"David Bowie always had an otherworldly quality, even when he wasn't staying up all night playing with synthesizers and living off of a diet of green peppers and whole milk. When he was, the effect created by his long, thin limbs, white skin, and one eye permanently dilated from a childhood accident - contrary to popular belief, Bowie did not have heterochromia - was downright alien."
"The Man Who Fell to Earth - which you can sing to the tune of Bowie's 'The Man Who Sold the World' if you like; the syllables are the same - is based on a 1962 novel by Walter Tevis, who also wrote the source material for the Paul Newman film The Hustler and the Netflix series The Queen's Gambit."
"Roeg and screenwriter Paul Mayersberg yadda-yadda their way through the next few years, jumping ahead to Farnsworth as the head of a major multinational corporation, suggesting the film's narrative structure compresses time and focuses on key moments rather than depicting every detail of Newton's earthly activities."
The Man Who Fell to Earth is a 1970s science fiction film directed by Nicolas Roeg, based on Walter Tevis's 1962 novel. David Bowie stars as Thomas Jerome Newton, an extraterrestrial who assumes human form and arrives in New Mexico's desert landscape. The film follows Newton's mysterious interactions with attorney Oliver Farnsworth, beginning with an enigmatic late-night meeting where Newton exchanges gold rings and cash for legal assistance. Roeg's adaptation closely follows Tevis's source material while maintaining the characters' internal thoughts as private, creating an intentionally secretive narrative that mirrors the story's themes. Bowie's distinctive physical features—his thin frame, pale complexion, and dilated eye from a childhood accident—contribute to his convincing portrayal of an alien being.
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