The Man Who Fell to Earth

A suitably other-worldly David Bowie stars as a visitor to Earth in Nic Roeg’s stylish, cautionary sci-fi that explores the perils of consumerism.

  • Director

    Nicolas Roeg

  • With

    David Bowie, Candy Clark, Rip Torn

  • UK 1976. 138min

  • Digital 4K

  • Certificate

    18

In his first starring role, Bowie plays Thomas Jerome Newton, an alien disguised as a human who visits Earth in order to save his dying planet. Nic Roeg saw in the rock star’s eccentricity exactly what he was looking for: less an actor attempting to play an alien than a lost soul trying to be human. Paradoxically, this outlandish sci-fi tale of a super-intelligent, androgyne extra-terrestrial trapped in the maelstrom of America’s consumerist culture can also be seen as a portrait of Bowie at that time.

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