cult films

the rise of a star…the fall of a legend

in 1984, british newspaper reporter arthur stuart is investigating the career of 1970s glam rock star brian slade, who was heavily influenced in his early years by american rock singer curt wild, whose show was quite crazy for his time.

dir.: todd haynes
drama / music
1998

ewan mcgregor as curt wild
jonathan rhys meyers as brian slade
christian bale as arthur stuart
toni collette as mandy slade

some facts:

- jonathan rhys meyers and ewan mcgregor sang their own songs in the movie. (some of rhys meyers’s songs were overdubbed by radiohead lead singer thom yorke.)
- much of the dialog comes from oscar wilde’s writings.
- osheen jones, who plays jack fairy as a little boy, is the son of howard jones, british pop star of the 1980s.
- when brian first sees mandy, he says “do you jive?” that’s what david bowie is supposed to have said when he first saw his first wife, angela bowie.
- the david bowie song “velvet goldmine,” though originally recorded for the “hunky dory” album, wasn’t officially released until 1975, being the b-side to the re-issue of the “space oddity” single.
- todd haynes originally wanted to cast british pop star jarvis cocker as jack fairy.
- the name of brian slade’s rock persona, “maxwell demon,” and that of his band, “the venus in furs”, are references to two of the key artists in the original glam rock movement: maxwell demon was the name of a band in which brian eno performed in england in the mid 60s, and “venus in furs” is the name of a song by lou reed and the velvet underground. songs by both artists are featured on the film’s soundtrack.
- during the festival sequence where brian sees curt perform for the first time, ewan mcgregor was only due to moon the disgruntled crowd. but inspired by the antics of iggy pop, he improvised, and ended up gesticulating wildly while flashing the audience, leaping about with his trousers around his ankles.
- when christian bale and ewan mcgregor were filming their sex scene, the director cut without letting them know, so the two continued to simulate the act until they realized the trick that had been played on them.
- the film was originally supposed to feature some of david bowie’s music, hence the title. however, when bowie learned that the script for the film was partially based on the unauthorized biographies “stardust: the david bowie story”, written by henry edwards and tony zanetta and “backstage passes” written by bowie’s ex-wife angela bowie, he threatened the producers with a lawsuit. hence, no bowie songs were used, and the script was partially re-written to avoid unnecessary resemblance between bowie and the bowie-style character brian slade.
- the curt wild character is mainly inspired by david bowie’s relationship with two american 1960’s underground rockers whose careers bowie resurrected, iggy pop and lou reed. iggy pop hailed from michigan and shared wild’s long blond locks, while reed underwent shock therapy for bisexuality as a teen and was rumored to have had an affair with bowie before their falling out after bowie produced reed’s album transformer. much central to the film is fictionalized such as the mythical, mysterious decade-long disappearance of “slade”, although he reincarnated himself as tommy stone, a blonde with a white suit (the ‘thin white duke’). bowie wasn’t as huge of a star as slade is depicted here and never withdrew for so long from the public-eye as did the film’s character. 

+: imdb

the egyptian vampire lady miriam subsists upon the blood of her lovers. in return the guys or girls don’t age… until miriam has enough of them. unfortunately that’s currently the case with john, so his life expectancy is below 24 hours. desperately he seeks help from the famous dr. sarah roberts. she doesn’t really belive his story, but becomes curious and contacts miriam … and gets caught in her ban, too.

dir.: tony scott
horror / romance / thriller / vampire
1983

catherine deneuve as miriam blaylock
susan sarandon as sarah roberts
david bowie as john

some facts:

- david bowie said that, in order to make his voice suitably hoarse for when he aged so drastically in the movie, he stood on the george washington bridge every night and screamed all the punk rock songs he knew. 

- david bowie actually learned to play the cello for his music scenes. 

- tony scott sighted the photography of irving penn as a major influence on the visual style of the film. 

- one day during filming, costume designer milena canonero, who is famously dedicated to her craft, disappeared and was nowhere to be found. it was discovered eventually that she had flown to rome to purchase fabric for a handkerchief david bowie is supposed to wear. unable to find fabric she liked in london, canonero had flown to rome at her own expense to find the fabric she needed instead.

- makeup artist antony clavet, who was famous within the fashion world for his work in italian vogue, was brought onto the project after he was introduced to the director by milena canonero.  

+: imdb

“george orwell’s novel of a totalitarian future society in which a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.”

drama/romance/sci-fi/thriller
dir.: michael radford
1984

john hurt as winston smith
richard burton as o’brien

some facts:

- scenes were shot on the actual days noted in winston smith’s diary (the scene where smith writes in his diary, dating the entry april 4, 1984, was shot on april 4, 1984).
- richard burton was 4th choice for his role. paul scofield, sean connery and anthony hopkins were also considered.
- this film was dedicated to the memory of richard burton.
- virgin films, the production company bankrolling the movie, had wanted a commercially viable pop act to compose the music for the film to increase its market potential. originally they approached david bowie, who had used orwell’s novel as inspiration for some songs on his 1974 album, “diamond dogs”, but he demanded too much money for the job. they opted instead for eurhytmics, who had initially turned down the offer but later accepted.
- the film features a salute which never was used in the novel. it is done by holding one’s arms up and making the wrists cross each other in the shape of a small v. a similar salute is seen in the film, pink floyd the wall (1982).
- the oceanian soldiers in the film are wearing soviet red army helmets, painted black.
- in the film adaptation of v for vendetta (2005), john hurt played the high chancellor adam sutler, who appeared big-brother-like on a massive television screen in several scenes.
- in the film, inner and outer party members call each other “brother” or “sister” instead of “comrade” like in the novel.
- mrs. orwell appalled when david bowie proposed turning “nineteen eighty-four” into a rock musical in the mid-1970s.

“950.000 miles from home, the hardest thing to face…is yourself”

drama/mystery/sci-fi/thriller
dir.: duncan jones
written by duncan jones & nathan parker
sam rockwell as sam bell
2009

a couple of facts:
-   shot in 33 days.
-   the director’s father is david bowie, who had a hit song in 1969 entitled “space oddity”, about an astronaut who is lost in space.
-   the alarm that sounds when boarding the helium-3 transport is the same alarm sound used on the iphone.
-   the song that plays on sam’s alarm clock is the one and only by british one hit wonder chesney hawkes