--- title: David Bowie Pictures: Behind 'The Man Who Fell to Earth' description: A new book of photographs takes fans behind the scenes with David Bowie for the making of the 1976 film 'The Man Who Fell to Earth.' canonical: https://time.com/4967814/david-bowie-behind-the-scenes/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-10T15:00:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:58:26.316Z article:section: History og:title: See David Bowie Behind the Scenes on 'The Man Who Fell to Earth' og:description: A new book of photographs takes fans behind the scenes with David Bowie for the making of the 1976 film 'The Man Who Fell to Earth.' og:url: https://time.com/4967814/david-bowie-behind-the-scenes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt580e2646e93e9c14/6988e05cab6d77d4486b00ce/david-bowie-04.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: David Bowie - The Man Who Fell To Earth og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See David Bowie Behind the Scenes on 'The Man Who Fell to Earth' twitter:description: A new book of photographs takes fans behind the scenes with David Bowie for the making of the 1976 film 'The Man Who Fell to Earth.' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt580e2646e93e9c14/6988e05cab6d77d4486b00ce/david-bowie-04.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See David Bowie Behind the Scenes on _The Man Who Fell to Earth_  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Nov 10, 2017 3:00 PM UTC  Behind the scenes of the 1976 Nic Roeg film 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' starring David Bowie. Behind the scenes of the 1976 Nic Roeg film 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' starring David Bowie.Studiocanal Films Ltd, Courtesy of Taschen  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Nov 10, 2017 3:00 PM UTC  Courtesy of Taschen It’s been more than 40 years since the late rock star David Bowie’s film debut in the 1976 science fiction thriller _The Man Who Fell to Earth,_ in which the musician stars as a humanoid extra-terrestrial who comes to Earth and builds a billion-dollar conglomerate so that he can return to his drought-stricken home planet ([as TIME once described the plot](http://time.com/4170763/from-hair-to-bowie-the-rock-invasion-heats-up/)). A [new book](https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/film/all/49348/facts.david%5Fbowie%5Fthe%5Fman%5Fwho%5Ffell%5Fto%5Fearth.htm) — released ahead of the final stop in the touring exhibition [_David Bowie Is_](https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/davidbowieis)_,_ which opens on March 2, 2018, at the Brooklyn Museum — sheds light on the making of the movie with behind-the-scenes images by David James. While TIME’s original review of the film called it director Nicholas Roeg’s [“least successful effort”](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,914244-1,00.html) (with “a yarn that carries dank traces of Twilight Zone”), it ranked as one of Bowie’s _most_ successful efforts by the time the magazine looked back on his career after his death on Jan. 10, 2016. Here’s how film critic Stephanie Zacharek described his performance in his [obituary](http://time.com/4176019/david-bowie-movies-actor/): --- > “” --- Tributes such as that — plus the album chart records set in the wake of his death — seem to affirm something the film’s director Roeg [told TIME](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950985,00.html) in 1983: “That’s what makes him spectacular. He goes away and re-emerges bigger than before,” Roem said. “He doesn’t have a fashion, he’s just constantly expanding. It’s the world that has to stop occasionally and say, ‘My God, he’s still going on.'”  Behind the scenes of the 1976 Nic Roeg film 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' starring David Bowie. Studiocanal Films Ltd, Courtesy of Taschen  Behind the scenes of the 1976 Nic Roeg film 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' starring David Bowie. Studiocanal Films Ltd, Courtesy of Taschen  Behind the scenes of the 1976 Nic Roeg film 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' starring David Bowie. Studiocanal Films Ltd, Courtesy of Taschen  Behind the scenes of the 1976 Nic Roeg film 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' starring David Bowie. Studiocanal Films Ltd, Courtesy of Taschen  Behind the scenes of the 1976 Nic Roeg film 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' starring David Bowie. Studiocanal Films Ltd, Courtesy of Taschen  Behind the scenes of the 1976 Nic Roeg film 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' starring David Bowie. Studiocanal Films Ltd, Courtesy of Taschen  Behind the scenes of the 1976 Nic Roeg film 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' starring David Bowie. Studiocanal Films Ltd, Courtesy of Taschen  Behind the scenes of the 1976 Nic Roeg film 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' starring David Bowie. 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