Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Todd Haynes

Today Todd Haynes, easily one of a handful of the most vital voices in American cinema, turns 46. Later this year his 5th full length feature I'm Not There an experimental film about the life of Bob Dylan (to be played by seven actors including: Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, and Richard Gere) will arrive. [On a totally irrelevant note that will be of interest to Oscar watchers only: early buzz (which should always be taken with a whole entire block of salt) suggests that Cate Blanchett has the meatiest most Oscar-friendly part among the Dylan avatars] This filmmakers chief muse Julianne Moore will also appear but her role has not been revealed.

There's good reason to hope that this adventurous musical biopic will be one of the 2007's best films. Haynes has not made a less than fascinating film yet. His early shorts pointed to a filmmaker with a highly original voice: Dottie Gets Spanked (1993) is hilarious and you should look it up. The banned Karen Carpenter doll epic Superstar(1987) is harder to find but find it you should --it's smashingly inventive. The four features that followed made good on the promise. Poison (1991), Safe (1995), Velvet Goldmine (1998) and Far From Heaven (2002) make for quite a filmography. There's not a bad film among them and two of them are masterpieces.


If you've missed any of those, catch up on this filmography before I'm Not There arrives. There's no release date yet but it sounds like an October-ish release, doesn't it?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

julianne's role, i believe, has been revealed. she'll be playing a joan baez-esque character.

Glenn Dunks said...

I can't wait for this movie. Despite the fact that it's Todd Haynes, it just sounds so fascinating (even if Bob Dylan isn't exactly one of my favourite subjects). [Safe] is just... wow. And I loved Far From Heaven too and quite liked Velvet Goldmine. I should try and find Poison.

adam k. said...

Here's to 2007 being kinder to Nat. With 3 Pfeiffer pics, the Dylan film, and Savage Grace coming out, it probably will be.

With these two new ones plus Children of Men, that'd be 3 good films in a row for Julianne, right? Maybe she's getting back on track.

Anonymous said...

"Superstar" is on Youtube in different parts if you just type in the full name. It is really fascinating, but I'm a sucker for films made with toys.

Anonymous said...

"Superstar" is on Youtube in different parts if you just type in the full name. It is really fascinating, but I'm a sucker for films made with toys.

Anonymous said...

A double nom for Blanchett?
Golden Age and I'm Not There.

And the hell for Gwyneth Paltrow for stealing the magic Elizabeth the best actress trophy.

And Moore back on track? Let's pray. Even though, even her Broadway comeback didn't happen as expected, with Nighy stealing the show. But no Freedomland, no missing child, no 200 kids, no Pierce Brosnan comedy!