Martin Scorsese has jumped on board to direct a Netflix documentary about Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revie Tour, featuring interviews with the icon himself.
The streaming giant says that the film “captures the troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during the fall of that year.”
Scorsese has delved into Dylan's life before. He directed a documentary in 2005 on the songwriter’s rise to fame and temporary retirement, titled No Direction Home, but Variety reports that the upcoming film will be less straightforward.
The multi-artist tour itself took place between October 1975 and May 1976, and included Joni Mitchell, Emmylous Harris, Allen Ginsberg, Bette Midler and even his own mother, amongst others artists. According to The Guardian, he regular performed in white face paint. It is widely considered to be one of his greatest tours.
Dylan invited screenwriter Sam Shepard to film the tour and the resulting movie, Renaldo and Clara, ran for almost four hours. It was critically slammed.
Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino is also filming a movie on Dylan, focused on his 1975 classic Blood on the Tracks.
It’ll be Scorsese’s second foray into filming for Netflix. His upcoming gangster film, The Irishman, will debut this year and star Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci.
Nick Pope is the Site Director of Esquire, overseeing digital strategy for the brand.
