_________VELVET LIFE (for your dirty glam needs).

Velvet Goldmine FAQ.

What's Velvet Goldmine?
Velvet Goldmine is the 1998 Todd Haynes movie about glam rock. Its main characters are:
Curt Wild - Ewan McGregor
Brian Slade - Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Mandy Slade - Toni Collete
Arthur Stuart - Christian Bale
Jerry Divine - Eddie Izzard
Shannon Hazelbourne - Emily Woolf

The story is very hard to follow, who are the main characters?
Brian Slade: born in 1948, Thomas Brian Stoningham Slade, becomes a pop saint, inspiring a new kind of music and style, and then fakes his own assassination and disappears.
Mandy Slade: Brian's dutiful wife. They met at the Sombrero Club in 1969 and soon after they got married. She is credited as being one of the the major influences in Brian's rise to fame.
Curt Wild: American rock star who influences Brian a lot. Their affair shocks everyone, but Brian's alter-ego, Maxwell Demon, eventually, plays against their love.
Arthur Stuart: former glam fan, Arthur is now a journalist whose boss wants him to write an article about Brian's crime. His investigations will lead him to his own past.
Jack Fairy: the man that created glam rock, the most mysterious character of the movie.
Jerry Divine: Brian's manager, or the man that knows the key of becoming a star.
Shannon Hazelbourn: Brian's wardrobe assistant. She later becomes manager of pop star Tommy Stone.

Did Velvet Goldmine receive any awards or nominations?
Yes, they are not too many.

Nominated Oscar Best Costume Design (Sandy Powell).
Won BAFTA Film Award Best Costume Design (Sandy Powell).
Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Make-Up/Hair (Peter King).
Won Best Artistic Contribution Cannes Festival (Todd Haynes).
Nominated Golden Palm Cannes Festival (Todd Haynes).
Won Channel 4 Director's Award Edinburgh International Film Festival (Todd Haynes).
Nominated GLAAD Media Award Outstanding Film.
Won Independent Spirit Award Best Cinematography (Maryse Alberti).
Nominated Independent Spirit Award Best Director (Todd Haynes).
Nominated Independent Spirit Award Best Feature (Christine Vachon).
Nominated ALFS Award British Newcomer of the Year London Critics Circle Film Awards (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers).
Nominated Golden Reel Award Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA Best Sound Editing - Music - Musical Feature (Foreign & Domestic).
Nominated Golden Reel Award Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA Annette Kudrak (music editor).
Nominated Golden Reel Award Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA Todd Kasow (scoring editor).

What is "glam rock"?
Is the usually given name for a kind of rock music that incorporated androginy, make-up and costumes. The most important glam musicians were David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Elton John, Lou Reed, Gary Glitter, Alice Cooper.

According to the Wikipedia Encyclopedia:
Glam rock is a style of rock music popularised in the 1970s, and was mostly a British phenomenon. It was distinguished by the costumes and stage acts of the performers rather than any particular aspect of their music. Male glam performers often dressed androgynously in make up and glittery, outrageous costumes, not dissimilar to the kind of thing Liberace or Elvis Presley wore when performing in cabaret. The most famous example is David Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust phase. Sexual ambiguity became a game; Bowie told the press he was gay simply for the publicity, while the late Jobraith is thought really to have been rock's first openly gay star.
Although credit for starting the trend in Britain is often given to Gary Glitter and his band, it was probably Roxy Music, headed by former art teacher Bryan Ferry who led the field, though they avoided the excesses of many of their imitators. Ferry's brainwave was to give his young audience an excuse to dress up for concerts; as he put it, "It would be like a night at the opera for them."

So this movie isn't just fiction, is it based on true events?
Todd Haynes was inspired by the life and works of David Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and many other glam musicians and glam related people. Many of the quotes you can hear were taken by Todd Haynes from Wilde's book "The Picture Of Dorian Gray" (1891). Although Velvet Goldmine is based on true events, it's only make-believe because most of those events are modified.

I have heard that Velvet Golmine is connected to many movies and books, is that true?
Yes. The main source of inspiration for Todd Haynes is probably the 1941 Orson Welles masterpiece, Citizen Kane. Other inspirations include Oscar Wilde, George Orwell, Stanley Kubrick films (A Clockwork orange and 2001: A Space Odyssey).

Who is David Bowie?
He is a singer, songwriter, saxophonist, guitarist, keyboard player, actor, and one of the most multifaceted artist of all times. His real name is David Robert Jones and was born on 08/01/1947 in Brixton, London.

Why did David Bowie refuse to co-operate with Haynes?
David Bowie didn't like the project at all and decided to withhold permission for his songs to be used. Bowie also said he was working on his own Ziggy era movie.

What prompted Haynes to make a movie about glam rock?
"I think one of the main things that spurred it off was that I love the music, even though I got to it a little bit after the fact, after the initial period it which it happened. It's such an incredibly visual period of rock 'n' roll, and film is a visual medium, as we're told. It seemed sort of inconceivable that it had never been the subject of a film at all." (Todd Haynes)

Which Bowie's songs Todd Haynes attempted to use for the movie soundtrack? (click for lyrics)
All The Young Dudes
Lady Stardust
Velvet Goldmine
Moonage Daydream
Sweet Thing
Let's Spend The Night Together
Lady Grinning Soul

Todd Haynes has taken things and people from history and modified them, so who's who?
Brian Slade - David Bowie
Maxwell Demon - Ziggy Stardust
Curt Wild - Iggy Pop, Lou Reed
Mandy Slade - Angie Bowie
Jerry Divine - Tony Defries
Jack Fairy - Brian Eno, Brian Ferry

Who is Angie Bowie?
David Bowie's first wife. She is considered to be a major influence in Bowie's rise to stardom. Angie married to David in 1970. They had a son, Zowie Bowie, who was born on 30 May 1971. They formally divorced in 1980.

Who was Ziggy Stardust?
David Bowie's first alter-ego in his career. He was a rock superstar in the classic glam album "The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars". The album tell us the story of an alien rock star who rises to stardom as the Earth enters the last five years of its existence. He turns into a rock and roll messiah only to be destroyed by his own fame.

When was the album "The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars" released?
It was released in the UK on 6 June 1972, and later in the United Sates on 1 September 1972.

Questions: