“If you want to see a biopic without his music or the family’s blessing, thats up to the audience.”
Friday brought news of the upcoming movie based on the life and times of David Bowie, specifically just who will be portraying the late icon.
Relative unknown Johnny Flynn has been cast in the lead role of Stardust (not to be confused with the decent Neil Gaiman adaptation from a little over a decade ago) with the film set to focus on Bowie’s rise and embracing of the Ziggy Stardust persona.
It sounds like a no-brainer, especially when you look at the huge recent success of Bohemian Rhapsody, only one camp isn’t thrilled – David Bowie’s family.
His son Duncan Jones – himself a popular filmmaker having helmed the likes of Moon, Source Code and Warcraft (we’ll try our best to forget Mute) has hit out at the project, noting that the Bowie family haven’t authorised music rights for any biopic, nor does any such planned film have their blessing.
Im not saying this movie is not happening. I honestly wouldn't know.
Im saying that as it stands, this movie won't have any of dads music in it, & I can't imagine that changing. If you want to see a biopic without his music or the families blessing, thats up to the audience.— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) January 31, 2019
Perhaps inevitably, fans suggested that Jones should head up his own cinematic tribute to his father, an idea that he quickly poured cold water on.
“Genuinely, I’m not the right person to make it, he said. “My perspective is far too uniquely subjective and personal.”
Jones went on to nominate Neil Gaiman and Peter Ramsay, the former known for the likes of The Sandman and American Gods, the latter for helming the wildly successful Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.
And so with Stardust very much on blast, the film’s producers have moved to clarify their position.
In a statement released to Entertainment Weekly, Salon Pictures said:
“We would like to clarify that this film is not a biopic, it is a moment in time film at a turning point in David’s life, and is not reliant on Bowie’s music.
“Our original press release did state this. Much like Nowhere Boy for [John] Lennon, Control for Joy Division, the production uses period music and songs that Bowie covered, but not his original tracks.
“The film was written as an ‘origins story’ about the beginning of David’s journey as he invented his Ziggy Stardust character, and focuses on the character study of the artist, as opposed to a hits driven ‘music’ biopic.”
Producer Paul Van Carter further underlined that Stardust will not contain any original music belonging to or performed by David Bowie.
“We always knew that we weren’t going to,” he said. “We wouldn’t lie about something like that.”
The film will instead use music from the specific period of time in which the story takes place.
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