The 'Emma' star is channeling Ziggy Stardust in a new film, which centers on the late rocker's first trip to America.
There's a Starman waiting in the sky -- though we may be waiting a little while longer for him to come to the big screen.
Emma star Johnny Flynn is portraying David Bowie in Stardust, a new film about the legendary rocker, which was set to premiere this week at the since-postponed Tribeca Film Festival.
However, on Wednesday, fans got a look at the first clip from the Gabriel Range-directed film, which centers on Bowie's early '70s transformation into Ziggy Stardust and his first trip to the United States in 1971.
In the clip, via Variety, Flynn's Bowie speaks to his publicist, Ron Oberman (played by Glow's Marc Maron) about his team's doubts about his upcoming record and tour -- and how to best market him in America.
"All it takes is one believer to change the world, right? And we’ve got two," Maron's character tells the concerned rocker. "You believe in yourself, don’t you?"
Last February, Bowie's son, Duncan Jones, spoke out against Stardust, saying that the film did not have the blessing of Bowie's family, and had not been granted music rights to the catalog of the late rocker, who died in January 2016.
"I'm not saying this movie is not happening. I honestly wouldn't know," Jones tweeted. "I'm 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."
Stardust producers later clarified in a statement to Entertainment Weekly that the film was "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 their statement. "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.”
While most movie releases are currently on hold amid the coronavirus pandemic, if it does come to theaters in 2020, Stardust could be the third movie about a British rock icon in as many years to be an awards contender -- following Bohemian Rhapsody in 2018 and Rocketman in 2019.
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