Cast: David Bowie (Thomas Jerome Newton), Rip Torn (Nathan Bryce), Candy Clark (Mary-Lou), Buck Henry (Oliver Farnsworth), Bernie Casey (Peters), Jackson D. Kane (Professor Canutti), Rick Riccardo (Trevor), Tony Mascia (Arthur), Captain James Lovell (himself)

When Nicholas Roeg happened to see Bowie profiled in the landmark 1975 documentary Cracked Actor he realised he was looking at someone who, without any real theatrical training, was perfect for the lead role in Roeg’s upcoming feature, The Man Who Fell To Earth. This character, Thomas Jerome Newton possessed many of the qualities Bowie was displaying in Cracked Actor — cerebral, edgy, enigmatic - a fragile alien uncomfortable in a new climate. Uncomfortable in his skin. At the time Bowie was taking the gargantuan Diamond Dogs roadshow across America, which had always been a mythland in Bowie’s words. Now costs were spiralling but the fame was as addictive as his cocaine habit. Both were slowly killing him, yet he persevered

Reflecting on his situation from the back of a stretch limo Bowie notices in his carton of skim milk (his staple diet in those days) a fly and observes:

"There’s a fly floating around in my milk and it is a foreign body and it’s getting a lot of milk! That’s kind of how I felt — a foreign body and I couldn’t help but soak it up."

The analogy must have been obvious for Roeg: the alien/stranger/foreigner drifting through a vast new landscape, determinedly selling his wares and being trapped by the worldly excess which they provide. Newton’s odyssey ends with his examination/dissection by ignorant well-meaning doctors and a descent into the mundanity of gin dependency. In Bowie’s case his dissection was at the hands of the media who were usually amused or perplexed by this pale gaunt figure espousing the simplest of ambitions:

"To keep me interested, to keep the people who come to see me or buy my records interested and excited as well."

Unable to pigeonhole him they treated him as some kind of gimmick that they expected would fade away. By the end of the tour however, Bowie, like Newton, had become an imposing figure on the scene, and in Roeg's eyes, his ideal Newton.

Roeg contacted Bowie and a meeting was set at Bowie’s NY apartment. Bowie only remembered the appointment after four hours had passed and assumed Roeg would have given up and left. When Bowie finally arrived, the director was there, patient in the knowledge that Bowie was Newton. After this meeting Bowie agreed to sign on for the project.

Bowie had been offered many movie roles in the past year but they were by and ludicrous exploitation flicks. But here was a respected director with a role that must have felt very natural for Bowie. He would just be himself. According to Roeg, Bowie threw himself into it, always on time and putting in a performance which everyone was happy with, even Bowie. It would be the only film he would go out of his way to promote (using stills for the sleeves of STATIONTOSTATION and Low).

The remarkable thing about the Bowie film canon is that every character ends up being degraded or martyred. It is perhaps a sign that Bowie has always felt like a marked man and has by nature flaunted this to dare his persecutors.

Production

As filming began romantic links were reported in the press as Bowie is joined on the set by Sabrina Guinness. Between shooting Bowie read, practiced filming on a 16mm newsreel camera Roeg gave him and wrote new songs and short stories. Some songs were intended for the soundtrack of the film, others for Station To Station. According to Bowie the short stories will never be published. Bowie later spoke of a visit to Carisbad Caves in Artesia, New Mexico to an American journalist, Rex Reed:

'It was completely dark except for one hole in the top. Suddenly there was a whistling sound like rats screaming. Thousands of bats flew out of the rocks and up through the hole. They return every morning at 4am. I'd love to do my next concert there, with thousands of vampire bats descending on the audience's heads.'

Filming also had its problems - cameras were jamming for no reason, one scene had to be shot at an old Aztec burial ground, near a camp site of rowdy local Hell's Angels.

Drinking a glass of milk on set, Bowie noticed, 'Some gold liquid swimming around in shiny swirls inside the glass'. Bowie was ill for two days afterwards and is still to this day unsure of what actually happened. No trace of any foreign element was detected in tests though there were six witnesses who said they had seen the strange matter in the bottom of the glass. Already in an extremely fragile state, Bowie felt the whole location had 'very bad Karma'.

Production on the film had been scheduled to last eleven weeks. Bowie and friends stayed at the Hilton Inn in Albuquerque for the main part of the filming, only making rare excursions to the bar and rarely out of the house except for filming. Other projects were simultaneously firing his imagination, the main one being his autobiography, tentatively titled The Return of the Thin White Duke, a section of which was featured in Rolling Stone 12 February 1976

Synopsis of the film

A space traveller plummets to earth, landing in a lake in New Mexico. He drinks water and thinks of his barren planet, where his wife and two children are dying of thirst.

Using the name Thomas Jerome Newton, he goes to New York to speak to lawyer Oliver Farnsworth. Farnsworth is amazed that Newton has nine basic patents. He will be able to earn $300 million in three years. "I need more," says Newton, not explaining why. He enlists Farnsworth's aid to build a great corporation, World Enterprises. Even by playing fairly, World Enterprises should soon make some other corporations obsolete.

Nathan Bryce, a divorced Chicago chemistry professor, spends his time making love to his female students. He becomes fascinated with World Color's self-developing film, which can be bought very inexpensively (free cameras are thrown in). He wonders who the reclusive Newton is and starts making inquiries.

Using the alias Mr. Sussex, Newton travels to New Mexico. At his hotel he meets Mary-Lou, a maid who helps him when he becomes sick from a fast elevator ride. She becomes his constant companion and lover. She brings him a television set, and influences him to drink gin. Eventually, he watches many television sets at once and drinks incessantly. Still missing his family, he initiates a space program with all the money he has made.

Farnsworth hires Bryce to come to New Mexico and work on the secret project. Bryce lives in a cabin on the other side of the lake from Newton and Mary-Lou. He secretly takes X rays of Newton and discovers that Newton's form is totally alien. Newton, who can see X rays, readily admits he is an alien. He says he has no intention of causing harm to earthlings.

The project is taking too long. All Newton does is drink and watch television. He had watched American TV for years on his planet but never guessed that it revealed nothing about the human condition. As he becomes more human, he feels life is futile.

His relationship with Mary-Lou deteriorates when she demands more attention. He strips off his earthling guise, and his alien form terrifies her. She can't make love to him, although she does love him. Farnsworth buys Mary-Lou off to get her away from Newton. She doesn't want the money -- she wants Tommy.

Capitalist companies pressure Farnsworth to sell World Enterprises. He refuses. Farnsworth and his gay lover Trevor are hurled out the window of their New York apartment and killed. Newton is taken prisoner. For years he is held in a deserted suite in a hotel and subjected to painful tests. World Enterprises goes bankrupt. Bryce begins to work for Peters, who initiated Newton's kidnapping. Bryce and Mary-Lou marry.

Newton escapes his prison once no one cares about him anymore. He holds no animosity towards anyone. He records an album called The Visitor, which he hopes his wife, who may already have died from thirst, will hear. Knowing he can never go back home, he can never save his dying family, that he has failed, Newton is full of self-pity. He will spend the rest of his life on earth as a drunkard.

LINKS:

> Creem report on the set during production, published December 1975

Between takes with Candy Clark

MUSIC CREDITS:

Poker Dice (Yamashta)

Thirty-Three And A Third (Yamashta)

Mandala (Yamashta)

Wind Words (Yamashta)

One Way (Yamashta)

Memory Of Hiroshima (Yamashta)

Performed by Stomu Yamashta

Songs Of The Humpback Whale

Recorded by Frank Watlington

Boys From The South (Phillips)

Hello, Mary Lou (Pitney)

Rhumba Boogie (Phillips)

Blue Grass Breakdown (Phillips)

Performed by John Phillips

Excerpts from–Planets Suite (Hoist)

Performed by The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Blueberry Hill (Rose, Stick, Lewis)

Performed by Louis Armstrong

Enfantillages Pittoresques

Performed by Frank Glazer

A Fool Such As I (Trader)

Performed by Hank Snow

Make The World Go Away (Cochran)

Performed by Jim Reeves

Try To Remember (Schmidt, Jones)

Performed by The Kingston Trio

Blue Bayou (Orbison, Melson)

Performed by Roy Orbison

Silent Night (Mohr, Gruber)

Performed by Robert Farnon

True Love (Porter)

Performed by Bing Crosby & Grace Kelly

Love Is Coming Back (Phillips)

Performed by Genevieve Waite

Stardust (Carmichael, Parrish)

Performed by Artie Shaw

Video and DVD
US VHS release	UK VHS	First US DVD [Fox Loeber]
2002 UK DVD [Anchor Bay]	2003 US DVD [Anchor Bay]	2005 DVD [Criterion]
The Anchor Bay DVDs feature an all-new 24-minute featurette called "Watching the Alien" The Criterion edition boasts: Performance, a compilation of new video interviews with actors Candy Clark and Rip Torn New video interview with screenwriter Paul Mayersberg Audio interviews with costume designer May Routh and production designer Brian Eatwell Multiple stills galleries Gallery of posters from Roeg's films Trailers and television spots An exclusive reprint of Walter Tevis's original novel