Rock Star (film)

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Rock Star
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Herek
Written by	John Stockwell
Starring	Mark Wahlberg Jennifer Aniston
Release date(s)	September 7, 2001
Running time	105 min
Language	English
Budget	US$57 million
IMDb profile

Rock Star is a 2001 movie starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Stephen Herek. The film also stars Jennifer Aniston. It was shot almost entirely in and around Los Angeles, but takes place in Pittsburgh.

The movie depicts, approximately, the life of an '80s heavy metal band, with the highs and lows of fame, drugs, rock and roll, and groupies. The band depicted in the movie, Steel Dragon, is fictional.

The film was inspired by the real-life story of Tim 'Ripper' Owens, singer in a Judas Priest tribute band who was chosen to replace singer Rob Halford when he left the band. The original title of the movie was to be Metal God, similar to signature Judas Priest song "Metal Gods".

This is the executive producer debut of George Clooney, Wahlberg's co-star from Three Kings and The Perfect Storm.

The band members are portrayed by ex-Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson, Black Label Society and Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde (Zakk's rhythm guitarist Nick Catanese plays the lead guitarist in Chris' tribute band Blood Pollution), actor and guitarist Dominic West, and current Foreigner drummer and son of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, Jason Bonham. Myles Kennedy, from Alter Bridge fame, makes an appearance as 'Thor' in the movie. Also, the singing voice for Mark Wahlberg's character was former Steelheart frontman Miljenko Matijevic. Jeff Scott Soto (of Talisman, Yngwie Malmsteen, Soul Sirkus, Journey) provided the voice of the fictional band's original singer whom Wahlberg's character replaces.

The band Blood Pollution is also comprised of known musical artists, including the aforementioned guitarist Nick Catanese (Black Label Society), drummer Blas Elias (Slaughter), and bassist Brian Vander Ark, (The Verve Pipe, who also contributed a song to the film's soundtrack). An interesting fact about the casting is that the only member of the two main bands who is not an established musician is Blood Pollution's guitarist Timothy Olyphant.

Tagline: So You Wanna Be a Rock Star?
The Story of a Wanna Be, Who Got to Be

1 Plot
- 1.1 Cast
2 The "Ripper" Owens parallels
3 Soundtrack
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Rock Star revolves around the story of Chris 'Izzy' Cole (Wahlberg) and a rock band called Steel Dragon. Izzy is a photocopier technician by day, and the lead singer of a Steel Dragon tribute band called "Blood Pollution" by night.

Internal struggles between the Steel Dragon band members culminate with the firing of the main singer and the starting of recruitment sessions for them to find a new vocalist. After also being fired from his own tribute band, Izzy gets called down to try out for Steel Dragon (thanks to two of Blood Pollution's groupies who had a tape of one of their concerts) and ends up joining them as their new singer.

Now Izzy has to come to grips with the pressures of his newfound fame and success, as it impacts his life both for better and worse, particularly with his relationship with his supportive girlfriend (Jennifer Aniston). The group's wise band manager Mats (Timothy Spall) serves as a sympathetic mentor to Izzy.

[edit] Cast

Mark Wahlberg ... Chris 'Izzy' Cole
Jennifer Aniston ... Emily Poule
Jason Flemyng ... Bobby Beers, Steel Dragon Lead Singer
Dominic West ... Kirk Cuddy, Steel Dragon Guitarist
Jason Bonham ... A.C., Steel Dragon Drummer
Jeff Pilson ... Jorgen, Steel Dragon Bassist
Zakk Wylde ... Ghode, Steel Dragon Guitarist
Timothy Spall ... Mats, Steel Dragon Road Manager
Timothy Olyphant ... Rob Malcolm, Blood Pollution Guitarist
Blas Elias ... Donny Johnson, Blood Pollution Drummer
Nick Catanese ... Xander Cummins, Blood Pollution Guitarist
Brian Vander Ark ... Ricki Bell, Blood Pollution Bassist
Dagmara Dominczyk ... Tania Asher, Steel Dragon Public Relations
Stephan Jenkins ... Bradley, Black Babylon Singer
Matthew Glave ... Joe Cole
T.R. Miller ... Tim Sin
Myles Kennedy ... Thor
Michael Shamus Wiles ... Mr. Cole

[edit] The "Ripper" Owens parallels

The similarities between the life of former Judas Priest vocalist Tim 'Ripper' Owens and the film's protagonist were intentional. In the film, a copier sales rep from a working-class mid-sized city lives for fronting a "tribute" band paying homage to his favorite heavy metal group. When footage shot by a third-party of his live performance makes it to the famous British band's management, they decide to audition him to replace their departing, closeted homosexual lead singer, which parallels Owens' experience with Judas Priest.

The storyline was "re-imagined" with a few details changed (i.e: set in Pittsburgh instead of Akron, in the 1980s instead of the '90s, etc.). Rock Star's producers stated this was a result of their wanting to take the script in a different direction. However, Owens later stated that it had to do with a failure to reach a financial agreement with the Judas Priest camp for the rights to the story.

Also, the timeline of the film coincides with that of the "social death" of mainstream metal and gives way to the "grunge" movement of the early 90s.

In addition, a costume that strongly resembles one of Rob Halford's stage outfits is on display in the band's mansion.