David Bowie Biopic ‘Stardust’ Finds Lead and Problems

A biopic film about the legendary British singer, David Bowie, has reportedly been in the works and it seems that it found its lead. British-South African musician and actor, Johnny Flynn, who has made several music albums, appeared in films like 2017’s Beast and been a regular on the British sitcom, Lovesick. Flynn will portray Bowie himself in the upcoming project Stardust.

Stardust, which gets its name from Bowie’s 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, will follow the rise of Bowie as a prominent singer starting with the events of his 1971 trip to America. This trip helped create his iconic alter ego, Ziggy Stardust. Also starring in the film will be American stand-up comedian and actor, Marc Maron (Maron, Easy) and American actress, Jena Malone. Principal photography is set to start around June of this year but there may be some issues regarding Bowie’s music.

Following news of the release of this film casting Flynn as the lead role, British filmmaker and son of Bowie, Duncan Jones took to Twitter to talk about the film.

It seems that the project got underway without prior consultation of Bowie’s family and estate and it does not have their approval. According to Jones, he is unsure of the nature of the film and its production but states that none of his father’s music will be used in the movie. He then leaves it up to audiences to decide whether they would see a David Bowie biopic made without the blessing of Bowie’s family or the use of music from his extremely iconic career. It seems odd that those behind the project failed to contact the musician’s family, especially with Jones himself being a filmmaker having directed films like Moon and Source Code who would have been a great asset on such a film.

Salon Pictures or whoever is behind the movie may be attempting to replicate the huge success of Bryan Singer’s Bohemian Rhapsody, which would be quite difficult without the rights to any of Bowie’s music, as songs from Queen’s prolific career were essential to the Golden Globe-winning and now Oscar-nominated film. It is unclear how things will play out for Stardust.