David Bowie Goes to the Movies
March 24, 2018 6:32 PM Subscribe
My first exposure to Bowie in movies was two that came out the same year: Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, and The Hunger. I liked them both very much. After that, the things he chose didn't interest me very much, though he himself was usually interesting.
posted by MovableBookLady at 6:49 PM on March 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by MovableBookLady at 6:49 PM on March 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
The biggest fault of Twin Peaks: The Return was Lynch's inability to get David Bowie to appear in even just a few scenes. Watching Kyle MacLachlan trying to emote against a number-farting teapot made me realize how great Bowie would have been, playing the only character cool enough to intimidate Demonic Dale Cooper.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 7:04 PM on March 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 7:04 PM on March 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
I loved this bit about Just a Gigolo, which really was pretty not-great:
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:17 PM on March 24, 2018 [13 favorites]
“David has a special quality. The camera adores him. You can’t shoot him and lessen his attractiveness. The nature of the character he played demanded that I shy away from this,” Hemmings later lamented. “We took him into the worst shop in order to find the filthiest clothes and the real down-and-out look that was necessary for the character, and everything that David put on, it looked as if he’d just created a new fashion.”The movie had many other problems besides that, but it's a charming thing to say.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:17 PM on March 24, 2018 [13 favorites]
Of all the people who portrayed Warhol on screen, his was the most moving and human.
posted by cazoo at 7:29 PM on March 24, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by cazoo at 7:29 PM on March 24, 2018 [7 favorites]
He's really, really good in The Prestige. Watching him, it's completely plausible that of course Tesla invented a working teleportation device.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:30 PM on March 24, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:30 PM on March 24, 2018 [20 favorites]
The Man Who Fell to Earth rocked. Performance... barely moved the meter.
posted by Splunge at 7:47 PM on March 24, 2018
posted by Splunge at 7:47 PM on March 24, 2018
He acted as co-lead two other movies this article doesn't touch on, both in the late 90s: the Italian spaghetti western Il mio West (aka Gunslinger's Revenge) with Harvey Keitel, and the English wide-boy picture Everybody Loves Sunshine (aka B.U.S.T.E.D.) with Goldie.
Both are... not at all good. Although Bowie had roles that could've been very interesting in both (he's a "psychopathic" gunslinger in the first and a old gangster in the second), they both suffer from mediocre scripts and poor direction. And Goldie, also, was absolutely wasted. I could see talent in him. Goodness knows why Bowie chose to do these movies. He couldn't've been paid all that much for either. Maybe the per diems were fantastic, who knows?
His cameo+ in Into The Night as a sleazy British hitman is delightful, though, and the article forgets that film, also.
He wasn't a bad actor, but I feel like a lot of the directors (even Nicholas Roeg) didn't quite know what to do with him, and it shows. My one sadness is that there isn't a full extant film of him in The Elephant Man, just some clips made for publicity when he was in the Merrick role on Broadway, and he's just incredible in the part.
Well, Bowie looked great in cowboy kit, I'll give him that.
posted by droplet at 8:56 PM on March 24, 2018 [6 favorites]
Both are... not at all good. Although Bowie had roles that could've been very interesting in both (he's a "psychopathic" gunslinger in the first and a old gangster in the second), they both suffer from mediocre scripts and poor direction. And Goldie, also, was absolutely wasted. I could see talent in him. Goodness knows why Bowie chose to do these movies. He couldn't've been paid all that much for either. Maybe the per diems were fantastic, who knows?
His cameo+ in Into The Night as a sleazy British hitman is delightful, though, and the article forgets that film, also.
He wasn't a bad actor, but I feel like a lot of the directors (even Nicholas Roeg) didn't quite know what to do with him, and it shows. My one sadness is that there isn't a full extant film of him in The Elephant Man, just some clips made for publicity when he was in the Merrick role on Broadway, and he's just incredible in the part.
Well, Bowie looked great in cowboy kit, I'll give him that.
posted by droplet at 8:56 PM on March 24, 2018 [6 favorites]
I was feel like that huge David Bowie blog, the line by line song by song deep dive into his media hit the fail on the ahead when they said David Bowie was actively hostile to TV. The TV camera couldn’t make sense of him, he was an irritant , a reminder of how fake and tawdry the medium was. In another way, the camera loves Bowie, but Bowie hated the camera. The union is that Uncanny feeling in his best film performances or his best music video performances, hes never quite there, not all the way.
posted by The Whelk at 9:01 PM on March 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 9:01 PM on March 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
Those Italian posters for The Man Who Fell to Earth are something else! They're gorgeous, but they look like something from ten years earlier.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:17 PM on March 24, 2018
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:17 PM on March 24, 2018
I'm a die hard Bowie fan, but I think that Jared Harris did the better Warhol.
posted by brujita at 10:58 PM on March 24, 2018
posted by brujita at 10:58 PM on March 24, 2018
I wrote about David Bowie in The Prestige for a local film blog. Reading it now, I hate the opening line and some of my word choices, but it’s an interesting complement to this post.
posted by pxe2000 at 4:19 AM on March 25, 2018
posted by pxe2000 at 4:19 AM on March 25, 2018
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is one of those films that should be better known. The Criterion release is very nice. Still, I feel like I don't see it mentioned often. It's one of my favorite war films for sure.
There are a lot of wonderful poster images in that link.
posted by heatvision at 4:23 AM on March 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
There are a lot of wonderful poster images in that link.
posted by heatvision at 4:23 AM on March 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
I will forever mourn that we missed the chance for Bowie to be in the new Twin Peaks. Just thinking about it... brrr...
posted by Drexen at 6:56 AM on March 25, 2018
posted by Drexen at 6:56 AM on March 25, 2018
What do we know about Bowie not being in TP:TR though, other than Bowie didn't want them to use his voice from any FWWM footage (WE'RE NAWT GUNNA TAWLK ABAWT JOODIE)?
I'd just figured he was too sick and unsure about the length of time he had left and wanted to focus on his own projects until the very end to work rather than on anyone else's stuff.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:53 AM on March 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'd just figured he was too sick and unsure about the length of time he had left and wanted to focus on his own projects until the very end to work rather than on anyone else's stuff.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:53 AM on March 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
He’s maybe the best thing in Into the Night, a not very good movie with some great cameos.
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:37 AM on March 25, 2018
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:37 AM on March 25, 2018
Though it was a small role in The Last Temptation of Christ, I thought he was the best Pilate I have seen. We actually studied his portrayal one day in seminary.
posted by 4ster at 9:25 AM on March 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by 4ster at 9:25 AM on March 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
The thing I liked about Bowie's portrayal of Andy Warhol in Basquiat was that it seemed personal. This was based on the assumption that Bowie had probably met Warhol and spent some time with him at some point. I don't know if he actually did, but it would be more surprising if he hadn't. So it's like watching someone's loving imitation of a friend. And it's funny.
posted by wabbittwax at 11:05 AM on March 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by wabbittwax at 11:05 AM on March 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
They did meet. I read in one of the Warhol bios that he didn't like the song.
posted by brujita at 1:51 PM on March 25, 2018
posted by brujita at 1:51 PM on March 25, 2018
I just watched The Linguini Incident (starring Bowie and Rosanna Arquette) earlier this week for the first time. I understand it's not well regarded but I quite enjoyed the movie and Bowie. Also really enjoyed Andre Gregory and Buck Henry's over the top/campy performances.
posted by ericthegardener at 8:15 PM on March 25, 2018
posted by ericthegardener at 8:15 PM on March 25, 2018
They show a clip from Labyrinth at the David Bowie Is . . . exhibit, and damned if the crowd isn't utterly transfixed. I made a point to circle back to the screen every time it came on just to take in all that glassy-eyed ecstasy.
Too bad The Hunger wasn't in the rotation. They'd have to keep mopping the floors.
posted by whuppy at 5:44 AM on March 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Too bad The Hunger wasn't in the rotation. They'd have to keep mopping the floors.
posted by whuppy at 5:44 AM on March 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
I prefer his work as an actor to his work as a musician. But mostly I prefer his work just being David Bowie.
posted by biscotti at 3:37 PM on March 26, 2018
posted by biscotti at 3:37 PM on March 26, 2018
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posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:48 PM on March 24, 2018 [2 favorites]