David Bowie Refused Use of Music in Danny Boyle Film That was Years in the Making

In an interview with Radio Times, famed British director Danny Boyle revealed he had been working on a music film for many years, but the project was abandoned when David Bowie declined to release his music to the project.

The director, known for his award winning work on Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire and the London Olympics opening ceremony, said he was left "in grief" over the loss of the project.

He partnered with his Olympic ceremony collaborator Frank Cottrell Boyce to prepare the script, the plot and direction of which is unknown. Radio Times suggests the project was set to be a musical, but it also could have been a biopic or a completely independent film heavily inspired by Bowie's life and music. Of course, when the pair couldn't get clearance for Bowie's music they were forced to move on to other projects.

Boyle said he purposely chose to tackle another prolific pop culture icon in his latest direction of Steve Jobs to "fill the space in my heart left by the abandoned Bowie script."

However, if Bowie were to ever change his mind, it seems Boyle is still very much interested in the project.

Meanwhile, Bowie is still flexing his creative mussels and working on new music. He recently announced his new album Blackstar is set for a January release and the album's title track is featured in a new extended trailer for the new TV series, The Last Panthers.

The track sounds like it's heavily inspired by some of the innovation from modern electro-soul artists such as James Blake and FKA Twigs, but with a distinct Bowie twist. His emotionally eerie music plays over impassioned scenes from the series and will be featured in the opening credits for the show, which is about diamond thieves. Check out the trailer below.

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David Bowie