Johnny Flynn Responds To “Uninformed” David Bowie Backlash

My biggest claim to fame is that I was once stood in a queue at my local newsagent, and James ‘Arg’ Argent from The Only Way Is Essex stepped back, and accidentally stood on my foot for, like, two seconds.

And even with that, I still feel enormous amounts of pressure from his fans to live up to Arg’s incredible legacy.

So I can’t imagine the ridiculous amounts of nerves singer Johnny Flynn faced when he took on the role of icon, David Bowie, in Gabriel Range’s biographical film, Stardust.

After it was announced that Johnny would be portraying the ‘Space Oddity’ sensation, he received a lot of backlash from Bowie’s diehard fans, and even more after the first trailer dropped.

As I spoke to the EMMA. star, he said that, while he was aware that creating this film would ‘create a strong dialogue’, and that he expected the resistance, he always wanted to take on the role, because of his confidence in the director.

“I just knew that we were doing [Stardust] very sensitively and respectfully, and that was enough for me,” he said.

“The backlash, really, has been from people who haven’t seen the film. There was a bit of a Twitter storm about the idea of a film from the American trailer, which positioned the film in the wrong framework.

“That’s why I’m really excited for people to see it,” continued Johnny. “I think it will speak for itself. I really don’t mind people having a feeling – one way or the other – but the thing I would really argue against is the idea that this should be cancelled.”

He went on to say that, as storytellers, both he and Gabriel have the right to tell David’s story, and said it was important for both fans of film and music alike.

All I know is that Arg’s fandom can rest assured knowing that I’ve preserved the shoe he trod on, in an attempt to save his legacy.

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