David Bowie: A force on screen and soundtracks

By Richard Roeper

DAVID BOWIE was one of the most beloved and influential musical artists of the 20th (and early 21st) century — but he was also an interesting and diverse actor who created a lasting persona in just a few dozen movie and TV roles.

A few of my favorite David Bowie films and performances:

The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

Who better than the pale, rail-thin, androgynous-looking David Bowie to play Thomas Jerome Newton, an alien who lands on Earth in search of water for his dying planet? Bowie is a natural playing an unnatural being in Nicolas Roeg’s visionary, unsettling and melancholy cult classic.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)

Arguably Bowie’s best performance, as Major Jack “Strafer” Celliers, a prisoner of war in a Japanese war camp during World War II.

The Hunger (1983)

In Tony Scott’s lurid, smoky, erotic horror film, Bowie plays John, a centuries-old vampire married to fellow immortal Catherine Deneuve’s Miriam. As John realizes the extent of Miriam’s deceit and realizes he is NOT destined to remain eternally young and rapidly begins to age, Bowie makes great use of his ability to disappear within a character. His onstage chameleon-like transformations served as years of prep for similar feats of quick-change onscreen.

Labyrinth (1986)

At times in his career, Bowie actually looked as if Jim Henson might have invented him. He’s perfectly cast as the charming but evil Jareth the Goblin King in Henson’s ambitious fantasy adventure.

The Last Temptation of Christ  (1988)

Bowie delivered a strong performance as a conflicted, tortured, cowardly Pontius Pilate in Martin Scorsese’s controversial take on the life and times of Jesus Christ.

And then there were the countless times Bowie “starred” in a film via his music, e.g., A Knight’s Tale (2001). Although Mr. Bowie didn’t appear in Brian Helgeland’s vastly underrated fantasy/comedy/romance, his “Golden Years” was featured in one of my favorite dance numbers of all time, with Shannyn Sossamon’s Jocelyn rescuing Heath Ledger’s William Thatcher at just the moment when the evil Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell) was about to confirm his suspicions about William’s tall tales. It’s a lovely, funny, exhilarating sequence, sweetened and fueled by Bowie’s golden voice.

John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club begins with a quote from Bowie’s “Changes,” which was suggested to Hughes by Ally Sheedy: “And these children that you spit on, as they try to change their worlds, are immune to your consultations. They’re quite aware of what they’re going through.”

Bowie’s music has been ubiquitous in film and on television. According to IMDb, Bowie’s songs have been featured in 452 films or TV shows. Think of all the times “Space Oddity” — which Bowie was inspired to write after he saw 2001: A Space Odyssey — has been utilized, from Friends to The Secret Life of Walter Mitty to The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou to Mad Men. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield even performed a reworked-to-a-happy-ending version of “Space Oddity” in outer space a couple of years ago, with the video getting more than 25 million YouTube views.

A few of my favorite marriages of Bowie and the movies:

“Cat People”: Bowie co-wrote (with Giorgio Moroder) and provided the vocals for the title track to the sexy chiller by Paul Schrader from 1982. Some 27 years later, Quentin Tarantino made outrageous and ingenious use of “Cat People” in his World War II film Inglourious Basterds.

“This Is Not America”: Bowie and the Pat Metheny Group performed the haunting theme for John Schlesinger’s nearly forgotten classic spy film from 1985, The Falcon and the Snowman.

��“F�����󾱴Dz�”: in Amy Heckerling’s enduring and charming Clueless (1995).

“Something in the Air”: in Christopher Nolan’s Memento (2000), one of my top films of the entire decade.

“H����DZ��”: in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012).

“Modern Love”: in Sleeping With Other People (2015) and Frances Ha (2012).

And just last year in The Martian, director Ridley Scott couldn’t resist using “Starman” for an inspirational montage in which the American and foreign governments unite to bring home one stranded astronaut who had become a beacon of hope and courage for the world. It was the perfect choice of music.

David Bowie was an artist among artists. — Chicago Sun-Times/Universal UClick