christian bale
08/22/2007
Bob Dylan(s) in "I'm Not There"
There’s an old dictum in the movie business that while it’s always exciting to see one actor play multiple parts in the same film, it’s merely frustrating and confusing to see multiple actors play the same part. History has largely born this adage out, giving us films like Kind Hearts and Coronets and Back to the Future Part II in the case of the former, and the 1967 version of Casino Royale in the case of the latter. Leave it to indie maverick Todd Haynes to say “eff that” and make a biopic about Bob Dylan in which the famous singer/songwriter is alternately played by Batman, The Joker, Richard Gere, a twelve-year-old black boy, and Galadriel Lady of the Galadhrim.
Stunt casting aside, this first full trailer for I’m Not There really goes out of its way to bow down and kiss Bob Dylan’s folksy ass. I have to confess that, unlike everyone else I know, I was not baptized at the First International Church of Dylan. I think Dylan is fine and all, but I can’t really get on board with the slavish Dylan worship that this trailer seems to be pushing. The fact that Haynes has taken such liberties with the casting gives me hope that maybe the film has a more irreverent approach to the subject than is let on here. After all, this is a movie from the same guy who made a biopic about Karen Carpenter and her battle with anorexia using stop-motion animation and Barbie dolls. It would be a real shame if he started taking himself, or Bob Dylan, too seriously.
