CHRISTIAN BALE BEATNIK DYLAN

Christian Bale plays the beatnik side of Bob Dylan in I’m Not There.

Christian Bale is playing Bob Dylan in I’m Not There during his beatnik days from 1962-1964 when he emerged from the Greenwich Village folk scene to become it’s leading singer of protest songs.

Christian took a quick music lesson on Dylan’s music for the role.

“Doing this has kind of given me an opportunity to look at and listen to his work but on my own terms. Alright I’m discovering it for myself here. I’m not feeling like I’m some bad school student who hasn’t done his musical history lesson correctly and hasn’t caught up on the Dylan era and all that. So I’ve come to enjoy much of it greatly, not all of it. He had many different phases and everything and I wasn’t crazy about everything but I’m definitely appreciating it.”

As Dylan the prophet Christian’s character is seen through the eyes of a documentary where people who have known him are interviewed such as Julianne Moore who has a cameo as his former folk singing protege.

“It’s interesting to see somebody going through kind of their own development in such a public arena of seeing themselves work themselves out and trying to find out who they are but in such a public manner.”

Seems like something Christian, the reluctant movie star can relate to reprising his role as Batman in The Dark Knight which also stars his I’m Not There co-star Heath Ledger as The Joker.