When it got here to casting his “Cliffhanger” villain, Harlin says that he wanted an actor who may match the on-screen presence of a Sylvester Stallone. In his thoughts, that actor was David Bowie. Not solely would Bowie have turned in an intense, quirky efficiency, however his clout as a rock god will surely have attracted audiences. Harlin regrets that it did not work out:
“[Y]our protagonist is just as robust because the antagonist, the unhealthy man. If the unhealthy man is a loser, then there’s nothing heroic for the hero to do. And I at all times search for one thing particular, one thing to make […] the unhealthy man [not just a] mustache-twirling man who’s simply going to explode the entire universe with a nuclear weapon — and loves doing it — however to seek out one thing particular. My dream solid to play the unhealthy man in ‘Cliffhanger’ was David Bowie. And I pursued him onerous.”
Bowie, nonetheless, as one may think, was a bit of drained out by the point Harlin pursued him in 1992. Bowie was coming off his 1990 “Sound + Imaginative and prescient” world tour and certain wished to relaxation. He had additionally lately appeared in “The Linguine Incident” and “Twin Peaks: Fireplace Stroll With Me,” so he wasn’t hurting for movie work both. Harlin solely remembers that Bowie was busy:
“I keep in mind going to New York to fulfill with him and speaking in regards to the film endlessly, [and] it was very shut, however I feel perhaps he had a tour or one thing occurred that the schedules did not work out. So David Bowie did not play the unhealthy man.”
Lithgow was wonderful, after all, however one can think about an over-the-top Bowie efficiency.
