Gabriel Range (Death of a President) is attached to direct Lust for Life, a biopic about David Bowie's time in West Berlin during the '70s with Iggy Pop, from a screenplay by Robin French (the BBC's sitcom ‘Cuckoo' starring Andy Samberg).
Producer Egoli Tossell said:
(This) is not a traditional rock biopic (because) no one dies at the end.
During the time they lived together in Berlin, the iconic pop duo created their seminal albums including Bowie's ‘Low' and Pop's ‘The Idiot' and ‘Lust for Life'.
Bowie told earlier:
Berlin was the first time in years that I had felt a joy of life and a great feeling of release and healing. Some days the three of us would jump into the car and drive like crazy through East Germany and head down to the Black Forest … Or we'd take long, all-afternoon lunches at the Wannsee on winter days … At night we'd hang with the intellectuals and beats at the Exile restaurant in Kreuzberg.
Tossell also said in a statement that the central character of the film will be the divided city of West Berlin, which in the 1970s became a magnet for artists, hedonists and political activists of all stripes.
French has based his screenplay on several sources, including the Paul Trynka‘s biographies ‘Starman' and ‘Open Up and Bleed'.
Bowie recently returned with ‘Where Are We Now?' – his first new single in years with lyrics sign-posting several of his favorite Berlin hangouts including KaDeWe and Potsdamer Platz. What a coincidence!
The producers will be pitching Lust for Life to international buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin this week.
