Walking into the roundtable interview with Todd Haynes, having just seen the director’s highly artistic I’m Not There, I expected to meet a distant and pompous man — the stereotypical artist. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Haynes enthusiastically greeted everyone in the room, and before anyone even had a chance to get in a question, he excitedly told a story about a concert promoting the film the night before. 30 bands featured on the soundtrack performed, concluding with the Roots’ performance of “Masters of War” in what Haynes calls, “An entire theatrical expression of 20th century American popular art in the form of a protest song in one performance. It was unbelievable.”

Continuing on the subject of the film’s soundtrack, he says, “All the song choices in the film were in the script, and there were a few more minor or background songs that were decided later. The way the stories were written were based on what songs we used, which basically meant what 500 songs to exclude.” There were 19 songs recorded for the film that did not make the final cut, “so it’s really like a standalone piece of work reinterpreting Dylan for today from both young and older artists.” Since I’m Not There is a unique film in that it doesn’t really tell a chronological tale of Dylan, like other music biopics, Haynes said that the story came from “wherever the music and his life mirrored each other.”

When asked if Dylan’s endorsement of the film surprised him, he replied, “Yeah! Shocked… I still am. I literally have a piece of paper that says Todd Haynes has Bob Dylan’s life and music rights in perpetuity throughout the universe.” Not surprisingly, he seemed a little amused by the legal work behind the film. He described how Bob Dylan had no active role in the film, but, “Jeff Rosen, his manager, was close to the film the entire way through. Amazing guy… he showed real interest in it. He was sort of there to allow Dylan to continue to do what he does.”

Haynes also appeared very confident with the way the film turned out, saying he was ready for however critics might receive the film. “You feel like you’ve done it. You know what it is, and if it takes people a long time to find their way to the movie, or even if they never, do there’s nothing you can do about it.” The film has already won multiple prizes at the Venice Film Festival, proving that the five years Haynes spent making the film have certainly paid off.

-Kevin Koplan

Here’s the trailer:

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