On what he does best
Ever since David Bowie alias Ziggy Stardust burst on the scene in the early 70's, he's been one of rock's most extravagent and consistently inventive performers. In the fragile world of rock reputations Bowie has stayed ahead. His restlessness and his energy delighting, if sometimes bewildering his followers.
I first met David Bowie when I made a film about him in 1975. Already hugely successful, he'd come to America on a rock and roll quest for the bizarre and the extreme. The film was called "Cracked Actor", after the song that I felt best described him at that time, trying on new roles with manic creativity.
Yentob: When I made that film "Cracked Actor" about you, I was going to call it "The Collector" or "The Impressionist" or something, because you've always taken things from other places, like books and ideas...
Bowie: That's probably what I'm best at doing. I'm not an original thinker. What I'm probably best at doing is synthesizing those things in society or culture that I find rivetingly exciting, and I guess what I end up doing is refracting those things. I'm producing some kind of glob of how it is that we live at this particular time. I'm not a guy that gets on stage and tells you how my day's just gone. Straight from the heart. I couldn't do that. I love what artists who do do that, and I admire them tremendously. I don't have that talent. And it's not a thing that interests me.
Yentob: People might accuse you of being cool and dispassionate in what you do. Do you think that's fair...
Bowie: Oh, they have done. It's not that they might...
Yentob: They do. I'm being polite.
Bowie: Yes, you're a very polite gentleman.
Yentob: So what would you...how would you counter that? Given that...
Bowie: I don't. I have no answer for that. It's entirely their opinion. And they're welcome to it.
Yentob: But you think you're intuitive, don't you?
Bowie: Yes. My feet are very planted in today. In now. My stuff is never...it's...I've never wanted to presume that there is anything in the area of prophecy culturally about what I do. What's more about antennae than it is about actually understanding a situation.
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