George Lucas, David Bowie and Jim Henson.
Henson, Bowie, and Jennifer Connelly on set.
Rick Lyon with the Creature Shop's Ziggy Stardust puppet.
Two of the Creature Shop Bowie puppets as seen in the "Love is Lost" music video.
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Rizzo as Ziggy Stardust on Muppet Babies in 2019.
David Bowie (1947-2016) was a pop singer and actor who starred in Labyrinth as Jareth, the Goblin King, and wrote all the songs for the movie.
On February 15, 1985, Jim Henson's Red Book noted that David Bowie's "deal is set." From the start of development in 1983, Henson knew he wanted to collaborate with a major performer for the music of Labyrinth, and to have them play Jareth. Along with knowing and appreciating Bowie's work, and his son John's fandom for the performer, Henson was drawn to Bowie's "other-worldliness and energy", a good match for the film's world.[1]
Bowie also portrayed Jeremy, Sarah's mother's boyfriend, in photographs visible in Sarah's room.
Two music videos were produced for songs from the movie featuring Bowie as himself: "As the World Falls Down" and "Underground", both of which include footage from the film and feature new content with Hoggle and other characters from The Labyrinth.
Bowie worked with the Jim Henson's Creature Shop again in 1999 for his music video for "The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell." The Creature Shop built four mannequin-like puppets of Bowie's personas: The Man Who Sold the World, Ziggy Stardust, The Thin White Duke, and Pierrot from "Ashes to Ashes". Although it was never released, the Ziggy Stardust puppet can be seen at Rick Lyon's website, and The Thin White Duke and Pierrot were later used in Bowie's music video for "Love is Lost". (YouTube)
Bowie's other film roles include a hitman in John Landis's Into the Night (which features a cameo by Jim Henson), Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ, Phillip Jeffries in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Andy Warhol in Basquiat, and Nikola Tesla in The Prestige.
References[]
- In "Hynerian Rhapsody," the fourth issue of the Farscape comic book, to get Aeryn's attention, John Crichton exclaims, "Uh, ground control to Major Tom!" referencing the lyrics to Bowie's "Space Oddity."
- The Muppets featured in a Google+ Hangout commercial featuring David Bowie and Queen's "Under Pressure" in December 2011.
- Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem covered Bowie's "Suffragette City" at The Muppets Take the Bowl in 2017, and at The Muppets Take the O2 in 2018.
- Baby Piggy's rock star persona in the Muppet Babies episode "Muppet Rock", Piggy Stardust, references Bowie's character from his 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
- In 2019, Rizzo appeared briefly in a Ziggy Stardust costume in the Muppet Babies episode "My Brother Vinny."