information:classification
1980s

From July 1980 to January 1981, Bowie played Joseph Merrick in the Broadway theatre production The Elephant Man, which he undertook wearing no stage make-up, earning critical praise for his performance. Christiane F., a 1981 biographical film focusing on a young girl's drug addiction in West Berlin, featured Bowie in a cameo appearance as himself at a concert in Germany. Its soundtrack album, Christiane F. (1981), featured much material from his Berlin albums. The following year, he starred in the titular role in a BBC adaptation of the Bertolt Brecht play Baal. Bowie made three on-screen appearances in 1983, the first as a vampire in Tony Scott 's erotic horror film The Hunger, with Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon. Bowie later said that he felt "very uncomfortable" with the role, but was happy to work with Scott. The second was in Nagisa Ōshima 's Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, based on Laurens van der Post 's novel The Seed and the Sower, in which he played Major Jack Celliers, a prisoner of war in a Japanese internment camp. While the film itself received mixed reviews, Bowie's performance was praised. Pegg places it among his finest acting performances. Bowie's third role in 1983 was a small cameo in Mel Damski 's pirate comedy Yellowbeard, heralded by several members of the Monty Python group. Bowie also filmed a 30-second introduction to the animated film The Snowman, based on Raymond Briggs 's book of the same name.

In 1985, Bowie had a supporting role as hitman Colin in John Landis 's Into the Night. He declined to play the villain Max Zorin in the James Bond film A View to a Kill (1985). Bowie reteamed with Julian Temple for Absolute Beginners, a rock musical film adapted from Colin MacInnes 's book of the same name about life in late 1950s London, in a supporting role as ad man Vendice Partners. The same year, Jim Henson 's dark musical fantasy Labyrinth cast him as Jareth, the villainous Goblin King. Despite initially performing poorly, the film grew in popularity and became a cult film. Two years later, he played Pontius Pilate in Martin Scorsese 's critically acclaimed biblical epic The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Despite only appearing for a three-minute sequence, Pegg writes that Bowie "acquits himself well with a thoughtful, unshowy performance."