The role has already won her the Venice Film Festival best actress award and is being touted as worthy of another Academy Award nomination. She won a best supporting actress Oscar in 2005 for her portrayal as Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator."

While her decision to play Dylan may seem unusual, Blanchett said there was no way she could turn it down.

"It's such a wild and crazy idea," she said. "You don't get offered that kind of stuff every day."

So just one week after finishing starring as England's 16th century queen in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," Blanchett took on the character of Jude -- a depiction of Dylan in the mid-1960s when he first played electric guitar and drew ire from some fans who wanted him to remain a folk protest singer.

"I'm Not There" has garnered mixed reviews. The Hollywood Reporter said, "It's a curiosity that could delight or turn off loyal Dylan fans and may prove too oddball to draw in younger and mainstream audiences."

But Blanchett has won praise. Variety called her performance "a daring coup."

While most critics see the Dylan film as too high concept and esoteric for most Americans, Blanchett's next project will likely draw a bigger audience.

The actress has just finished filming Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," with actor Harrison Ford, which she described as "a riot."

"It was like revisiting my childhood. I ate that series of films alive," said Blanchett, who has two young sons. "My children had a fantastic time. And Steven, being a father of seven, was so embracing of the kids."