Cast
- Marcus Carl Franklin as "Woody Guthrie". This character refers to Dylan's youthful obsession with folk singer Woody Guthrie. Woody also reflects the fictitious autobiographies that Dylan constructed during his early career as he established his artistic identity.
- Christian Bale as Jack Rollins / Pastor John. Rollins is a portrayal of Dylan during the acoustic Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and The Times They Are a-Changin' period. Pastor John refers to Dylan's "born-again" period when he recorded Slow Train Coming and Saved.
- Cate Blanchett as Jude Quinn. Quinn is a portrayal of Dylan in 1965–1966, when he controversially played electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival, toured the UK with a band and was booed. This phase of Dylan's life was documented by D.A. Pennebaker in the films Dont Look Back and Eat the Document.
- Richard Gere as "Billy the Kid". Billy refers to Dylan's appearance in Sam Peckinpah's film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and to Dylan's descriptions of himself as an outsider, a trait he believed he shared with the outlaw Henry McCarty (better known as Billy the Kid). The Billy sequences also allude to ways in which Dylan tried to evade the spotlight of unwanted attention, and employ Americana-style images from songs on The Basement Tapes.
- Heath Ledger as Robbie Clark, an actor who portrays Jack Rollins in a biopic and becomes as famous as the person he portrays; he navigates the course of a dissolving marriage (as well as flashbacks to their courtship), reflecting Dylan's own personal life roughly around the time of 1975's Blood on the Tracks.
- Ben Whishaw as "Arthur Rimbaud". Rimbaud is depicted as a man being questioned and responding with quotes from Dylan's interviews and writings. Dylan has referred frequently to the influence of Rimbaud's poetry.
The above six characters represent different aspects of Bob Dylan's life and music.
- Charlotte Gainsbourg as Claire, wife of Robbie Clark (a representation of Sara Dylan and Suze Rotolo)
- David Cross as Allen Ginsberg
- Eugene Brotto as Peter Orlovsky
- Bruce Greenwood as Keenan Jones, a fictional reporter who interrogates Jude Quinn, and as Pat Garrett, nemesis of Billy the Kid
- Julianne Moore as Alice Fabian, friend of Jack Rollins in his protest days (a representation of Joan Baez)
- Michelle Williams as Coco Rivington (a representation of Andy Warhol it-girl, Edie Sedgwick)
- Kim Gordon as Carla Hendricks
- Alison Folland as Grace
- Mark Camacho as Norman, the manager of Jude Quinn (a representation of Dylan's manager until 1970, Albert Grossman)
- Benz Antoine as Bobby Seale, the Black Panther leader, and as Rabbit Brown
- Craig Thomas as Huey Newton, the Black Panther leader
- Richie Havens as Old Man Arvin
- Kim Roberts as Mrs. Arvin
- Tyrone Bensin as Mr. Arvin
- Yolonda Ross as Angela
- Peter Friedman as Barker/Morris Bernstein
- Joe Cobden as Sonny
- Kristen Hager as Mona
- Fanny La Croix as Actress playing Alice Fabian
- Dennis St. John as Captain Henry/The Admiral
- Kris Kristofferson as The Narrator
- Don Francks as Hobo Joe
- Vito DeFilippo and Susan Glover as Mr. and Mrs. Peacock, a middle-class couple who temporarily take "Woody Guthrie" in after a near-drowning incident
- Paul Spence as Homer, Billy the Kid's friend.
Read more about this topic: I'm Not There
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