How David Bowie defied pop-star movie norms in The Man Who Fell to Earth

Pop stars usually shift into film by leaning on their celebrity: a wink at their persona, a role that showcases their music, or a dramatic pivot away from pop stardom. Lady Gaga and Beyonce have all taken those routes in various movies. When David Bowie made the leap on March 18, 1976, he chose a stranger path for his first major film role.

Nicolas Roeg cast Bowie as an alien, but the film deliberately avoids using Bowie’s music or adapting his Ziggy Stardust persona. Instead Bowie plays an extraterrestrial who arrives to raise money to save his water‑depleted world, posing as a British businessman named Thomas Jermone Newton, patenting inventions, and trying to build a ship to carry water home.

He has a brief human romance with Mary‑Lou (Candy Clark), is seduced by television, sex, and alcohol, and finds his plans impeded by government intervention.

United Kingdom

david bowie, nicolas roeg, ziggy stardust, thomas jermone, candy clark, alien, film debut, 1976, television, water