude Quinn (a representation of Dylan's manager until 1970, Albert GrossmanAlbert GrossmanAlbert Bernard Grossman was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music scene and rock and roll. He was most famous as the manager of Bob Dylan between 1962 and 1970.-Biography:...
) - Benz Antoine as Bobby SealeBobby SealeRobert George "Bobby" Seale , is an activist. He is known for co-founding the Black Panther Party with Huey Newton.-Early life:...
, the Black Panther leader, and as Rabbit Brown - Craig Thomas as Huey Newton, the Black Panther leader
- Richie HavensRichie HavensRichard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...
as Old Man Arvin - Kim Roberts as Mrs. Arvin
- Tyrone Bensin as Mr. Arvin
- Yolonda Ross as Angela
- Peter Friedman as Barker/Morris Bernstein
- Joe Cobden as Sonny
- Kristen HagerKristen HagerKristen Hager is a Canadian film and television actress.-Biography:Hager was born in Red Lake, Ontario, and made her first television appearance in the mini-series Beach Girls in 2005. A year later, she appeared in the TV series Runaway, which starred Donnie Wahlberg and child actress Niamh Wilson...
as Mona - Fanny La Croix as Actress playing Alice Fabian
- Dennis St. John as Captain Henry/The Admiral
- Kris KristoffersonKris KristoffersonKristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...
as The Narrator - Don FrancksDon FrancksDonald Harvey Francks or Iron Buffalo is a Canadian actor, vocalist and jazz musician.- Life and work :Francks was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is a drummer, poet, native nations champion, motorcyclist, author and peace activist...
as Hobo Joe - Vito DeFilippo and Susan GloverSusan GloverSusan Glover is a Canadian actress, best known for playing Sarah in Naked Josh. She is also known for voicing Miss Woods in Arthur, Izabella Dehavalot in Amazon Jack, Mrs...
as Mr. and Mrs. Peacock, a middle-class couple who temporarily take "Woody Guthrie" in after a near-drowning incident - Paul SpencePaul SpencePaul Spence is a Canadian actor, author and musician. Born 29 January, 1976 in Calgary, Alberta, Paul is best known for his portrayal of headbanger Dean Murdoch in the 2001 mockumentary hit FUBAR: The Movie, which he co-wrote with friends David Lawrence and Michael Dowse.The characters and...
as Homer, Billy the Kid's friend.
Conception
Todd Haynes and his producer, Christine VachonChristine Vachon
Christine Vachon is an American film producer active in the American independent film sector and daughter of noted photographer John Vachon....
, approached Bob Dylan's manager, Jeff Rosen, to obtain permission to use Dylan's music and to fictionalize elements of Dylan's life. Rosen suggested that Haynes should send a one page synopsis of his film for submission to Dylan. Rosen advised Haynes not to use the word 'genius'. The page Haynes submitted began with a quote from Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
: "I is someone else", and then continued:
- If a film were to exist in which the breadth and flux of a creative life could be experienced, a film that could open up as oppose to consolidating what we think we already know walking in, it could never be within the tidy arc of a master narrative. The structure of such a film would have to be a fractured one, with numerous openings and a multitude of voices, with its prime strategy being one of refraction, not condensation. Imagine a film splintered between seven separate faces — old men, young men, women, children — each standing in for spaces in a single life.
Dylan gave Haynes permission to proceed with his project. Haynes developed his screenplay with writer Oren Moverman
Oren Moverman
Oren Moverman is an Israeli filmmaker, screenwriter, and former journalist based in New York City.Moverman was the screenwriter and associate producer of Jesus' Son, a 2000 Lion’s Gate/Alliance Release...
. In the course of writing, Haynes has acknowledged that he became uncertain whether he could successfully carry off a film which deliberately confused biography with fantasy in such an extreme way. According to the account of the film that Robert Sullivan published in the New York Times: "Haynes called Jeff Rosen, Dylan’s right hand, who was watching the deal-making but staying out of the scriptwriting. Rosen, he said, told him not to worry, that it was just his own crazy version of what Dylan is."
In a comment on why six actors were employed to portray different facets of Dylan's personality, Haynes wrote:
A seventh character, a Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
-like incarnation of Dylan, was present in the script but was dropped before filming began.
Production and premiere
The production began filming in late July 2006 in MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
The film premiered at the 34th Telluride Film Festival
Telluride Film Festival
The Telluride Film Festival was started in 1974 by Bill and Stella Pence, Tom Luddy and Jim Card in the town of Telluride, Colorado, United States. It is operated by the National Film Preserve....
on August 31, 2007. It opened in theaters in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and played the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
in September 2007. It opened in limited release
Limited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in November, and was released in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on Boxing Day
Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a bank or public holiday that occurs on 26 December, or the first or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth nations. In Ireland, it is recognized as...
2007. It was rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...
for language
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
, some sexuality, nudity and drug use.
Critical reception
I'm Not There received generally positive reviews from critics. The review aggregatorReview aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services . This system stores the reviews and then uses them for purposes such as: creating a website for users to view the reviews, selling information to third parties about consumer tendencies and creating databases for...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 78% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 141 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 73 out of 100, based on 35 reviews.
Writing in The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty, staff members and administrators....
, critic Anthony DeCurtis
Anthony DeCurtis
Anthony DeCurtis is an American author and music critic, who has written for Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Relix and other publications.-Career:...
said that casting six different actors, including a woman and an African-American child, to play Dylan was "a preposterous idea, the sort of self-consciously 'audacious'—or reassuringly multi-culti—gambit that, for instance, doomed the Broadway musical based on the life and music of John Lennon
Lennon (musical)
Lennon is a musical with music and lyrics by John Lennon and book by Don Scardino, who also directed its premiere. The musical is about the life of John Lennon and was notable for Scardino's choice to be almost exclusively-based on Lennon's own words and to focus on Lennon's solo career, with no...
. Yet in I'm Not There, the strategy works brilliantly." He especially praised Blanchett:
Several reviewers praised Blanchett's performance as the mid-60s Dylan. Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
magazine described Blanchett as "so convincing and intense that you shrink back in your seat when she fixes you with her gaze." The Charlotte Observer called Blanchett "miraculously close to the 1966 Dylan." The film won the Grand Jury Prize and Best Actress honors for Blanchett at the 64th Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
. Blanchett also won the Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for her performance, in addition to several critics awards. She was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Academy Award.
Ed Siegel's piece in the Boston Globe called the film "A noble failure in grasping Dylan," but finds Haynes' film worthy to be considered part of "the wealth of high-quality material that Dylan has allowed to emerge in recent years." His article is equally focused on Dylan, whose ambiguity has inspired a variety of interpretations, compelling Siegel to suggest his own interpretation: "I'm All Here."
Luke Davies
Luke Davies
Luke Davies is an Australian writer of novels, poetry and screenplays, born in Sydney in 1962.Davies' first poetry collection, Four Plots for Magnets, was published in 1982, when he was twenty....
, film critic for The Monthly
The Monthly
The Monthly is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer Morry Schwartz...
, declared it "a beautiful failure of a film" with "so much to love in it" but "unintentionally comical and inadvertently pretentious." Davies labelled the film a "biopic as kaleidoscopic poem rather than historical interpretation." Davies acclaims Blanchett's performance as the greatest success within the film, but claims that Blanchett's performance "actually draws energy inwards, creating a split between the failed Haynes film, and the successful Blanchett mini-film." However, Davies says such joy is inaccessible for non-fans of Dylan, because "I'm Not There would be utterly incomprehensible if you knew nothing of the Dylan story" as it is "an encyclopaedic poem of all that Bob Dylan passed through, in grand sweeps, over two decades."
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy is an American film critic. He wrote for Variety for 31 years as its chief film critic before being fired in 2010. He is currently a critic for The Hollywood Reporter....
, writing in the film trade magazine Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, concluded that the film was well-made, but was ultimately a speciality event for Dylan fans, with little mainstream appeal. He wrote: "Dylan freaks and scholars will have the most fun with I'm Not There, and there will inevitably be innumerable dissertations on the ways Haynes has both reflected and distorted reality, mined and manipulated the biographical record and otherwise had a field day with the essentials, as well as the esoterica, of Dylan's life. All of this will serve to inflate the film's significance by ignoring its lack of more general accessibility. In the end, it's a specialists' event."
For Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, the film was enjoyable cinematically, yet never sought to resolve the enigmas of Dylan's life and work: "Coming away from I'm Not There, we have, first of all, heard some great music (Dylan surprisingly authorized use of his songs both on his own recordings and performed by others). We've seen six gifted actors challenged by playing facets of a complete man. We've seen a daring attempt at biography as collage. We've remained baffled by the Richard Gere cowboy sequence, which doesn't seem to know its purpose. And we have been left not one step closer to comprehending Bob Dylan, which is as it should be."
Top ten lists
The film appeared on several critics' lists of the top ten films of 2007.- 1st - J. Hoberman, The Village VoiceThe Village VoiceThe Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
- 1st - Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
- 1st - Stephanie Zacharek, SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
- 1st - Ty Burr, The Boston GlobeThe Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
- 1st - Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-GazetteArkansas Democrat-GazetteThe Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell...
- 3rd - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
- 3rd - Marc Mohan, The OregonianThe OregonianThe Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
- 4th - A.O. Scott, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- 4th - Nathan Lee, The Village VoiceThe Village VoiceThe Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
- 4th - Shawn Levy, The OregonianThe OregonianThe Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
- 5th - Steven Rea, The Philadelphia InquirerThe Philadelphia InquirerThe Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...
- 5th - Best Musical, Rotten TomatoesRotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
- 6th - Kevin Crust, Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
- 7th - Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle
- 9th - Glenn Kenny, PremierePremiere (magazine)Premiere was an American and New York City-based film magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., published between the years 1987 and 2007. The original version of the magazine, Première , was started in France in 1976 and is still being published there.-History:The magazine originally...
- 9th - Peter Travers, Rolling StoneRolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
- 10th - Ann Hornaday, The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
- 10th - Desson Thomson, The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
- 10th - Keith Phipps, The A.V. ClubThe A.V. ClubThe A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
- 10th - Tasha Robinson, The A.V. ClubThe A.V. ClubThe A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
Awards and nominations
- Academy Awards80th Academy AwardsThe 80th Academy Awards ceremony honored the best films in 2007 and was broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on ABC beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST/8:30 p.m. EST, February 24, 2008 . During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards in 24...
:- Best Supporting Actress (Cate BlanchettCate BlanchettCatherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
, nominee)
- Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett
- Broadcast Film CriticsBroadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2007The 13th Critics' Choice Awards were given on 7 January 2008 to honor the finest achievements in 2007 filmmaking.-Winners and nominees:The nominees in each of the 18 categories are listed below :-Best Actor:...
:- Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett, nominee)
- Central Ohio Film Critics:
- Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett, winner)
- Chicago Film CriticsChicago Film Critics Association Awards 2007The 20th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, given by the CFCA on December 13, 2007 honored the best in film for 2007.-Best Actor:Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood*George Clooney - Michael Clayton...
:- Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett, winner)
- Chlotrudis Awards:
- Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett, winner)
- Golden Globe Awards65th Golden Globe AwardsThe 65th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television of 2007, were scheduled to be presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on January 13, 2008...
:- Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett, winner)
- Independent Spirit AwardsIndependent Spirit Awards 2007The Independent Spirit Awards 2007 announced its nominees in November 2007. The ceremony was broadcast live on Independent Film Channel on February 23, 2008 and hosted by actor Rainn Wilson...
- Robert Altman Award (cast and crew, winner)
- Best Director (Todd HaynesTodd HaynesTodd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...
, nominee) - Best Film (nominee)
- Best Supporting Actor (Marcus Carl FranklinMarcus Carl FranklinMarcus Carl Franklin is an American actor. He is best known for portraying an incarnation of Bob Dylan who calls himself "Woody Guthrie" in the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There, written and directed by Todd Haynes...
, nominee) - Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett, winner)
- Las Vegas Film CriticsLas Vegas Film Critics Society Awards 2007The 11th Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards, honoring the best in film for 2007, were given by the Las Vegas Film Critics Society on 21 December 2007.-Top 10 Films:#No Country for Old Men#Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street...
:- Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett, winner)
- Los Angeles Film CriticsLos Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 2007----Best Film: There Will Be Blood The 33rd Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, given by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association , honored the best in film for 2007.- Winners :*Best Picture:...
:- Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett, runner-up)
- New York Film Critics OnlineNew York Film Critics OnlineThe New York Film Critics Online is an organization composed of Internet film critics based in New York City. The group meets once a year, in December, for voting on its annual NYFCO Awards.-Awards:*New York Film Critics Online Awards 2003...
:- Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett, winner)
- National Society of Film CriticsNational Society of Film Critics Awards 2007The 42nd National Society of Film Critics Awards, given on 5 January 2008, honored the best filmmaking of 2007.-Best Picture::1. There Will Be Blood2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly...
:- Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett, winner)
- Nilsson Awards for Film
- Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett, winner)
- Best Cinematography
- Best Compiled Soundtrack
- Satellite AwardsSatellite AwardsThe Satellite Awards are an annual award given by the International Press Academy. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards.- Film :*Best Actor – Drama*Best Actor – Musical or Comedy*Best Actress – Drama...
:- Best Actress - Comedy or Musical (Cate Blanchett, nominee)
- Screen Actors Guild (SAG):
- Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett, nominee)
- Southeastern Film CriticsSoutheastern Film Critics Association Awards 2007The 16th Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards, honouring the best in film for 2007, were given in December 2007.-Top 10 Films:# No Country for Old Men# There Will Be Blood# Atonement# Juno# Michael Clayton# Zodiac...
:- Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett, runner-up)
- Venice Film FestivalVenice Film FestivalThe Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
:- CinemAvvenire Award - Best Film (winner)
- Golden Lion (Todd Haynes, nominee)
- Special Jury Prize (Todd Haynes, winner)
- Volpi Cup Best Actress (Cate Blanchett, winner)
DVD release
I'm Not There was released on DVD as a 2-disc special edition on May 6, 2008. The DVD special features include audio commentaryAudio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
from Haynes, deleted scene
Deleted scene
In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
s, featurettes, a music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
, audition tapes for Marcus Carl Franklin
Marcus Carl Franklin
Marcus Carl Franklin is an American actor. He is best known for portraying an incarnation of Bob Dylan who calls himself "Woody Guthrie" in the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There, written and directed by Todd Haynes...
and Ben Whishaw
Ben Whishaw
Benjamin John "Ben" Whishaw is an English actor who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Whishaw is perhaps best known for his breakthrough role as Hamlet, and his role as the lead character in Tom Tykwer's film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.-Early life:Whishaw was born and raised in...
, a gag reel, a tribute to Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...
, a series of unreleased trailers featuring the six actors re-enacting the "Subterranean Homesick Blues
Subterranean Homesick Blues
"Subterranean Homesick Blues" is a song by Bob Dylan, originally released in 1965 as a single on Columbia Records, catalogue 43242. It appeared 19 days later as the lead track to the album Bringing It All Back Home. It was Dylan's first Top 40 hit, peaking at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also...
" promo film and a Bob Dylan filmography and discography.
Soundtrack
The film features numerous songs by Dylan, performed by Dylan and also recordings by other artists. The songs feature as both foreground—performed by artists on camera (e.g. "Goin' to Acapulco", "Pressing On")—and background accompaniment to the action. A notable non-Dylan song in the movie is "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone
" Steppin' Stone" is a rock song by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. It was first recorded by Paul Revere & the Raiders and appeared on their 1966 album Midnight Ride....
" by The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
, which plays in the background of a party scene set in London.