Biopics, 'They Are A-Changin'

The biopic has become a Hollywood staple, particularly about popular musicians. There have been Oscar-winning films on Ray Charles and Johnny Cash, following a familiar formula of drug-induced decline and redemption. None of those personalities have been as willfully mercurial as the bard, Bob Dylan. Director Todd Haynes has attempted to capture his essence by making not one film but many, using not one actor to play Dylan, but many. A.O. Scott, film critic for the New York Times, has more on the provocative I'm Not There.