Bob Dylan, Scorsese reunite for ‘Rolling Thunder’ flick
LOS ANGELES: Singer Bob Dylan and legendary director Martin Scorsese are reuniting for a documentary for Netflix.
For years, Dylan fans have been expecting a documentary about Dylan’s historic, starstudded “Rolling Thunder Revue” tour of 1975-76.
Variety has exclusively learned that Netfl ix plans to release the movie this year, with the director’s name actually in the title: “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese.”
Scorsese’s previous Dylan fi lm, 2005’s “No Direction Home: Bob Dylan,” was more straightforward. It focused on Dylan’s crucial 1965- 66 “going electric” period. “There’s a reason the word ‘story’ appears in the title,” said a source, hinting that the director may be playing with the form more in this particular fi lm.
Netfl ix has provided Variety with a thumbnail description of the fi lm that ups the tantalising ante. “‘Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese’ captures the troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during the autumn of that year. Part documentary, part concert fi lm, part fever dream, ‘ Rolling Thunder’ is a one of a kind experience, from master fi lmmaker Martin Scorsese.”
One of the few details Netfl ix did confi rm about the movie is that Dylan himself was interviewed for it, which doesn’t necessarily go without saying, since the artiste rarely allows himself to be interviewed off- camera, let alone on. A participant in the Rolling Thunder Revue tour confi rmed to Variety that many of the alumni of that period have done interviews for the movie over the past few years, with most if not all of them conducted by Dylan’s long-time manager, Jeff Rosen, as was the case with “No Direction Home.”
The “fever dream” aspect of Netfl ix’s thumbnail description may lead buffs to wonder if Scorsese will be borrowing a few cues from Dylan’s “Renaldo and Clara” fi lm, which received only a brief release in 1978 and has never been released on home video, aside from bootlegs.
Assuming that a “Rolling Thunder” boxed set will appear, it will be the fi rst time the “Bootleg Series” has returned to an era already covered in Dylan’s archival collections.
“Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese” is not the only thing on the titular fi lmmaker’s plate in 2019, of course: He’s also been working with Netfl ix on “The Irishman,” a project that was announced four and a half years ago.