Rock Star (2001)

Director:

Stephen Herek

Writer (WGA):

John Stockwell (written by)

Release Date:

7 September 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music

Tagline:

Every guy wants to be you. Every girl wants to be with you.

Plot:

Lead singer of a tribute band becomes lead singer of the real band he idolizes.

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Female Nudity | Box Office Flop | Topless | Lesbian

Awards:

1 nomination

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
Matthew Glave	...	Joe Cole
Michael Shamus Wiles	...	Mr. Cole

Also Known As:

Metal God (USA) (working title)
So You Wanna Be a Rock Star? (USA) (working title)
Untitled Stephen Herek Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, sexuality and some drug content.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Philippines:PG-13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-7 | Iceland:L | USA:R (certificate #37887) | South Africa:13L | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Argentina:13 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:AL | Norway:11 | Spain:13 | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

1st Ave & Pike St., Seattle, Washington, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The majority of the musicians in the movie are actual musicians: Mark Wahlberg fronted Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch; 'Jason Bonham' (A.C., Steel Dragon drummer) is son of John Bonham and frontman of 80's hair band Bonham; Jeff Pilson (Jorgen, Steel Dragon bassist) is bassist for 80's hair band Dokken; Zakk Wylde (Ghode, Steel Dragon guitarist) has played with a ton of bands including Ozzy Osbourne and has his own band, Black Label Society; Blas Elias (Donny, Blood Pollution drummer) is drummer of 80's hair band Slaughter; Brian Vander Ark (Ricki Bell, Blood Pollution bassist) is singer and guitarist in The Verve Pipe; Nick Catanese (Xander Cummins, Blood Pollution guitarist) is guitarist in Wylde's Black Label Society; Stephan Jenkins (Bradley, Black Babylon singer) is singer for Third Eye Blind; Colleen Fitzpatrick (Guitarist outside the Steel Dragon mansion) is better known as Vitamin C; Myles Kennedy (Thor) joined Alter Bridge with ex-Creed members after leaving his band, The Mayfield Four. The majority of the songs are also played by original 80's hair band musicians,including Wahlberg's singing voice which belongs to 'Mike Matijevic' , lead singer of Steelheart. Steve Plunkett was the lead singer of Autograph, an 80's hair band band with a Top 30 hit "Turn up the Radio". He plays the photographer in the scene where "Chris" does his first photo shoot with Steel Dragon. Steve Plunkett also co-wrote the song "Living the Life"

Goofs:

Continuity: When Mats is giving Emily the "You'll get used to it[partying]" speech, his drink is cloudy. In the next shot, his drink is clear as water.

Quotes:

Rob: Wouldn't you rather fail as yourself, then succeed as some Bobby Beers clone?

Movie Connections:

References Three Kings (1999)

Soundtrack:

Livin' The Life

Music really saves it

As a huge fan of 80s Hard Rock, I was really looking forward to seeing Rock Star. As the movie started I was more than satisfied. A lot of the early scenes were funny and entertaining. The concert scenes made me feel like I was actually there. One major compliment I give this movie is that they made the songs from the fictional band STEEL DRAGON sound realistic for the time period the movie is in. If I didn't know better, I could've been fooled into thinking Steel Dragon was a real band, and all their songs actually were made in the mid 80s. The underdog portion of the story may not be original, but it still works none the less. And by the time Wahlberg's character was in his first concert with the band, I really thought Rock Star could be one of the coolest movies of the year.

But at about the halfway point, I was lost. The second half of this movie could've really used a lot of work on the script. I say that the second half of the script needed work, but what I should say is the second half of the movie actually could've used a script, period. The second half is held together by some predictable sequences, all telling the story of a guy indulging in the rock star life, which we've all heard and seen a thousand times. There were very few moments that actually were used to progress the story.

But I don't want to give the impression that Rock Star was no good. Although some of the movie didn't work, I still had a blast watching it. The music is what really holds it together. Both the original songs written for the film (Steel Dragon), and the background songs used. It's not often that you can hear bands like Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Kiss, and Motley Crue used in a movie. And like I said before, the concert scenes are awesome.So for people who love great 80s Rock, this movie will be a lot of fun.

Rock Star is an average movie, with an above average soundtrack. Not a perfect film, but it provides enough entertainment for your money.