| Rock Star | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Stephen Herek |
| Produced by | George Clooney (executive) Robert Lawrence Toby Jaffe Mike Ockrent (executive) Steven Reuther (executive) |
| Written by | John Stockwell |
| Starring | Mark Wahlberg Jennifer Aniston Dominic West Timothy Spall Timothy Olyphant |
| Music by | Trevor Rabin |
| Cinematography | Ueli Steiger |
| Editing by | Trudy Ship |
| Studio | Bel Air Entertainment Maysville |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | September 7, 2001 |
| Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $57 million |
| Box office | $19,334,145 |
Rock Star is a 2001 American comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Herek and starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. It tells the story of Chris "Izzy" Cole, a tribute band singer whose ascendance to the position of lead vocalist of his favorite band 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.
Contents |
Chris Cole (Mark Wahlberg) is an admirer of an 80s heavy metal band called Steel Dragon. Cole is a photocopier technician and the lead singer of a Steel Dragon tribute band called Blood Pollution. Internal struggles among the Steel Dragon band members culminate with the firing of the lead singer, Bobby Beers (Jason Flemyng), and the starting of recruitment sessions to find a new vocalist. Chris experiences his own internal strife with his own Blood Pollution bandmates, particularly guitarist Rob Malcolm (Timothy Olyphant). He is axed from Blood Pollution for his inability to either make changes in his musical style, or create his own.
One day, Chris receives an unexpected phone call from Steel Dragon's founder and rhythm guitarist, Kurt Cuddy (Dominic West), and is offered an audition for the band (thanks to two of Blood Pollution's groupies who had a tape of one of their concerts). He ecstatically agrees and after an outstanding performance of "We All Die Young" (a Steel Dragon song in the movie, but it is actually a song by Steelheart, whose lead vocalist provides Cole's singing voice for the film), he joins the band as their new singer, adopting the stage name "Izzy." Following a successful debut concert with Steel Dragon, Izzy must come to grips with the pressures of his new-found fame and success. The band embarks on a lengthy tour and Izzy experiences the excesses of the lifestyle, with the group's manager, Mats (Timothy Spall), serving as a sympathetic mentor to Izzy.
His new lifestyle impacts his life both for better and worse, particularly with his relationship with his supportive girlfriend, Emily Poule (Jennifer Aniston), when she decides not to continue with him throughout the remainder of the tour as a rock star girlfriend, though Emily and Izzy agree to get back together when the tour reaches Seattle. Eventually, Steel Dragon stops in Seattle for a show, and Emily arrives at his hotel room as they had previously arranged, although Izzy had become so inebriated while on tour he forgot about the arrangement and did not even know what city he was in. Although Taken aback by all the groupies, Emily still tries to reconnect with him, reminding him of their plans to meet up once he got to Seattle, however he is too intoxicated to really understand what she is saying, eventually suggesting they go to Seattle together. Heartbroken with his inconsiderate behavior, intoxication and the fact that he is sleeping with so many groupies, Emily leaves him.
After the end of the tour, Izzy reports to the next series of Steel Dragon recording sessions with song concepts for the band's next album. The rest of the band rejects Izzy's ideas, with Kurt explaining that the band has to stay true to the "Steel Dragon thing" to fulfill fan expectations. Izzy is angered upon realizing that he was only recruited for his vocal abilities. After a heartfelt conversation with Mats about how he feared he had no control over the direction life has taken him, Izzy begins to reconsider his rock star lifestyle. On the next tour, in a scene directly paralleling one near the beginning of the film with their roles reversed, Izzy hears a fan (Myles Kennedy) singing along with him toward the end of a live concert. Impressed, Izzy pulls the fan, who introduces himself as Mike, onstage and hands him the microphone to finish the concert. Backstage, Izzy realizes that what he wanted for so long was not what he thought, and he says goodbye to Mats, departing from the band while doing so.
Izzy (now Chris Cole again) makes his way to Seattle (while Steel Dragon, failing to evolve to changing tastes and styles, has its fame fizzle out) and starts a new coffee-house rock band with his old friend and former bandmate Rob. He finds Emily working in the coffee shop she and her roommate purchased a few years earlier, but is initially too ashamed to speak to her. While walking one evening, Emily sees a flyer for his band posted on the wall and takes it down. In the final scene, Chris is singing with his band in a bar and Emily walks in. Chris leaves the stage and speaks to her. They reconcile, ending the film with a kiss and the final note of Chris' first original song "Colorful" (which is actually a song by The Verve Pipe).
The band members are portrayed by ex-Dokken and current Foreigner bassist Jeff Pilson, Black Label Society and ex-Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde, actor Dominic West, and ex-Foreigner drummer Jason Bonham (the son of the late drummer for Led Zeppelin, John Bonham). Myles Kennedy, who was at the time the lead vocalist of The Mayfield Four and now the frontman of Alter Bridge and Slash's solo project, also makes an appearance.
The singing voice for Wahlberg's character was provided by Steelheart frontman Miljenko Matijevic. Jeff Scott Soto (of Talisman, Yngwie Malmsteen, Soul Sirkus, and Journey) provided the voice of the singer Wahlberg's character replaces. Kennedy is the only actor whose actual voice is used.
The band Blood Pollution (Chris Cole's former band and a Steel Dragon tribute band) is also made up of known musical artists, including 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). Actor Timothy Olyphant portrays Blood Pollution's guitarist.
|
Blood Pollution
|
Steel Dragon
|
Spouses
|
Others
|
The film opened at #4 at the U.S. box office raking in US$6,018,636 in its opening weekend,[1] and grossing a domestic total of $17,008,282 and $2,325,863 internationally for a worldwide gross of $19,334,145; based on a $57 million budget, Rock Star was a box office bomb.[2]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film received mixed reviews, garnering a 52% "Rotten" score, with the consensus "Like its title, Rock Star is rather generic, being not so much about the heavy metal scene than about rock cliches and formula", and 42% from Top Critics.[3]
| Rock Star | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various Artists | |
| Released | August 28, 2001 |
| Label | Priority |
| Professional reviews | |
A small number of the songs featured in the film and on the soundtrack were released after the dates given in the film. They are marked with an asterisk.
Partial list of songs that were featured in the movie but did not appear on the soundtrack CD:
|
||||||||||||||