A new film is going to focus on David Bowie and Iggy Pop’s collaboration and friendship in West Berlin circa 1976-1978. Titled Lust for Life, the film will be directed by Gabriel Range (Death of a President). The screenplay is by Robin French, a writer for the BBC series Cuckoo. French’s screenplay was informed by the Paul Trynka books Starman: David Bowie and Open Up and Bleed: Iggy Pop, as well other sources.
The West Berlin period was a pretty interesting time for both Bowie and Pop. If I’m not mistaken, The Stooges had broken up a few years ago due to Pop’s heroin addiction, and he hadn’t written or recorded any material since then, instead spending his time broke and in a mental institution. Bowie was coming out of his coked-out/alienated White Duke phase and had completed the album Station to Station and the film The Man Who Fell to Earth directed by Nicolas Roeg. The collaboration between the two musicians led to the Pop albums The Idiot and Lust for Life and the Bowie album Low (the first of his Berlin Trilogy).
No word yet on casting for the film since it’s currently trying to secure financing. After the cut I’ve included a song from The Idiot, a song from Lust for Life (that’s not the title track), and a song from Low.
[The Hollywood Reporter via The Playlist]“China Girl” by Iggy Pop from The Idiot (1977)
“The Passenger” by Iggy Pop from Lust for Life (1977)
“Sound and Vision” by David Bowie from Low (1977)
