Johnny Flynn plays David Bowie in the first Stardust movie trailer, which focuses on the events that led to the rock star adopting his Ziggy Stardust persona. Directed by British filmmaker Gabriel Range, Stardust is the latest in a line of recent biopics about British rock stars of the 1970s and 1980s, following Bohemian Rhapsody and the riotous musical Rocketman. Those films focused on Freddie Mercury and Elton John respectively and, despite taking very different approaches, were both fairly successful at the box office, with Rami Malek earning a Best Actor nod for his portrayal of Mercury in the former, and Taron Egerton claiming Best Actor in A Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes for the latter.
As a result, production of a film about Bowie, who passed away in 2016 at the age of 69, seemed like a no-brainer. Stardust features real-life musician Johnny Flynn in the lead role of Bowie. Flynn leads the folk rock band Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit, and has also appeared in a number of movies and TV series, including the 2020 adaptation of Emma, as George Knightley alongside Anya Taylor-Joy. In addition to Flynn, Stardust features Jena Malone (Donnie Darko) as Bowie's then-wife Angie, Marc Maron (Glow) as Bowie's US publicist Ron Oberman and Aaron Poole as Mick Ronson, Bowie's guitarist who first collaborated with him on the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.
Now, the first trailer for Stardust has been released and it reveals a surprisingly muted film that follows Flynn as Bowie in the early 1970s. Starting in England, the trailer quickly transplants Bowie to the USA for a publicity tour, where he both excites and frustrates Maron's Oberman. The trailer largely focuses on the two characters, and teases how Bowie managed to forge his own way in the music business by creating the persona of Ziggy Stardust. You can watch the trailer below:
Strangely, the trailer features none of Bowie's classic tracks from the album, and the accompanying score doesn't feature any of the tunes either. It's not a good sign, and indicates that perhaps Bowie's son, Duncan Jones, was right about being skeptical of the film when he found out a Bowie biopic was in development. Besides the lack of Bowie tracks, the trailer makes the movie look very dull, especially for a film about a wild and manic showman like Bowie.
Unfortunately, Flynn is also muted in his role, seeming to retreat inside himself rather than truly inhabiting Bowie in the way Malek and Egerton did their rock stars in Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman. Sadly, Stardust's first trailer makes the film look like it's destined to be a failure, though there is yet hope that the actual final product will contain more vitality and represent Bowie a little better than this first promo. Those interested will get a chance to see for themselves when Stardust releases.
Source: IFC Films