Curt Wild, played by Ewan McGregor, is a combination of Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, two rock stars whose fame exploded during the 1970s, the age of Bowie.

As the biographical narration of Bryan Slade's original manager, Cecil, describes, Curt Wild is said to have been from America with more primitive legendary parents--wolves. After being found in the service of his older brother in the family's bathroom, Curt was sent to a mental hospital and subjected to shock treatment. His parents hoped it would fry the homosexual tendancies right out of him. This portion of his past immediately links him to Velvet Goldmine superstar Lou Reed. According to Entertainment Weekly #487 p. 29, "When he was 17, at his parents' behest [Lou Reed] underwent a series of electroshock treatments to cure him of his homosexuality (he wrote about it in 1974's "Kill Your Sons")."

Outside of the convulsive therapy, Curt Wild's character is almost entirely based on Iggy Pop, the original bad-boy of Rock 'n' Roll. The madness exhibited on stage, the constant almost Morrison-like nudity on stage, the heavy drug use, the physique, the hair, the disapperance from the planet for extended periods--all Iggy. Also, Iggy Pop also teamed up with David Bowie from time to time. Bowie's China Girl was even co-written by Pop, and recently, Iggy and Lenny Kravitz remade Bowie's Rebel Rebel.