Martin Scorsese to Direct Bob Dylan Rolling Thunder Revue Tour Documentary for Netflix
Martin Scorsese knows music. His movies have some of the best soundtracks in film, he pointed cameras at Elvis Presley, documented The Band’s final concert with the film The Last Waltz, done documentaries on The Rolling Stones and even co-produced the short-lived HBO record industry series Vinyl. He is getting ready to shoot a new Netflix documentary called Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, according to Variety.
“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 fall of that year,” Netflix said in a statement. “Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream, Rolling Thunder is a one of a kind experience, from master filmmaker Martin Scorsese.”
Scorsese directed the 2005 documentary No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, which focused the mid 1960s period when the folk singer first plugged in. The upcoming film will document Bob Dylan’s 1975-1976 concert tour which saw the legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan travers the country with a traveling caravan of musicians, including Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott Ronee Blakley, Allen Ginsberg and Sam Shepard, who published a book about the tour in 1977. Over the course of the tour Dylan was also joined by Joni Mitchell, Ringo Starr, Bette Midler, Kinky Friedman, and Dennis Hopper.
The backing musicians included David Bowie’s guitarist Mick Ronson, T-Bone Burnett on electric guitar, and piano, Steven Soles on acoustic and electric guitars, bassist Rob Stoner, drummer/pianist Howie Wyeth, violinist Scarlet Rivera and David Mansfield on dobro, mandolin, violin and pedal steel guitar.
The Rolling Thunder pre-tour kicked off at Mike Porco’s 61st birthday party at Gerde’s Folk City On October 23, 1975, where Dylan took over the club with Baez, Elliott, Eric Andersen, Patti Smith, Arlen Roth, Bette Midler, Buzzy Linhart, and Phil Ochs. The show was filmed and included in the movie Renaldo and Clara, which hit theaters for a short time in 1978 but has never been released on home video. Dylan’s May 23rd Rolling Thunder show in Colorado was filmed for the September 1976 NBC television special Hard Rain, which also spawned a Hard Rain live album.
Scorsese is also directing his next gangster epic The Irishman for Netflix. There are also rumors Suspiria director Luca Guadagnino is planning to adapt Dylan’s classic album Blood On the Tracks into a feature film, according to an October report in Indiewire.
There is no scheduled release date for Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese yet, but it might be ready in time for Sony Music’s annual Dylan “Bootleg Series” albums, which may come out as a multi-disc package in 2019.
Culture Editor Tony Sokol cut his teeth on the wire services and also wrote and produced New York City’s Vampyr Theatre and the rock opera AssassiNation: We Killed JFK. Read more of his work here or find him on Twitter @tsokol.