Ziggy Stardust

David Bowie biopic 'Stardust' will star Johnny Flynn

A new biopic about David Bowie has cast UK indie folk singer and actor Johnny Flynn in the leading role, The Hollywood Reporter reports. Stardust will focus on Bowie’s first trip to America in 1971, and the inspiration for the creation of his Ziggy Stardust alter ego.

Jenna Malone will play Bowie’s first wife, Angie, in the film, and Marc Maron his record company publicist. Christopher Bell wrote Stardust‘s script, and Gabriel Range is directing, with principal photography due to begin in June.

When asked about the project on Twitter, Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones said, “pretty certain nobody has been granted music rights for ANY biopic… I would know.” That would be a major limitation for Stardust; stay tuned for further developments.

UPDATE: In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, the Stardust producers said, “we would like to clarify that this 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. Our original press release did state this. Much like Nowhere Boy for [John] Lennon, Control for Joy Division, 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.”

Johnny Flynn also starred alongside Anne Hathaway in 2014’s Song One, which was set against “the backdrop of Brooklyn’s vibrant modern-folk music scene.” His latest studio album is 2017’s Sillion, which you can watch a video from below.