Can you do a musical biopic without using any of the musician’s actual songs? After the massive worldwide success of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which relied heavily (some might say too much) on the songs of Queen, that’s a question worth asking. Well, for the producers of the upcoming David Bowie-based film “Stardust,” they believe that the music is second to the character. Oh and that’s because they don’t have the rights to the music, says Bowie’s son Duncan Jones.
The controversy surrounding “Stardust” began a few days ago, when it was announced that Johnny Flynn and Jena Malone would star in the upcoming film that would cover Bowie’s life in 1971 and trade the origins for his persona Ziggy Stardust. After the announcement, fans went to Twitter to ask the vocal Duncan Jones what he thinks about the film. And not surprisingly, the filmmaker had thoughts.
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First, he wanted to make it abundantly clear that “Stardust,” and more than likely, no other biopic, would ever get the song rights to Bowie’s catalog. And because of that, he’s not sure about anything with the film.
“Im not saying this movie is not happening. I honestly wouldn’t know. Im saying that as it stands, this movie won’t have any of dads music in it, & I can’t imagine that changing. If you want to see a biopic without his music or the families blessing, thats up to the audience,” Jones tweeted.
This prompted a statement from the “Stardust” production team, who actually confirmed that the film won’t have any of Bowie’s original songs, but also it wouldn’t ultimately matter. “We would like to clarify that this film is not a biopic,” the statement says (via the Independent). “It is a moment in time film at a turning point in David’s life, and is not reliant on Bowie’s music. Much like ‘Nowhere Boy’ for Lennon, ‘Control’ for Joy Division, the production uses period music and songs that Bowie covered, but not his original tracks. The film was written as an ‘origins story’ about the beginning of David’s journey as he invented his Ziggy Stardust character, and focuses on the character study of the artist, as opposed to a hits driven ‘music’ biopic.”
Jones has the right idea when he says it’s up to the audience to decide whether or not it’s satisfactory for a David Bowie film to actually not have any David Bowie music. On paper, it doesn’t sound like the best idea in the world. However, we’ll just have to see how “Stardust” turns out.
Im not saying this movie is not happening. I honestly wouldn't know.
Im saying that as it stands, this movie won't have any of dads music in it, & I can't imagine that changing. If you want to see a biopic without his music or the families blessing, thats up to the audience.— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) January 31, 2019