The Man Who Fell To Earth: 12 Of David Bowie’s Greatest Moments In Film

As much of a chameleon onscreen as he was onstage, David Bowie had one of the most surprisingly robust film legacies of any musician-turned-actor. Never the same in any two movies, Bowie forged an unusual film path, working such masters of cinema as Martin Scorsese (1988’s The Last Temptation of Christ as Pontius Pilate), Julian Schnabel (1996’s Basquiat as Andy Warhol), Alan Clarke (1982’s Baal), Uli Edel (1981’s Christiane F.) and Christopher Nolan (2006’s The Prestige as Nikola Tesla).

Despite having a relatively short resume, Bowie’s film work is eclectic, powerful, and inspired countless others. To honour him, we thought we’d take a look at some of his greatest moments in film, both in person and through his music. Here are 12 of the highlights.

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The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

David Bowie’s most iconic role was his first. In Nicolas Roeg’s remarkable The Man Who Fell to Earth, Bowie plays an alien who visits Earth and becomes a billionaire by playing off humanity’s  greed and ruthlessness. The image of Bowie as intergalactic interloper is certainly one that followed him around his entire career, and the androgynous, amber-headed waif that we see in Roeg’s film is perhaps the most majestic of it. The film is a must-see mindfuck.

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Velvet Goldmine (1998)

Bowie was reportedly not a fan of this film, at the time labelling it a parody of his Ziggy Stardust persona. From iconic queer filmmaker Todd Haynes, Velvet Goldmine isn’t an official Bowie biopic (despite the Bowie song title), but the lead character (the role Jonathan Rhys Meyers was born to play) is clearly inspired by him.

Also starring Ewan McGregor, Toni Collette and Christian Bale, the film plays as an ode to glam rock that must be, per the credits, played at maximum volume, revelling in Bowie’s unrivalled theatricality and queer sensibility. It was even Oscar-nominated for its sensationally over-the-top costumes.

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Labyrinth (1986)

This Jim Henson production is not the best of movies, but it has a place in many a nostalgic heart for a reason. What makes this bonkers childhood favourite so interesting is how it plays so broadly to Bowie newcomers, agnostics, and life-long fans, as well as children, adults, and even those who don’t like musicals or fantasy flicks.

No doubt many a first Bowie experience was Labyrinth. It’s too hard to pick a single scene, so how about we just watch David Bowie’s balls?

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Inglorious Basterds (2009)

One of Quentin Tarantino’s greatest assets as a filmmaker is to take a song from one context and reconfigure it into something completely different. Such is the case here where he took Bowie’s wonderful theme song from the 1980 remake of Cat People and turned it into a feminist war anthem. Putting out fires with gasoline has never been so glam.

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The Hunger (1983)

Get David Bowie in a room with Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon and whole lot of wind-blown sheer curtains and you get the extraordinarily nutty The Hunger. A vampire flick with a difference, Tony Scott’s ultra-stylish European-flavoured erotic horror is certainly a product of the 1980s, but deliciously so, as Bowie and Deneuve hunt for blood among New York nightclubs.

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The Runaways (2010)

In the opening minutes of this ball-busting biopic of all-girl rock band The Runaways, star Dakota Fanning dons her finest Bowie make-up, platform heels and flamboyant clothes to flip the bird to the audience at her high school talent contest while lip-syncing to Bowie’s ‘Lady Grinning Soul’.

In The Runaways’ 1970s setting, the act is one of shocking vulgarity, but for audiences in 2010 it was one of surprising maturity as we finally got to see Fanning growing up. Thanks, in part, to Bowie.

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Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)

Director David Lynch likes employing music stars in unexpected roles: Billy Ray Cyrus in Mulholland Drive, Sting in Dune, Chris Isaak in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. It’s in that film that also gave us a very memorable cameo by Bowie as an FBI agent who may be a shape-shifter, a time-traveller, or something else entirely. Nobody really knows, but nobody can forget it.

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Dogville (2004)

Controversial Danish director Lars Von Trier had previously used David Bowie’s “Life on Mars” to great minimal effect in his emotion-destroying Breaking the Waves. But that was nothing compared to his use of “Young Americans” over the end credits of Dogville, which starred Nicole Kidman as a fugitive whose body is abused and exploited by the members of a small town who claim to be protecting her.

The song, with its references to McCarthyism, race persecution, and Richard Nixon, was placed over images of American shame including famine-riddled children, homelessness, hate crimes, and the neglected, oppressed working class. Many critics, including Roger Ebert, labelled the film “anti-American” as a result, but the power remains. And because he didn’t cop enough flak the first time, he used the song again in the 2005 sequel, Manderlay.

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Zoolander (2001)

Ben Stiller’s Zoolander is entirely preposterous, but amid this ridiculous male modelling cult comedy there’s one bit that is very believable. Let’s face it, it’s not too hard to picture David Bowie actually showing up at a fashion runway walk off, isn’t it? If only he’d brought his supermodel wife, Iman.

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Mauvais Sang (1986) and Frances Ha (2013)

Long before Greta Gerwig ran and danced through the streets of Manhattan to the blaring sound of Bowie’s ‘Modern Love’, French filmmaker Leos Carax – the man who blew everyone’s minds with Holy Motors in 2012 – got star Denis Lavant to do the exact same thing.

Full of pained anguish and joyous celebration, they are both incredible scenes that highlight how special Bowie’s music is.

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Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1973)

D.A. Pennebaker has been documenting musical artists from Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back in 1967 to Elain Stritch: Live at Liberty in 2002. In 1973 he documented Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars tour, and of particular interest was the last ever show Bowie would perform as Ziggy, telling the crowd: “Not only is this the last show of the tour, but it’s the last show that we’ll ever do.”

Footage of that film also appears in the essential Cracked Actor, a 1975 BBC documentary that goes behind the scenes of his next tour in Los Angeles at a time when Bowie was using cocaine heavily. He has said of the film and the time, “I’m amazed I came out of that period, honest. When I see that now I cannot believe I survived it. I was so close to really throwing myself away physically, completely.”

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The Martian (2015)

This sci-fi adventure only just won two Golden Globe awards for best picture and best actor. It won the musical/comedy categories, which might not have made sense unless you remember the tremendous amount of fun it has with a soundtrack of disco hits.

One of the best choices was Bowie’s ‘Starman’, used as the rescue party flings itself off into space to rescue Matt Damon from his life on Mars (pun definitely intended).

We’ll miss you on our screens and in our speakers, David Bowie.

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Glenn Dunks is a freelance writer from Melbourne. He also works as an editor and a film festival programmer while tweeting too much @glenndunks.