The James Bond movie David Bowie turned down: “It’s more of a clown performance”
Just picture it: David Bowie and James Bond; even though Moonraker would obviously have been the more applicable effort from the 007 franchise to house the Starman, the crossover alone is the stuff of Bowie -and movie – buffs’ wildest fantasies.
It’s to Bowie’s credit that the crux of his appeal isn’t just the novelty of it but also the almost-annoying fact that on top of everything else, the intergalactic rock star was a pretty stellar onscreen presence who doled out a number of accomplished performances during his infrequent detours into cinema.
From Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth to Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige via Jim Henson’s Labyrinth and Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, Bowie regularly stood out even in the midst of seasoned acting talent.
As a result, he was often put up for roles that many sceptics didn’t think he was capable of pulling off, only for the singer to triumph. A notable case in point is his rousing performance opposite John Hurt in David Lynch’s drama The Elephant Man.
The occasional acclaimed turn is an entirely different ballgame to taking on one of the most iconic mantles in cinema and serving as the antagonist to one of the most indelible characters in Hollywood history, but it was nonetheless there for the taking if Bowie was interested after he was eyed by the producers of the James Bond franchise to become the franchise’s latest villain.
In Roger Moore’s seventh and final outing under the tux, A View to a Kill, the discovery of a microchip leads 007 on a path that lands directly at the feet of Christopher Walken’s Max Zorin, the head of a nefarious corporation with sinister intentions that threaten the stability of the world. He even accepted the offer, with promotional materials released in 1984 confirming he would play the role.
However, it never came to pass, with Bowie getting cold feet and backing out. When pressed for the reasons why he abandoned Bond despite showing such early enthusiasm, he hinted that even though he wasn’t an actor by trade, hamming it up in an action-packed espionage blockbuster was beneath a part-timer who could always be relied on to knock it out of the park.
“I think for an actor, it’s probably an interesting thing to do,” he said. “But I think that for somebody from rock, it’s more of a clown performance. And I didn’t want to spend five months watching my double fall off mountains.”
The role of Zorin was also offered to Sting, as director John Glen and the casting agents were seemingly keen to hire a musician. They eventually fulfilled this desire by casting Grace Jones as the baddie’s lover and chief henchwoman, May Day.
The year after A View to a Kill hit cinemas in 1985, Bowie starred as the Goblin King in Labyrinth, a role that would land him a legion of fans amongst a younger demographic and confirm himself as every bit the trained actor he was.
It is the dream crossover that never was, leaving all of us to wonder just how it would have looked to see Bowie hanging out of the side of a helicopter, blasting bullets at Roger Moore. One thing is for certain: he and Grace Jones would certainly have made a fiercely striking team.
