Film Constellation has shared a first look at the upcoming David Bowie film Stardust. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film will premiere today (4/15) online via a micro-site from the distributor, following a live virtual introduction from cast members on Zoom.
Stardust, which the film’s producers maintain is not a biopic, chronicles Bowie’s first tour of the United States in 1971 and his reception in a society not yet ready for him. The films stars Johnny Flynn as Bowie, Marc Maron as record executive Ron Oberman, and Jena Malone as Bowie’s wife Angie.
In this first clip, we find an apprehensive Bowie talking to Oberman about the impending journey across the pond. This scene, along with the focus of Stardust, provides viewers with a rare glimpse of a David Bowie that is unsure of himself. With an underfunded tour and a product that is untested in the U.S., Bowie and Oberman jump in with both feet on the 1971 tour. While American audiences don’t exactly “get” Bowie at first, it is this lukewarm and even cold reception that spurs Bowie to create the Ziggy Stardust persona that rocketed him to stardom. Director Gabriel Range said of the movie,
I set out to make a film about what makes someone become an artist; what actually drives them to make their art. That someone is David Bowie, a man we’re used to thinking about as the star he became, or as one of his alter egos: Ziggy Stardust; Aladdin Zane; The Thin White Duke. Someone I only ever saw at a great distance, behind a mask; a godlike, alien presence. Even in his perfectly choreographed death, he didn’t seem like a regular human being.
Watch the first clip of Stardust below.
Stardust – First Clip
[Video: Film Constellation]
The film’s first screening, along with the Zoom introduction from the cast, requires a password to join and is only open to distributors and select press members. While it is uncertain when all audiences will be able to see the film, the micro-site is set to go live today (4/15) at 4 p.m. ET.