- Bud Cort, Brewster McCloud, 1970. Dylan expressed some – yawn – interest in the – yawn – script. Just not enoguh to make the – yawn – movie… then called Brewster McCloud’s Amazing, Sexy Flying Machine.
- David Carradine, Bound For Glory, 1976. Director Hal Ashby was in a mess. His choice, singer Tim Buckley, had ODed. His second, Nicholson (who’d made The Last Detail with Ashby), didn’t see himself as Woody Guthrie. And suggested his true idol. Dylan.
- Matt Dillon, Drugstore Cowboy, 1988. When you have a character called Bob, and even if he is a pill-popping pharmacy thief, you still first think oftheBob. AuteurGus Van Sant also aimed (too) high by also offeringb Bob’s babe to Patti Smith. But Kelly Lynch conquered him and… “The script that I read, the movie we made, and the movie I saw were all the same thing. And that rarely happens.”
- Brad Dourif, London Kills Me, 1991. “First time I’d experienced that sense of America intruding on your freedom, it really put the wind up me.” My Beautiful Laundrette writer Hanif Kureishi on his directing debut (including characters called Clint Eastwood and Muffdiver), when a US co-producer demanded Dylan. “I don’t think Bob is going to come out for this one to be honest with you,” responded Kureishi.
- Peter Frampton, The Simpsons #152: Homerpalooza,TV, 1996. Since its 1989 birth, the yellowtoon family Simpson smashed records for episodes, audiences, and the most guest stars (as themselves or others). From Buzz Aldrin, Glenn Close (Homer’s Mom), Dennis Franz (Evil Homer!), George Harrison, Stephen Hawking, Dustin Hoffman, Bob Hope, Eric Idle to Paul and Linda McCartney, Conan O’Brien (a Simpsons writer made good), Michelle Pfeiffer, Mickey Rooney, Ringo Starr, Meryl Streep plus Barry (and Betty) White! Not all celebs played ball. Dylan balked, Frampton glowed.
- Johnny Cash, The SImpsons #162: El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer), 1997. Bylan balked anew. Cash did not.
- Bruce Springsteen, High Fidelity, 2000. Inevitably, Dylan was first choice for the Himself cameo. He was not free. Enter: The Bosself..
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 7