BOB DYLAN AS FILMMAKER - NO TIME TO THINK
MICHAEL GLOVER SMITH
MICHAEL
GLOVER
SMITH
BOB DYLAN
AS FILMMAKER
NO TIME TO THINK
Praise 1
'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's 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
Praise 2
'From the influence of everyone from John Ford to Rainer Werner Fassbinder to
his own fascinating forays into filmmaking, Bob Dylan's deep and abiding love
of cinema is a fascinating prism through which to contemplate his kaleidoscopic
career. In his wonderful new overview Bob Dylan As Filmmaker: No Time To Think,
Michael Glover Smith takes us on an immersive journey through the duality
between Dylan's music and the screen imagery that clearly preoccupies so much of
his mind. A delightful and rigorous read, and a crucial contribution to the canon
of Dylan literature.'
Elizabeth Nelson, singer-songwriter for garage-punk band the Paranoid Style,
and a regular contributor to the Ringer, the New York Times Magazine, and
Pitchfork, among others
'Even among fans, Bob Dylan's work as a filmmaker is easy to mock or ignore. In
Bob Dylan as Filmmaker: No Time To Think, Michael Glover Smith persuasively
defend's Dylan's artistic vision (if not always his acting). Through meticulous
analysis augmented by his own original research in the Dylan archives. Smith
explains what the movies mean and what other films Dylan drew inspiration from.
I'll give it the highest praise possible: It made me want to watch Renaldo and
Clara again.'
Ray Padgett, author of Pledging My Time: Conversations with
Bob Dylan Band Members
'As lively as it is insightful, Bob Dylan as Filmmaker: No Time to Think is a
sunbeam-lit account of Bob Dylan as filmmaker-informed, thoroughgoing,
prodigiously researched, ingeniously creative, and serious as pericarditis. A totally
engrossing read.'
Eric Lott, author of Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the
American Working Class
'In Bob Dylan as Filmmaker: No Time to Think, director Michael Glover Smith
explores Dylan's cinematic side, arguing it's every bit as groundbreaking as his
music. From Eat the Document to A Complete Unknown, Smith connects the dots
between Dylan's films, lyrics, and visual art with sharp insight and rare material
from the Bob Dylan Center® archives. Smart, passionate, and full of surprises-
this is Dylan through a whole new lens. And this book works so well I think even
the man himself will enjoy it!
Marc Percansky, co-author of Bob Dylan in Minnesota: Troubadour Tales from
Duluth, Hibbing and Dinkytown
A deep dive into one of the most overlooked - and fascinating - sides of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature winner: 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 more than ready for a bold new take.
Bob Dylan as Filmmaker, the first book of its kind, opens 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 Timothée Chalamet-led biopic shaped in part by Dylan’s behind-the-scenes “script approval.”
Michael Glover Smith is a Chicago-based filmmaker/writer, author, and teacher. Filming for Michael’s most recent film Hekla, starring Elizabeth Stam, has recently finished – the festival premiere will be in early 2026.
Michael is also the director of four award-winning feature films, the most recent of which, Relative, stars Wendy Robie (Twin Peaks) and is distributed by Music Box Films. It was the 23rd highest-grossing movie in the U.S. in its first week of release in 2022.
His previous book, Flickering Empire: How Chicago Invented the U.S. Film Industry (co-written with Adam Selzer), was published by Columbia University Press to acclaim in 2015. He has seen Bob Dylan 100 times in concert.
https://mcnidderandgrace.com/michaelglover-smith1
https://www.michaelgloversmith.com/books
McNIDDER &
GRACE
Published 2 March 2026
Paperback
GBP £16.99 / USD $22.95
ISBN: 9780857162991
52295
9 780857 162991
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