10 Worst Rock Music Film Biopics Ever

After Queen and Elton John, you might think David Bowie was an obvious and deserving candidate for a glossy biopic. The only stumbling block being that, before his death, Bowie made it clear he didn’t want such a film to be made.

Respecting his wishes, the glam icon’s family refused permission for any of his music to appear in the film. Most people would have given up at that point, but the team behind Stardust persevered and that wasn’t the last of their mistakes.

People have turned up to fancy dress parties looking more like David Bowie than the film’s lead Johnny Flynn does at any point. Most of the time he looks more like The Mighty Boosh’s Noel Fielding. The red Ziggy Stardust hair is particularly egregious. The Ziggy look is so distinctive and there’s really no excuse for getting it so badly wrong.

Flynn was 37, over a decade older than Bowie during the period the film covers. Have you spotted the pattern yet? Flynn would perhaps be a better fit playing mid-'80s, sharp suited Bowie, but that’s an entirely different and hypothetical movie.

Marc Moran co-stars as a publicist who was half Moran’s age. Presumably they cast the stand-up and podcaster to make Flynn look relatively young and fresh faced.