Why David Bowie turned down the role of the villain in the James Bond film: history and facts
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Vibrant, innovative, charismatic... He gave us not only classic hits but also an iconic image! He alone Ziggy Stardust - the legendary rock star alien, for what it's worth? He was always the brilliant embodiment of all things eccentric and sensational. In his lifetime. David Bowie demonstrated a penchant for various art forms. Although he was primarily a singer, Bowie also maintained a reputation as an actor, a fashion icon and a technological innovator of sorts (the rock star's experimental venture "BowieNet" was the prologue to the eventual emergence of social media). But let's get back to that first aspect - his acting.
If you've ever seen the films "Labyrinth" (1986) or "The Prestige" (2006)You have witnessed the Ziggy Stardust singer's fantastic ability to light up the screen with profound ease and stoicism. Naturally, in due course David caught the eye of some big directors with big ideas for their projects, and they didn't hesitate to try to bring him into the film life in turn, confident that he would be more suited to realising their ideas than anyone else. And one day Bowie was offered the role of a James Bond villain.. This was back when A View to a Kill (1985) was just beginning with preparations for filming. But the artiste refused to be part of the exciting process and to be part of the iconic franchise. And here's why ...
The first reason, or unwillingness to be "bored"
Films about a James Bond agent have long been iconic. There is hardly a person who has never seen at least one film of this franchise. Sharp plot, well-matched actors - and even the music is exciting! And how many boys, being under the impression of watching it, imagined themselves in the place of a legendary agent... What to say, if some of the most famous people dreamed of becoming a part of it. It is known that before his death, the late theoretical physicist, cosmologist and astrophysicist Stephen Hawking stated that he dreamed of playing a Bond villain in the timeless Agent 007 franchise! Why then did David Bowie, who seemed to have a keen enthusiasm for all things art and cinema in particular, not share the same ambition?
Well, his original reasoning was simple: he said it would be a "boring.". In particular, in his interview, the singer emphasised:
"I didn't want to spend five months watching my understudy fall off a cliff!"
There may be some truth to that. Unless you're someone like Jackie Chan or Tom Cruise - actors who are known to perform their own stunts on their own - you're really going to get bored. Many of the action scenes in films that so captivate audiences are performed by trained professionals, which is actually no secret for a long time now. It would seem that David Bowie had better things to do than watch someone else "having fun" on the film set instead of him. However, it later turned out that the reason for his cancellation of "A View to a Kill" could be a little bit more personal…
The real reason for the rejection, or what Roger Moore has to do with it.
Bowie reportedly declined to star in the film because of his potential partner Roger Moore. Why? Let's start with the backstory. In 1976, David and his family briefly moved to Switzerland. Tired of the press, scandals and rock 'n' roll lifestyle, the artist decided that a fresh start in a new country was just what he needed in the midst of the impending chaos in his life. However, the privacy he craved became a little compromised after Roger Moore, who was also living in Switzerland at the time, learned of the arrival of his new rock star neighbour and fellow countryman. Moore had already starred in several Bond films, so showbiz was no stranger to him.
On his first day, he simply went to Bowie's house to greet his new friend, which at first seemed like a heartfelt enough gesture. However constant presence Moore in David's home began to get depressing, and Bowie began to view the actor as an unwanted guest... As journalist and biographer Dylan Jones writes:
"After two weeks of Moore turning up at 5.25pm - literally every day - David could be found under the kitchen table, pretending he wasn't home..."
The idea of spending several months on the set of A View to a Kill under a constant onslaught of trite and insufferable conversations apparently seemed more excruciating than a real cliff jump, so Bowie decided to stick with it away from the project.
