Johnny Flynn (“Beast”) will play a young David Bowie in “Stardust,” a film about the rock star’s first visit to the U.S. in 1971.
Flynn is coming off a run in London’s West End, playing opposite Kit Harington (“Game of Thrones”) in Sam Shepherd’s “True West.” In “Stardust” Jena Malone (“Vice”) will play his then wife Angie. Marc Maron (“Glow”) is also on board and will play his record company publicist.
Christopher Bell (“The Last Czars”) is writing the script and Gabriel Range (“I Am Slave”) will direct. Principal photography commences in June. London-based Salon Pictures is producing. Christopher Figg of Piccadilly Pictures is co-financing.
Bowie’s son, the filmmaker Duncan Jones, tweeted that “as it stands, this movie won’t have any of dads music in it, & I can’t imagine that changing.” He added the film does not have the blessing of the family.
The producers said they wanted to clarify that the film is not a biopic. “It is a moment in time film at a turning point in David’s life, and is not reliant on Bowie’s music,” they said in a statement. “Much like ‘Nowhere Boy’ for Lennon, or ‘Control’ for Joy Division, the production uses period music and songs that Bowie covered, but not his original tracks.”
Fabien Westerhoff’s Film Constellation has worldwide rights and will introduce “Stardust” to buyers at the EFM in Berlin in Feb.
The shape-changing rock star is also the subject of a new Francis Whatley feature-documentary that will air in the BBC in the U.K. The producers of “Stardust” said that the film will chart Bowie’s trans-Atlantic trip, which “inspired the invention of his iconic alter ego Ziggy Stardust.”
Flynn will next be seen in Working Title’s upcoming Jane Austen adaptation “Emma” with Anya Taylor-Joy. He has recently been on British screens in “Les Miserables,” which will run on Masterpiece in the U.S.
