Thursday, May 25, 2006
THE ANDROGYNOUS BOB DYLAN?
by Wayne Robins
According to a Yahoo entertainment news report from the Agence France-Presse (AFP), actress Cate Blanchett will be portraying Bob Dylan in a movie based on Dylan's life.
Director Todd Haynes, ("Velvet Goldmine"), is "recruiting an all-star cast for his Dylan film 'I'm Not There', in which six or seven actors will play the star to show different facets of his life and personality. Dylan has agreed to let Haynes film his biography."
The report says Blanchett will play Dylan in his "androgenous" phase. Hello? Could someone please tell me when Dylan HAD an androgynous phase? Of course, Haynes could probably find androgyny in the careers of Robert Mitchum, Steve McQueen or Yogi Berra. So who is to say Dylan didn't have such a period, though one suspects it would be news to Bob. I don't think "Renaldo and Clara" qualifies as an "androgenous" phase. I wonder what Ron Rosenbaum makes of this.
In more bad news for Dylan's mystique, modern dance choreographer Twyla Tharp is bringing a musical called "The Times They Are A-Changin'" Broadway. "It is about a drunk named Captain Arab—a character from a Dylan song—whose traveling troupe sings out some of Dylan's greatest hits," according to the same news story.
The Internet Movie Database says production of the Haynes film, which has a working title "I'm Not There: Suppositions on a Film Concerning Dylan," will begin this summer in Romania. The concept sounds a lot like Haynes' long-unavailable Karen Carpenter biopic, in which Barbie dolls portray the characters. Instead of dolls, other actors besides Blanchett who are to represent Dylan at different ages are Richard Gere,Colin Farrell and Christian Bale. It's unclear whether Julianne Moore is to play Dylan or one of the women in his life. In keeping with Haynes' somewhat loose rules of gender, perhaps Gere will play Joan Baez, and Moore will be Kinky Friedman on the "Rolling Thunder Revue."
by Wayne Robins
According to a Yahoo entertainment news report from the Agence France-Presse (AFP), actress Cate Blanchett will be portraying Bob Dylan in a movie based on Dylan's life.
Director Todd Haynes, ("Velvet Goldmine"), is "recruiting an all-star cast for his Dylan film 'I'm Not There', in which six or seven actors will play the star to show different facets of his life and personality. Dylan has agreed to let Haynes film his biography."
The report says Blanchett will play Dylan in his "androgenous" phase. Hello? Could someone please tell me when Dylan HAD an androgynous phase? Of course, Haynes could probably find androgyny in the careers of Robert Mitchum, Steve McQueen or Yogi Berra. So who is to say Dylan didn't have such a period, though one suspects it would be news to Bob. I don't think "Renaldo and Clara" qualifies as an "androgenous" phase. I wonder what Ron Rosenbaum makes of this.
In more bad news for Dylan's mystique, modern dance choreographer Twyla Tharp is bringing a musical called "The Times They Are A-Changin'" Broadway. "It is about a drunk named Captain Arab—a character from a Dylan song—whose traveling troupe sings out some of Dylan's greatest hits," according to the same news story.
The Internet Movie Database says production of the Haynes film, which has a working title "I'm Not There: Suppositions on a Film Concerning Dylan," will begin this summer in Romania. The concept sounds a lot like Haynes' long-unavailable Karen Carpenter biopic, in which Barbie dolls portray the characters. Instead of dolls, other actors besides Blanchett who are to represent Dylan at different ages are Richard Gere,Colin Farrell and Christian Bale. It's unclear whether Julianne Moore is to play Dylan or one of the women in his life. In keeping with Haynes' somewhat loose rules of gender, perhaps Gere will play Joan Baez, and Moore will be Kinky Friedman on the "Rolling Thunder Revue."
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Faster, Michele, Faster, Faster
Good news from our friend Michele Catalano, one of the true blogging pioneers who recently discontinued her inspirational site known as a small victory. Michele has come back with a new blog dedicated to but two of her many passions and enthusiasms: Fast cars and punk rock. Or is that Punk rock and fast cars? Anyway, the site is called Faster Than The World. Because she is a technologically superior being, Michele already has all sorts of awesome stuff up, from mp3 links to scores of punk songs to photos of great muscle cars of the 1960s. I still tremble at the sight of a 1965 Pontiac GTO, which conveyed my high school's Future Jailbirds of America club around the neighborhood after school, often looking to beat up me and my friends because we had "long hair." But I should thank them, since they inspired me to compose my first protest song, "You Gotta Be Kidding," which I wrote with J.C. of the Mongs. Later, Artie of the Future Jailbirds of America and I made up over a peace pipe at the Planting Fields Arboretum. I am told that not too many years ago, Artie turned up dead. A gun was involved. That's all I know.
--Wayne Robins
--Wayne Robins
