David Bowie

David Bowie as Nikola Tesla. The Prestige. 2006.

One of the greatest actors who will never win an Oscar. Sadly, Bowie's acting talent becomes relegated to the art film community, his brilliance going unnoticed by the more mainstream-oriented Academy. From Ziggy Stardust, to Labyrinth, to The Last Temptation of Christ, to Basquiat, David Bowie's status as an artist has already been cemented a long time ago. The only problem is when he will get the recognition he deserves.

In The Prestige, David Bowie plays the famous scientist Nikola Tesla (yes, the Tesla, the inventor of the alternating current). The incidents portrayed in the movie, however, are largely fictitous, borne out of Nikola Tesla's legendary "hidden" inventions, but the man Tesla is still portrayed like he was the real thing.

Bowie as Nikola Tesla is a masterpiece to behold, his whole onscreen performance a work of art. He is Nikola Tesla all throughout, from the moment he steps into his first shot (nice work there, by the way, what an entrance) all the way till his final voice-over lines, nailing the accent perfectly. One cannot help but wonder what David Bowie's acting method is, but after seeing him as Andy Warhol in Basquiat, one will not doubt that Bowie is a natural actor.

The thing with Bowie as Tesla is that he is unrecognizable. Even a close view of his distinctly-colored eyes did not allow me to see past the performance. And the thing is, it wouldn't have made a difference whether you knew or you didn't; all that would matter is that Nikola Tesla has come to life, and this actor has pulled it off very well.

I remember the first time I saw The Prestige, it was when it made its theatrical run. All the while, I didn't care who the actor playing Tesla was. I just thought he was a good actor, probably some unknown cast by Christopher Nolan. The actor seemed to deliver a very convincing performance (as if anyone alive right now can claim to have seen the real Tesla, which is impossible). Then when the end credits came, the names of the actors flashed on the black screen, just the names, not the names of the character they played.

Hugh Jackman...Christian Bale...blah-blah-blah...AND DAVID BOWIE.

I said to the person sitting next to me, "David Bowie? David Bowie was there?" I racked my brains for all the characters in the story, trying to discover who could have been played by Bowie. "Was it Tesla's assistant? Oh no, that's Gollum, I mean Andy Serkis." So who was David Bowie then?

I had to find out, so I stayed until the part of the end credits where they show the actor's name beside the character's name. My eyes scanned the scrolling names on the right column, trying to look for David Bowie's name. When I found it, I looked at the name on its left: Tesla.

"David Bowie was Tesla?" I said, in a rather loud voice, causing the person beside me to stare angrily at me. "David Bowie was Tesla?" I couldn't stop smiling, it was like being astonished by a magic trick. And it turned out that David Bowie playing Nikola Tesla was actually the greatest magic trick in the entire film.

originally posted on stinglacson.multiply.com Nov 8, '07 2:41 AM