Moonage Daydream Director, “David Bowie Changed My Life”
Moonage Daydream, the new documentary based on the career of David Bowie has premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Brett Morgen – the director entrusted with bringing Bowie’s personal archive of footage to the big screen – has spoken to BBC News about the impact the musician has had on his life.
“One of the greatest legacies anyone can have is to continue to inspire when we’re no longer here, and David does exactly that,” Morgen said.
“David Bowie changed my life. I first came to him as I became a teenager, and his impact was tremendous. Then, just as I started working on this film, I suffered a massive heart attack. I flatlined for three minutes and was in a coma.
“My life was out of control, and I was entirely work obsessed. I put all my ego into my work and I’m the father of three kids. When you have an experience like that, you think, what’s been the message of my life? Work hard and die in your 40s…”
Morgen went on: “I needed to learn how to live again and that’s when David Bowie really came back into my life at the age of 47.
“He transitioned me from childhood, and then he transitioned me from being a man-child to being a proper father. That to me was his greatest gift. I had no idea going into this how he would impact my life.”
Moonage Daydream is the first documentary authorised by David Bowie’s estate and features never-before-seen footage of Bowie, including concert footage from the star’s 1978 Earl’s Court, London shows.
“We were the first people to be able to access that material and that was a true revelation,” Morgen says. “My personal favourite moment in the process was finding material of the 1975 Soul tour [which] I didn’t know was in existence,” he adds. “But I want the film to be more than the sum of its parts of footage.”