The first trailer for the upcoming film about David Bowie, Stardust, has arrived and reactions have been polarising.
Johnny Flynn (Emma, Vanity Fair) is a 24-year-old Bowie embarking on his first American publicity tour in 1971. Accompanied by Mercury Records publicist Ron Oberman (played by Marc Maron), the pair attempt to crack the US. As the promotional tour unfolds Bowie is stifled by a lack of artistic identity. This crisis paved the way for Bowie to kick off his career of endless reinvention by developing his most iconic alter ego, Ziggy Stardust. Jena Malone stars as David’s ex-wife Angie Bowie.
Watch the trailer for the David Bowie biopic Stardust below:
Those who had high hopes for a film that would encapsulate all the bizarre, alien glory of The Thin White Duke may be left disappointed. Whilst Flynn makes for a convincing Bowie, the trailer is uninspired. It’s filled with corny, mawkish one-liners like “there’s no authentic me, it’s just fear” and “a rock star of somebody impersonating a rock star, what’s the difference?.” There is something so sterile and un-Bowiesque about the whole thing.
There’s also the whole palaver of the family of David Bowie not allowing the film to use any of his music. Which the leading man Flynn told The Guardian, will “potentially going to get a lot of flak from the Bowie army.”
For the film, Flynn — who plays in a folk act Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit— penned an original Bowie-inspired track for the film ‘Good Ol’ Jane.’
“I don’t think it’s crap, but I knew it didn’t have to be a brilliant song,” he said of the recording. “He had this sense of failure, he wanted to be someone else and hadn’t found a way of capitalizing on that yet. So I tried to write this song as Bowie ripping off Lou Reed.”
Love Classic Rock?
Get the latest Classic Rock news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
