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Johnny Flynn as David Bowie
Picture: PA Photo/Vertigo Releasing Johnny Flynn always knew taking on David Bowie in a film would be a challenge. He was so sure it was a bad idea that the actor and singer-songwriter, 37, best known for his roles in Beast, Emma and Lovesick, almost dismissed it out of hand. I had been sent a version of the script well before Gabriel (Range, the director) came on board and, even without reading it, I thought this can t be done, because David had this image that was untouchable, Flynn says as we chat over Zoom.
Stardust’s Johnny Flynn: Bowie film was always going to be contentious
Johnny Flynn as David Bowie (Vertigo)
Actor Johnny Flynn has said he knew there would be “contentiousness” with his new film about David Bowie, adding: “We had to tread carefully.”
The Beast star, who is also a singer and songwriter, said he always expected there to be controversy over the film Stardust, in which he plays the musician on his first trip to America, before he created the Ziggy Stardust alter-ego and became a star.
He told the PA news agency: “I think we have been conditioned by those big sprawling jukebox musical biopics but it wasn’t that long ago when there was a spate of films like Control (starring Sam Riley as Joy Division singer Ian Curtis) and a few others about musicians that, for me, were much more interesting and looked at tiny moments in people’s lives that allowed you to understand them on a psychological level much more profoundly.