Velvet Goldmine
Velvet Goldmine (1998) is a film directed and co-written by Todd Haynes. The story follows a British journalist (Christian Bale) who has to search his own past when writing an article about early-'70s rock stars for an American periodical. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers ("Bend It Like Beckham") had his feature debut playing the role of Brian Slade, a pansexual folk minstrel-cum-glitter icon likely patterned after David Bowie. Ewan McGregor costars in the role of Curt Wild, a glam-rock performer who doesn't back down from sex, nudity or drugs on or off stage, and who many consider to be loosely based on Iggy Pop. Toni Colette, who went on to play Haley Joel Osment's mother in the movie The Sixth Sense, is also featured as Slade's wife.
The tale strongly parallels Bowie and Iggy Pop's relationship in the '70s and '80s, with parallel stages in both stories including "folk singer takes illegal substances" and "open-minded glam rocker becomes bland straight guy." The title of the movie has multiple readings:
- An adaptation of the name of the band The Velvet Underground.
- A B-side composed by David Bowie, originally written as a rather adult description of him making out with another guy. Social pressures combined with an only-half-hearted interest in the material had Bowie rewriting the song to be slightly more ambigious.
