In March of 1986 Michael Hutchence took some time off as did the rest of the band to star in a film directed by Richard Lowenstein called Dogs In Space. He played a character called Sam, a shambling, monosyllabic junkie in a communal squat and based around the Australian punk scene of the late seventies.
The film is anarchic, boisterous and often hilarious. Hutchences character, Sam, represented a person who was a "wannabe pop star" who spends most of the film looking wasted, rolling around on the floor and grunting, dabbles in smack, loses his girlfriend and eventually overdoses. The character was based on a real person, and the film was created to appeal to the younger generation of people about the effects of drugs. Unfortunately, the film received an 'R' rating so many of the people who were targeted were not actually able to see the film.
Michael Hutchence received admirable reviews for his performance and the movie also yielded a top ten solo single for him called Rooms For The Memory, written by Ollie Olsen.