How Bob Dylan almost cost Martin Scorsese $1million
In 1976, director Martin Scorsese took a break from his preoccupation with fictional crime thrillers for an excursion into documentary filmmaking. Robbie Robertson, lead songwriter for The Band, was looking to film a concert project to document and celebrate their live performances, as he hoped to bring them to an end. He called in directorial help from rock lover Scorsese, who immediately agreed to the project.
Though the director may have entered the project excited to document the work of a lineup of musical legends, it quickly became clear that shooting The Last Waltz wasn’t going to be straightforward. The farewell performance featured guest appearances from huge names, including Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Ringo Star, Neil Young and more, but the most problematic name on the bill was to be Bob Dylan. The singer-songwriter’s back-and-forth caused Scorsese a considerable amount of stress during filming.
Levon Helm, drummer and vocalist for The Band, recalled the chaos of filming the documentary in This Wheel’s on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of The Band. He explained: “Bob’s lawyer came out of Bob’s dressing room with an awful look on his face. Robbie was totally pale. They said, ‘Bob doesn’t want to be in the movie.'”
Following this discovery, Helm remembers, “Scorsese went nuts”.
Warner Bros had stipulated that Dylan had to be in the film when they funded it, so this news was devastating for the director. Helm continued to estimate the catastrophic effects of Dylan’s exemption from the film, explaining, “Without Bob, there would be no movie. It was all over. More than a million dollars were probably down the drain. Scorsese was beside himself. He demanded to know why Bob wouldn’t be filmed.”
Dylan had initially agreed to appear but, at the intermission of his set, had changed his mind. After directing and starring in Renaldo and Clara alongside Joan Baez, he didn’t want to take away from his own documentary. To mitigate the chaos Dylan’s omission from the film would cause, promoter Bill Graham was called in.
Helm explains: “He went in and came out shaking his head. Bob, Bill said, claimed he didn’t even know anything about being in our movie. Never heard of it. Bob didn’t want to be filmed. In fact, when he went on, Bill was supposed to make sure that all the cameras were pointing away from the stage.”
Despite Dylan’s claims of ignorance, Graham was determined to win him over: “I think Bill really pleaded with Bob for us, for the sake of the history of it all. He got Bob to the point where any film that might be shot would be carefully scrutinised by Bob before being considered for use. He was in there for a couple of minutes, but it seemed like an hour.”
Eventually, Dylan approved the final two songs for use in the film, and Helm credited Graham with saving the film and the $1million that had already gone into it: “Bill Graham saved their asses that night.”
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