大象传媒

Every Celluloid Jukebox show has featured at least one track - from the haunting cover of by Brazilian artist (heard in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou) to his fabulous turn as The Goblin King singing in Labyrinth. Bowie’s music has been used to great effect in dozens of films by directors like Quentin Tarantino, Amy Heckerling, David Lynch and Ridley Scott.

His acting contributions are many and various – some best forgotten, but in a handful of roles he demonstrates exceptional cinematic presence and charisma. He was first seen as an (uncredited) extra in the 1969 British comedy The Virgin Soldiers and his last film appearance (playing himself) was in Bandslam in 2009.

Bowie’s finest and most iconic screen performance sees him playing an extra-terrestrial who comes to earth in search of water for his dying planet - only to end up with a drink problem. Perfectly cast by director Nic Roeg, Bowie’s portrayal of the alien is eerie and deeply affecting at the same time. It is said that he was at one time going to write music and songs for the soundtrack – some versions of which can be heard on his 1977 album . The cover of the album features a still taken from .

Bowie made a few turkeys in his film career, but none worse than this excruciating drama about an unemployed WW1 Prussian officer who, after WW1, goes to work in a brothel operated by (in her final film role). The title track is sung by Dietrich and the film contains cabaret standards from and , although nothing by Bowie himself. Just A Gigolo was a resounding flop with critics and audience alike – Bowie memorably describing it as "my 32 movies rolled into one".

Natja Brunckhorst is the Bowie-obsessed teenager who strays into the Berlin hard drug scene in Uli Edel’s gruelling and still shocking portrayal of heroin addiction. This cult classic features an outstanding Bowie soundtrack, as well as a dynamic concert appearance by the man himself (actually filmed at a New York venue dressed to look like a Berlin nightclub). The sequence running through a shopping mall to the sound of is a clear influence on the opening of Danny Boyle’s 15 years later.

Nagisa Oshima’s prisoner of war drama has not one, but two musicians in the lead roles. Alongside Bowie as Major Jack Celliers is Japanese star playing the camp commandant. Sakamoto also wrote the BAFTA-winning soundtrack of the movie. Oshima cast Bowie as the rebellious POW after seeing him in The Elephant Man on Broadway – commenting that he had "an inner spirit that is indestructible". Bowie received good notices for his performance and the film was an art-house hit at the box office.

Tony Scott’s first full-length feature is a horror film set in New York, with Bowie and Catherine Deneuve as perhaps the most glamorous vampire couple in the history of cinema. Susan Sarandon is the doctor who is drawn into their sinister web. Some have read Whitley Strieber’s story as a commentary on the 1980s as a period of decadence and unbridled appetite – for others, The Hunger’s bisexual hi-jinx make it a camp classic. Bowie himself worried that it was "perversely bloody at some points".

An insomniac gets mixed up with a jewel thief in John Landis’ underrated oddball comedy thriller. Alongside Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Pfeiffer, there are a host of insider cameo appearances from filmmakers like David Cronenberg and Jonathan Demme. suffered by comparison with Scorsese’s After Hours, which had a somewhat similar plot and was released in the same year. Bowie has a small but highly effective part as Colin Morris – the enigmatic British hit man who is on Pfeiffer’s tail.

Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis was hugely controversial at the time – an extreme religious group set fire to a theatre in Paris where the film was being screened, resulting in a number of people being severely injured. The cast includes Willem Dafoe as Christ and as Saul, but perhaps the most unexpected choice is Bowie playing Pontius Pilate (the role was originally offered to ). His understated and carefully nuanced portrayal of a diffident Roman diplomat is skilfully judged.

In what must rate as one of the most wig-tastic performances of his cinematic career, Bowie plays Andy Warhol in Julian Schnabel’s biopic of graffiti artist turned postmodernist . Bowie’s impersonation of Warhol’s highly mannered tones may seem like a parody, but in fact he was praised by those who knew the artist for the accuracy of his performance. Bowie was allowed to borrow Andy’s hairpiece, glasses and jacket from the official Warhol museum in Pittsburgh to add extra authenticity.

When a judge is called for at the start of the hilarious modelling walk-off sequence between Derek and Hansel, Bowie enters with the line “If nobody has any objections I believe I might be of service…” Bowie’s wrestling-style referee disqualifies Zoolander from the contest after his attempt to remove his own underpants without first taking off his trousers goes horribly wrong…

Christopher Nolan’s intriguing fantasy stars Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as rival 19th century magicians engaged in a deadly professional duel. Bowie turns in a brilliant cameo as the mysterious scientist and futurist , whose experiments border on the magical. His memorable entrance through a man-made electrical storm sets up his character perfectly. The real Tesla was a famous showman who has since been recognised for his genuine scientific achievements and now has an electrical car company named after him.