Watch: 12-Minute Video Essay Explores The Soundtrack Of 'The Man Who Fell To Earth'

Rock legend David Bowie is no stranger to movies. In fact, he’s acted in quite a few: they range from campy cult favorites like “The Labyrinth” to Tony Scott’s underrated vampire flick “The Hunger.” He’s also made appearances in Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” (as Pontius Pilate), Christopher Nolan’s “The Prestige” (as inventor Nikola Tesla), in addition to popping up randomly in everything from “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me” to a cheeky cameo in “Zoolander,” where he plays himself.

With his gaunt, skeletal physique and otherworldly aura, it’s not a surprise that filmmakers remain attracted to him as a visual subject (one day, someone will cast Tilda Swinton in a biopic of the singer… mark my words). And yet it is Bowie’s unknowable, alluring alien nature that remains his chief quality as an entertainer and a pop culture icon. This might be why director Nicolas Roeg thought to cast Bowie as an actual, real-deal alien in his trippy 1976 picture “The Man Who Fell To...