It took 6 actors to get it right

Yes, it features Cate Blanchett as an eerily accurate Bob Dylan. And she’s only one of six actors playing him. But when Todd Haynes, the daring and provocative writer-director of “Far From Heaven,” “Safe” and “Poison,” decided to make “I’m Not There,” he took no chances. He had written and directed films without acquiring the music rights beforehand, and he wouldn’t make that mistake again.

So in summer 2000, Haynes met with filmmaker Jesse Dylan, the musician’s oldest son. Jeff Rosen, Bob Dylan’s longtime manager, was on speakerphone. Both men liked Haynes’ ideas for the film but agreed that meant nothing; they couldn’t predict Bob Dylan’s response. They instructed Haynes to write up a one-page pitch and not to include terms such as “voice of a generation” or “genius” or even “Dylan.”

By phone from his home in Portland, Ore., Haynes recounted his next move. “I wrote something that was called ‘I’m Not There: Suppositions on a Film Concerning Dylan,’ just so he knew it wasn’t going to be some crass mainstream movie of the week,” Haynes said.

Haynes described a number of characters who would all play Bob Dylan at different times in the musician’s life (though with different names). He already knew that “Woody,” who evinced the influence Woody Guthrie had on Dylan, would be portrayed by a black child, and that “Jude,” the electric Dylan, would be played by an actress who would resemble the real Dylan more than the rest of the characters. He sent the pitch off with a package of his DVDs. By fall, the big man gave Haynes the OK to tell his story and use his music.

“I was floored. I still am,” Haynes said. “I still kind of feel like there’s gotta be some fine print somewhere.”

Dylan is played by Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Richard Gere, Christian Bale and Marcus Carl Franklin. The resulting film, co-written by Oren Moverman, is lyrical and at times impenetrable. And though it may seem risky to use a child hobo, a machine-gun-wielding woman and an aging cowboy to help spin his yarn, ultimately, it all makes perfect sense. Much like Dylan’s music.

-- Lisa Rosen