The movie Bob Dylan thought he butchered: “Everybody except me”
For some of the greatest artists in the world, it doesn’t matter what medium they decide to make their art in. The true testament to any great is to get a message across with any kind of creative tool, and that normally means thinking outside the box to create something that might not have ever been considered within your wheelhouse. Although Bob Dylan has practically made a living out of subverting one’s expectations at every single turn, his presence in front of the screen was always going to be kept at a distance.
Granted, that statement itself is a little strange considering how magnetic a presence Dylan could be in front of a TV camera. Even without a guitar in his hands, Dylan would often be the most interesting person being interviewed by the press, always giving people half-hearted answers or leaving a lot of his work up to interpretation depending on how much he was willing to disclose to anyone he talked to.
Although documentaries like No Direction Home did give us a little bit more insight into what makes him tick, he knew that he would only be famous on his own terms, considering how much people were treating him like a god when he was simply trying to write the best songs he could. For someone who favours a certain degree of anonymity, though, how the hell did he think that a career in Hollywood was right for him?
While Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid gave him an excuse to flex some of his acting chops, it was still going to be a huge film solely because Dylan was in it. But in that case, the songsmith may have had the optimal situation, usually working as a silent, stoic type who only speaks when spoken or has the odd line to help break up the monotony of everything. The soundtrack of the film may have lasted in history better than the movie, but Dylan wasn’t done gracing the screen.
Then again, Dylan might prefer the term terrorising the screen when it comes to what turned up in Masked and Anonymous. The 2000s drama did have a few good concepts and even seemed to suit, and Dylan playing a veteran musician is not the most challenging role he could have asked for, but when looking back at how the film turned down, he felt that everything worked except for his performance.
Since everyone had their eye on what Dylan would do, all he saw was someone trying to fake their way through a Hollywood blockbuster, saying, “I’m glad some people like it. I know people who do. There’s some performances in there. John Goodman. Isn’t he great? And Jessica Lange. Everybody was really good in it. Everybody except me. Ha-ha! I had no business being in it, to tell you the truth. What’s her name, Cate Blanchett should’ve played the character that I played. It probably would’ve been a hit movie.”
Dylan may not have been that far off the mark when mentioning Blanchett, either. Dylan may have lived that life of a rockstar, but Blanchett’s performance as one of his many caricatures in I’m Not There from a few years later captures the spirit of what that kind of rockstar was supposed to be on the silver screen.
Then again, Dylan was never the best person to turn to when talking about the nostalgic side of rock and roll. He was always looking to move forward, and if he already had mixed feelings about some of his classics, why would he feel any different about a film that he wanted to sleepwalk through?
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