The China Mail - Bob Dylan a contrast to 'narcissistic' modern stars, says biopic director

James Mangold, in Paris ahead of the release of "A Complete Unknown" in French cinemas, said that delving into Dylan's early career in the 1960s involved immersing himself in a different, simpler world.

"It was really clear making the movie, that not just Bob's music, but that time in music was different," the director of "Indiana Jones 5" and "Le Mans '66" said.

"And I feel like most music now is so narcissistically about me, me, me.

"'You hurt me'. 'I feel blah, blah, blah'. 'You betrayed me'. 'That's not nice what you did to me'," he said, reeling off the familiar modern themes of pop music from Taylor Swift to Beyonce.

"Music was about more than just me, me, me (in Dylan's era). It was about the world. It was about the mysteries of the world. And I miss that."

- 'Loneliness of genius' -

"A Complete Unknown", starring Timothee Chalamet, has been well received by critics and received eight Oscar nominations on Thursday, including for best picture and best director.

Mangold said it was intended as a study in "the loneliness of genius" and the difficulties of celebrity for Dylan. "A great artist, but maybe not great at being famous", he suggested.

"He described the feeling of being Bob Dylan in 1962 or 1963 as being a lonely feeling, in very specific ways: the loneliness of riding to your concert in a car, the loneliness of being on stage alone with your guitar," said Mangold.

Where many people viewed Dylan's behaviour as arrogant and concluded he was an "asshole", "what if he isn't an asshole? What if it's loneliness?" Mangold asked.

Dylan recorded a remarkable 300 songs in just his first three years in the music business.

The writer of "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Desolation Row" is adored by fans for his music and literary style.

He received the 2016 Nobel literature prize "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition", according to the committee.

"I don't know how I got to write those songs. Those early songs were almost magically written," he told the CBS channel in 2004.

R.Yeung--ThChM