Bob Dylan as Filmmaker

No Time to Think

Michael Glover Smith author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:McNidder & Grace

Publishing:26th Feb '26

£16.99

This title is due to be published on 26th February, and will be despatched as soon as possible.

Bob Dylan as Filmmaker cover

* Author is firmly ensconced within the global Bob Dylan fan community.

* Interviews with many Bob Dylan podcasters.

A deep dive into one of the most overlooked and fascinating sides of Bob Dylan - the filmmaker. While his music and lyrics have been studied endlessly, his work behind (and in front of) the camera remains largely unexplored. No other book has taken this angle, and with Dylan's legend still growing, the audience is ready for a bold new take.

Bob Dylan as Filmmaker, the first book of its kind, opens up exciting new ways to think about the artistry of Bob Dylan. It offers a captivating exploration into movies that, according to Michael, showcase Bob Dylan not just as a subject, but as the primary author. These include Eat the Document-a short, experimental television film shot in 1966 and released in 1972; the sprawling, genre-blurring epic Renaldo and Clara (1978), both directed by Dylan himself; and the darkly surreal Masked and Anonymous (2003), directed by Larry Charles but co-written by and starring Dylan. Bob Dylan as Filmmaker explores what these movies reveal about "how it feels" to be Bob Dylan during three defining eras of his career: the revolutionary 1960s, the introspective 1970s, and the enigmatic early 2000s. Just as crucially, they illuminate Dylan's remarkable instinct for using film not merely as a medium, but as a deeply personal mode of expression.

The book also provides an essential survey of Dylan's most recent movie projects, including those by other directors, in which Dylan's influence is less overt but no less powerful. Here, Michael argues that Dylan operates as a kind of "invisible co-author": in Martin Scorsese's Rolling Thunder Revue (2019), where Dylan appears as a slippery, self-mythologizing interviewee; Alma Har'el's haunting Shadow Kingdom (2021), a stylized livestream performance; and James Mangold's A Complete Unknown (2024), the Timothee Chalamet-led biopic shaped in part by Dylan's behind-the-scenes "script approval."

'Michael Glover Smith's Bob Dylan as Filmmaker is the most compelling reconsideration of Bob Dylan's work as a filmmaker written to date. Building on previous analyses of Dylan's films, Smith combines his own experiences as a filmmaker with his extensive research and deft analysis of Dylan's films to prove how Dylan's process is similar regardless of the genre he creates in - grounded in tradition, innovative, and true to his artistic vision. In this way, Smith successfully challenges the paradigm that Dylan failed as a filmmaker by methodically chronicling the films that influenced Dylan and how those films shaped the movies Dylan made. Smith's approach positions Dylan as an artist working in the medium of film rather than, as he has been previously understood, a musician making movies. Bob Dylan as Filmmaker: No Time to Think advances the conversation of Dylan as an holistic artist and is an essential addition to anyone's Dylan library.'

Erin C. Callahan, author of The Politics and Power of Bob Dylan's Live Performances

'Despite the vast literature on Bob Dylan, his work as a filmmaker remains critically underexplored. Michael Glover Smith, himself an innovative and thought-provoking filmmaker, remedies this gap with a perceptive and rigorously informed study of Dylan's cinematic output...Insightful, unique, and long overdue, this book is an essential addition to Dylan studies.'

Andrew Muir, author of The True Performing of It: Bob Dylan and William Shakespeare

'This is an excellent read that shines a light on an underappreciated aspect of Bob Dylan's creativity, which reflectively also illuminates the rest of his work.'

Laura Tenschert, host of the Definitely Dylan podcast

'I didn't ask to be dubbed the 'Dean of Dylanologists'-it was the unintended byproduct of my deep, intense study of the work of Bob Dylan. I've long told anyone who will listen that Dylan's films and interest in film are essential to gaining a better understanding of his art. In an era of performative hot takes, I recognize a kindred spirit in Michael Glover Smith. Bob Dylan as Filmmaker reflects that rare combination of the director's eye and the curator's exactitude (the appendices are stupendous). Bob Dylan is already studied like Shakespeare and Smith's book is a foundational text on Dylan and cinema.'

Scott Warmuth, writer and disc jockey

'I can't wait for everyone else to read this brilliant, insightful, engaging, and fascinating book.'

Matthew Ingate, author of Together Through Life: My Never Ending Tour with Bob Dylan


  • Winner of Midwest Film Festival - best actor category 2022
  • Winner of Buffalo International Film Festival Jury Award - best narrative feature 2022
  • Winner of Festival of Cinema NYC Jury Award - best ensemble cast 2022
  • Winner of Gasparilla International Film Festival Jury Award - best performance 2022
  • Short-listed for Festival of Cinema NYC Jury Award - best director 2022

ISBN: 9780857162991

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

228 pages