New Martin Scorsese Bob Dylan Documentary Headed To Netflix This Year

Martin Scorsese and Bod Dylan: together again. In 2005, the legendary filmmaker released the documentary No Direction Home: Bob Dylan. Scorsese now returns to Dylan as a subject with the new doc Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, set to be released by Netflix later this year. It's one of three Netflix projects for Scorsese, the other two being the gangster epic The Irishman, and a Second City Television reunion show. The new documentary will focus on Dylan's "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour of 1975-76, and is described as "part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream."Variety has the scoop on the new Martin Scorsese Bob Dylan documentary. Here's the official logline as of now:

"'Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese' capturesthe troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during the fall of that year. Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream, 'Rolling Thunder' is a one of a kind experience, from master filmmaker Martin Scorsese."

Rolling Thunder Revue is said to be a much different documentary than Scorsese's No Direction Home, as is evident by the "A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese" subtitle. In other words, don't expect a straight-forward doc with talking-head interviews. Expect something that has Scorsese playing around with the film's form. That said, there were interviews conducted for the film, including one with Dylan himself.

Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review concert tour featured a caravan of musicians, including Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, and Ramblin' Jack Elliott. Much of the tour was documented on film, and some of that footage was edited into Dylan's little-seen 1978 movie Renaldo and Clara, co-written with playwright and actor Sam Shepard. One can assume that footage from this film will likely show up in Scorsese's documentary as well.

Anyone who has seen his movies can confirm that Scorsese is a master at blending music and film, with almost all of his films employing music from rock, pop and other sources rather than using a traditional score. "Music and film are almost one and the same," Scorsese said. "There's the rhythm, the pace of music – and the equivalent of that in film is the camera movement, how long you hold a shot on screen before you cut, if you don't cut, the look on a person's face. For me, actually, the editing process is really like creating a musical piece. Even if there is no music in the film – I think the shots themselves have a rhythm and pace."

This approach makes him particularly adept at helming a film like this, and I'm excited to see how this all turns out. There's no official release date set yet for Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, but sources indicate it might arrive on Netflix sometime in the fall of 2019. Meanwhile, Scorsese has two other Netflix titles that are believed to be dropping in 2019: his long-awaited The Irishman, which reunites him with Robert De Niro, and the Second City Television reunion show.