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May 23, 2018 · While frontman Brian Molko is first introduced in the film’s opening scene, running among a crowd of fans excited to attend a Maxwell Demon Show — donning a massive top hat and feather...
- Brian Slade = David Bowie
- Curt Wild = Iggy Pop and Lou Reed
- Mandy Slade = Angela Bowie
- Cecil = Ken Pitt
- Jerry Devine = Tony Defries
- Shannon = Coco Schwab
- The Flaming Creatures = The New York Dolls
- Jack Fairy = Little Richard
Let’s start simple: Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Myers) is a stand-in for David Bowie. It sure seems like the “Slade” part of the name is a subtle nod to the British glam rock band of the same name who scored a hit with “Ballroom Blitz,” but maybe it just sounded cool. Anyway, this much is canon, from the mouth of Haynes himself. Just the same, Brian...
The American Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor) is largely a mishmash of Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. Lou Reed is the one who underwent electroshock therapy as a teen in order to “treat” his homosexual tendencies. Iggy Pop is the one who was raised in a trailer-park in bumfuck, Michigan (I’m allowed to say that because I am coincidentally also from bumfuck, Michi...
The party girl exterior so meticulously fitted to the London club scene that she actually affects a British accent; the fragile American girl underneath feeling ever-strained by the weight of helping prop up a superstar; the disappointment and weariness still imprinted on her from it all, even ten years later. Brian’s wife Mandy could only be based...
While the milquetoast and ultimately ineffectual depiction of Brian Slade’s first manager Cecil isn’t really fair, the character is still unquestionably inspired by Bowie’s original manager, Ken Pitt. Pitt wasn’t quite the clueless, small time player Cecil is; he actually represented acts like Frank Sinatra and Manfred Mann. But he and Bowie noneth...
Don’t feel embarrassed if you’re secretly disappointed that Eddie Izzard didn’t just show up on the set of Velvet Goldmineand invent the character of Jerry Devine by sheer virtue of his own inner magnanimous bastard. Despite the devilish charisma with which Izzard plays the part of Brian’s fast-talking second manager, the part was based on a real g...
One of the characters it’s the most gratifying to discover was based on a real person is the nubile Shannon (Emily Woof). Shannon is the girl who knocks on the door of Brian’s estate in a dowdy mix of ’70s plaids to answer a classified ad looking for a low-level secretary. But of course, in accordance with their topsy turvy little world, Brian’s en...
Britpop act Placebo, who provided a cover of T-Rex’s “20th Century Boy” for the soundtrack, also show up in the movie itself to play a band from the fictionalized glam rock scene called The Flaming Creatures. If you can recall the wonky, out-of-sequence narrative, they’re the group that our modest reporter Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale) is seen awk...
Shocked? Confused? Had all your money on Brian Eno? Don’t shoot the messenger; I didn’t make this up, Todd Haynes did. The almost explicitly mythical figure of Jack Fairy haunts Velvet Goldminefrom scene to scene, maddening fans who want to know who the hell he correlates to. He’s so beautiful, he must be Brian Eno! But the name, he must be Bryan F...
- Cammila Collar
Velvet Goldmine (1998) photos, including production stills, premiere photos and other event photos, publicity photos, behind-the-scenes, and more.
Shudder to Think: "Ballad of Maxwell Demon" (Based on David Bowie's "All the Young Dudes" and Brian Eno's band Maxwell Demon) (Craig Wedren, Shudder to Think) – 4:47; Grant Lee Buffalo: "The Whole Shebang" (Based on David Bowie's "Velvet Goldmine") (Grant-Lee Phillips) – 4:11
- $9 million
Jul 5, 2021 · If you needed more real life references to connect the dots, Brian Slade creates a stage persona who answers to the name Maxwell Demon, a space rock star—same as Bowie did with Ziggy Stardust. Maxwell Demon, in the brightest moment of his career, fakes his own death on stage, which will lead a journalist—unexpectedly played by a young ...
Apr 24, 2023 · Modeled on David Bowie’s first wife, Angie, Mandy encourages Brian’s transformation into Maxwell Demon. They dress alike and openly engage in bisexual intercourse at drug filled orgies. Yet, the vibrant hedonistic Mandy is only seen in recollections. Toni Collette as Mandy Slade in Velvet Goldmine (1998)
A 1998 film by Todd Haynes about a bisexual pop star and his meteoric rise to fame during the Glam Rock movement of the 1970s. It's absolutely not about David Bowie. The film centers on Brian Slade ( Jonathan Rhys Meyers ), whose outer-space alter ego, Maxwell Demon, is in no way Ziggy Stardust.
