Forthcoming: "I'm Not There"

So, buzz is building for Todd Haynes's upcoming film "I'm Not There."

It's an interesting concept: the life of Bob Dylan with the lead role being played by several different actors - including the unconventional casting of female Cate Blanchett and African-American youth Marcus Carl Franklin, as well as the more conventional (read: male, Caucasian) Ben Whishaw, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, and Christian Bale.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, I've come to understand how compelling a figure Bob Dylan was in the 1960s and early 1970s, through D.A. Pennebaker's contemporaneous documentary film "Don't Look Back" and then through Martin Scorcese's retrospective "No Direction Home," and I'm a pretty big fan of his music.

However, I'm not a big fan of mythmaking - and, if anything, having seven actors play the same, very real person (including Blanchett and Franklin) suggests the propagation of the myth of Dylan as someone who transcends the corporeal. Which I don't think is a good thing, necessary. We're very fortunate to have the music of Dylan, which in and of itself serves to transcend the singer (in the manner of songs, which in being performed by different singers, extend beyond the original composer/singer, as well as in the recordings, which - once committed to tape - become, in a way, immortal). Does Bob Dylan need to become a part of American mythology? Is he already? It's hard to tell.

Related:
The soundtrack tracklisting has been released. I don't know what order the tracks are in. It'd be kind of interesting if the songs are in alphabetic order. That'd be kind of rad, actually.

“All Along The Watchtower” :: Eddie Vedder & The Million Dollar Bashers
“As I Went Out One Morning” :: Mira Billotte
“Ballad Of A Thin Man” :: Stephen Malkmus & The Million Dollar Bashers
“Billy” :: Los Lobos
“Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window” :: The Hold Steady
“Can’t Leave Her Behind” :: Stephen Malkmus & Lee Ranaldo
“Cold Irons Bound” :: Tom Verlaine & The Million Dollar Bashers
“Dark Eyes” :: Iron & Wine & Calexico
“Fourth Time Around” :: Yo La Tengo
“Goin’ To Acapulco” :: Jim James & Calexico
“Highway 61 Revisited” :: Karen O & The Million Dollar Bashers
“I Wanna Be Your Lover” :: Yo La Tengo
“I’m Not There” :: Bob Dylan
“I’m Not There” :: Sonic Youth
“Just Like A Woman” :: Charlotte Gainsbourg & Calexico
“Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” :: Ramblin’ Jack Elliot
“Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” :: Antony & The Johnsons
“The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll” :: Mason Jennings
“Maggie’s Farm” :: Stephen Malkmus & The Million Dollar Bashers
“Mama You’ve Been On My Mind” :: Jack Johnson
“The Man In The Long Black Coat” :: Mark Lanegan
“Moonshiner” :: Bob Forrest
“One More Cup Of Coffee” :: Roger McGuinn & Calexico
“Pressing On” :: John Doe
“Ring Them Bells” :: Sufjan Stevens
“Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)” :: Willie Nelson & Calexico
“Simple Twist Of Fate” :: Jeff Tweedy
“Stuck Inside Of Mobile With Memphis Blues Again” :: Cat Power
“The Times They Are A Changin’” :: Mason Jennings
“Tombstone Blues” :: Richie Havens
“When The Ship Comes In” :: Marcus Carl Franklin
“Wicked Messenger” :: The Black Keys
“You Ain’t Goin ‘Nowhere” :: Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova

[The "Million Dollar Bashers" are -
Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), guitars
Tony Garnier (longtime Dylan collaborator), bass
Tom Verlaine (Television), guitars
Nels Cline (Wilco), guitars
Smokey Hormel (Dylan, Beck), guitars
Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), drums
John Medeski (Medeski, Martin, and Wood), keyboards]

Much respect to The Playlist for the soundtrack info.