During his movie career, David Bowie played aliens, goblins, vampires, artists and gigolos. But Australian Cinematheque assistant curator Dr Victoria Wareham is most excited about the film in which the Thin White Duke plays a romantic leading man – The Linguini Incident.
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“It’s actually a bit of a hidden gem,” Wareham said. “He’s not playing any otherworldly creature. He’s playing a charismatic bartender in a trendy New York restaurant.
“He stars opposite Rosanna Arquette, who’s a waitress. They both end up in this utterly farcical heist, which is totally absurd, but so much fun to watch on the big screen.”
“The Linguini Incident” is unusual in David Bowie’s filmography as his character is neither enigmatic nor strange. Credit: Courtesy Park Circus/ITV Studios
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Bowie’s own production company co-funded the rom-com, which is regarded as his first on-screen comedic role.
Unfortunately released in the US in 1992 during the Rodney King riots, The Linguini Incident opened to meagre box office and mixed reviews and has been largely forgotten.
But its director, Richard Shepherd, recently completed a director’s cut, which Wareham has secured for her Bowie retrospective at GOMA, beginning on Saturday, August 17.
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Wareham said Bowie, who died in 2016, enjoyed a cinema career every bit as worthy of attention as his musical one.
“There’s something really intangible about the way he is on screen. It’s really compelling, he’s just so wonderful to watch,” she said.
Bowie began acting when his musical aspirations seemed to have stalled in the late 1960s, before the release of his first hit, Space Oddity. He took lessons with mime artist Lindsay Kemp, and accepted a role in a short horror film called The Image.
