I should preface that I'm not a huge Dylan fan, but almost everyone I know and am related to, loves the man. And of course, he's one of the most regarded American musicians of all time. So I'm curious how fans will react to this film.
Basically, Todd Haynes, who directed Velvet Goldmine, is directing this film that shows Dylan throughout the years, but here's the catch...different actors will portray him, such as Heath Ledger, Richard Gere (presumably the later-in-life Dylan), Christian Bale (okay, Batman and the Joker in this one), and more, including Cate Blanchett. Um, what?!
That's right, I guess Dylan had a sort of feminine period, according to a friend of mine, and I'm Not There covers a little bit of that, too. Now my friend could be wrong, but I guess it makes sense.
So I watched this clip via Ain't It Cool News, twice, and here's what I think. They should've stuck to one period of the guy's life, first off, and had only one actor regardless, like Val Kilmer in Oliver Stone's excellent The Doors.
The clip doesn't 100% work for me, probably because of Blanchett and David Cross as Allen Ginsburg, a very famous beat poet, and it just didn't seem to work. And I have a feeling it's going to be distracting when I see all these different actors playing Dylan.
Well, I hope I didn't turn anyone off the film, because I'm always a big fan of biopics and fact-based films, especially ones by Michael Mann (while Ali is good, The Insider is excellent).
I just feel they either should have followed one segment of Dylan's life with one actor as Bob, or do the life story with one actor, unless they have a child playing lil' Dylan. Oh, wait, I think they do.
Source: Ain't It Cool News