00:00Well, I love Bob Dylan, but it wasn't, that isn't good enough reason to make a movie.
00:04In fact, it's a terrible one.
00:08But I loved this, the idea of framing a movie within this story, this moment.
00:17I mean, because one of the, you know, I make, I've made a lot of different kinds of movies
00:22and people in conversations like this use all sorts of kind of genre descriptions,
00:27like biopic would be one, and it's like, well, it's not really a genre, really.
00:31I mean, if you're being scientific, is a movie about Jesse James a biopic or a Western?
00:37Is a movie, if I made Serpico, is that a cop movie or a biopic?
00:42Meaning it's a kind of bullshit description that doesn't at all describe what's actually functioning in the narrative
00:47or what context or vernacular the story's being told in.
00:50It just describes in a kind of media framing way, true story based on some reality,
00:56which is frankly true for most of our fucking movies anyway.
01:00So the, what was intriguing to me was, was getting back to the world of making a movie about an artist again
01:10in a time without cell phones, which is another really wonderful thing.
01:14And, and, and, and that the music was powerful and that when I learned about this book
01:24and this project coming together, it also already came with Bob and his music.
01:31And I, and, and, and so that, one of the battles, because I've tried to do this over the years before
01:37with a, in a couple of places, and that march to kind of get all those folks together for a journey is really hard.
01:47And, and, and, and so that part was amazing.
01:50And then the fact that this story was a story, but the real palpable thing was when I, the Searchlight guys talked to me
02:00about acquiring this book and these existing materials on it when I was taking Ford Ferrari to Telluride.
02:07I was on a plane with them and I literally took what they had and I didn't even, they didn't offer it and I had no deal,
02:15but I just started writing the movie in Colorado and, and, and then I was writing the movie in Toronto.
02:22And by the time, um, and then Timmy, uh, met me in Toronto when the movie was premiering there,
02:28which is, this is a period of like, what is Toronto Telluride, 10 days apart.
02:31So the, and, um, and the thing came together just through my absolute conviction that I had to do this.
02:39And even if they didn't want me, um, and what I be, and the fact that the writing was coming so fast,
02:47mainly because I saw that, that what existed, the writing that, that existed on it while really good
02:54was avoiding most of the really juicy stuff, um, which I found out was because it was an edict
03:00from, from the Dylan camp, um, that this had to be strictly about the music, nothing else.
03:07And I didn't pay attention to that. I didn't even have a deal. I just wrote about everything else
03:11and the music shit and the, and, um, maybe this is too long of a story, but then the, the, I did make a deal.
03:19I did, but the script flew out of me and then we were going to just make it.
03:23We had a window with Timmy and this is 2019 and then COVID hit and, um, and when COVID,
03:32but we were also having a moment where, where, um, Bob's manager and others were concerned of where
03:37I had gone and, um, with the script. And when COVID hit, Bob's tour was canceled.
03:45And, uh, apparently he asked his manager, let me read this thing that you're worried about.
03:50And he liked it and that kind of in the interim changed everything. And what happened over the COVID
03:58period was I had a series of meetings with him and, um, and talked about what I was doing and where I was
04:06going. And, um, and this long story gets to the point of what I thought was, you know, when I first sat
04:12down with Bob, I mean, one of the first things he said was like, I really liked that movie Copland.
04:17And that was like freakish for me, like already. And, and, and, and, and, and he knew it, like he knew the movie, like, and you're talking about a movie that came out in 1997.
04:32And, uh, um, and, um, but then he turned to me at that moment, like we all do when we get down to the subject and he goes, so what's this movie about?
04:43And it was that question you're asking all of us. And I actually, I'd written furiously, but I hadn't ever thought about this kind of thesis question.
04:55And in the moment alone in his coffee shop with him, I said, uh, it's about a guy who's choking to death
05:04in Minnesota and has to escape and runs away and reinvents himself.
05:16He leaves behind all his family and friends, finds new ones, becomes wildly successful as he blossoms as an artist,
05:29starts choking to death and runs away from all his family and friends.
05:34And he smiled. And there was a kind, and, and the, but to me it was also a kind of breakthrough moment with him
05:44of me knowing the kind of thing you need to know as a writer, but you also need to know as a director
05:51every day when you're on set, because shit will throw you off and you have to keep reminding yourself,
05:56what's my story? And, uh, and, uh, and, and when you don't know that, that's when you really,
06:03when your DP is suggesting shooting through a Christmas ornament and you fall for that dumbass idea.
06:10The, uh, the, you, you, it's, unless, no, for rock videos, for rock videos, for German expressionist bands,
06:21it's a great idea. But the, uh, but anyway, whatever, that's, that's my little tale.
06:25That's great.
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