David Bowie wasn’t DAVID BOWIE, internationally-known rock god, until his fifth album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. I mean, technically before he was David Bowie or DAVID BOWIE, he was David Robert Jones, but you get the idea. His self-titled debut barely made a commercial dent, while the follow-up, also named David Bowie (later re-titled Space Oddity), had a hit, but sold poorly as well.
IFC Films biopic Stardust follows Bowie (Lovesick‘s Johnny Flynn) as he’s sent to America to promote his third album, 1970’s The Man Who Sold the World, with help from a music publicist played by pre-Joker beard Marc Maron. “Be someone else,” the publicist tells Bowie. That bit of advice led to not only Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke, but also, the Goblin King. And for that, we’re forever thankful to Marc Maron.
Here’s the official plot synopsis:
David Bowie is one of the most seminal legends in music history; but who was the man behind the many faces? In 1971, a 24-year-old fledgling David Bowie (Johnny Flynn) is sent to America to promote his newest record, The Man Who Sold the World. Leaving behind his pregnant wife Angie (Jena Malone), Bowie and his band embark on a makeshift coast-to-coast promotional tour with struggling Mercury Records publicist Rob Oberman (Marc Maron).
Stardust hits VOD and digital services on November 25.