David Bowie Biopic ‘Stardust’ Reveals First Look

The new biopic about the life of the late David Bowie, Stardust, has given audiences its first glimpse of the film. The clip, posted by Variety, shows Johnny Flynn portraying the man who would become the Great White Duke early on in his career.

Along with Flynn’s Bowie, a clean-shaven Marc Maron portrays Ron Oberman, who worked as a publicist for the rock star for years. Stardust takes place in 1971 during Bowie’s first trip to the U.S. full of ambition, only to realize the world might not be ready for him or his album, The Man Who Sold the World. The film will also chronicle the real-life events that led him to create his renowned alter ego, Ziggy Stardust. Gabriel Range, who has been largely focused on documentary work over the past several years, co-wrote the script as well as directed the picture.

“I set out to make a film about what makes someone become an artist; what actually drives them to make their art,” Range said about Stardust in a statement. “That someone is David Bowie, a man we’re used to thinking about as the star he became, or as one of his alter egos: Ziggy Stardust; Aladdin Zane; The Thin White Duke. Someone I only ever saw at a great distance, behind a mask; a godlike, alien presence. Even in his perfectly choreographed death, he didn’t seem like a regular human being.”

Bowie, of course, eventually won over skeptical record labels to become one of the most enigmatic and revered performers of his era. He passed away from liver cancer in January of 2016, though two days before his death, he released what would be his last album, Blackstar. Given that he’d hidden his illness from the public for years, the album was thoroughly analyzed by his mourning fanbase.

In November of 2019, Oberman also passed away from complications resulting from frontotemporal degeneration at the age of 76. Along with his work with Bowie, Oberman worked with both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, as well as helped launch the careers of Bruce Springsteen, The Bangles, Toad the Wet Sprocket and Warrant, to name just a few.

Stardust was originally slated to premiere at the Tribeca Film Fest this week, which has been temporarily postponed due to concerns about coronavirus. However, the film will be getting a limited screening online this week. There’s currently no general release date set at this time.