Hollywood seems to love a feel-good rags-to-riches story,
but in the early 2000’s historically accurate music biopics hadn’t yet become popular.
It was more like scripts “loosely” inspired by true events.
In 2001, a movie called Rockstar (originally titled Metal God), a drama comedy starring
Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. The movie would tell the story of Chris Izzy Cole who's
a tribute band singer who becomes the lead singer of his favorite band. The film would be inspired
by the real-life story of Tim Ripper Owen,s who himself was in a Judas Priest tribute band and
was ultimately chosen to become the real singer of Judas Priest when singer Rob Halford left.
When Owens joined Judas Priest, the story made headlines around the world
and Hollywood quickly took notice. The original articlethat was published in the New York Times
in 1997 and was titled “metalhead becomes metal God.” Keep in mind this movie came out
long before biopics were big business and when Hollywood was not really that interested
in telling an accurate story let alone using a band's image or music.
In reality, Owens joined the band in 1996 after two fans named Dan Johnson and Steve Trent
submitted a grainy VHS tape of him to Judas Priest and they found out the similarity between Halford
and Owens to be uncanny. Previously, he’d been in a signed act called Winter’s Bane,
that raised it’s profile by touring as a Judas Priest cover band called “British Steel.”
Owens would go on to record two albums with Judas Priest including1997’s Jugulator
and 2001’s Demolition. Halford returned to the band in 2003,
with Owen’s departing the band amicably and joining heavy metal band Iced Earth.
Getting back to the story of Rockstar. The first red flag
for the film was that Owens was barely involved in the making of the movie.
In 1997, the New York Times Sunday edition ran a story called "Metal-Head becomes Metal-God"
by Andrew C. Revkin about Owens’ crazy story of being chosen to play in the band
after being part of a tribute actfirst. The next day, his parents got calls from Warner
Brothers and George Clooney saying they were interested in the story.
Owens passed the information onto Judas Priest manager Jane Andrews.
Owens was pretty naive about the whole situation saying “you think you’re going
to get paid from it anyway,” “and at that point in my career, I’d have taken $5,000. But
they’re not Judas Priest for nothing – they know what they’re doing.”
Although the band and the movie studio started out collaborating pretty well,
things quickly deteriorated. The band was quickly told by the studio that they
had “no creative control” after they voiced their opinion about the angle of the movie.
Plans to feature the band’s music in the filmwere also scrapped. Some of the things the band didn’t
like was making band members appear older than they actually were and writing more
drama into the script then there actually was between the band members. They felt the movie
was going to be another Spinal Tap, and they didn’t want their story to be told that way.
In a 2014 interview with Blabbermouth online, Tim Owens explains why the plot changed so drastically
once Judas Priest was no longer involved in consulting on the production:
"When they first [got the idea to do] the 'Rock Star' movie [under its original name 'Metal God'],
it was really gonna be about me. And then JUDAS PRIEST pulled away from it,
because they didn't like some things. So [the producers] really made their own movie, I think.”
Originally, Warner Brother’s didn’t admit that the movie was inspired by Judas Priest or Owens.
But Later on, their spokesperson relented and conceded that it was inspired by the infamous
New York Times article, never actually admitting the movie was inspired by Judas Priest directly.
Fans of the movie know about Owen’s connection to it. And He still gets asked to sign covers
of the DVD and would share in a 2019 Ultimate Classic Rock article that & I quote “There are
people who just know me from Rock Star, and not even from Judas Priest. … How weird is that?”
Given that the band and Warner Brothers had cut ties very early in production,
you're maybe wondering ended up on the film's soundtrack?
There were no Judas Priest tracks to be found on the soundtrack, but it did contain music
from other rock n’ roll acts including Sammy Hagar, Culture Club and AC/DC.
A band called Steel Dragon filled in for Judas Priest’s in the movie itself.
In the film, Owens was not only portrayed as being much older than he was when he joined Judas
Priest. For reference he was actually 29 when he joined the group. But he's also as a stalker fan.
Although Owens’ doesn’t take much offense to the second part. In his interview with
Ultimate Classic Rockhe would admit “in high school, I was a stalker fan.”
In the original 1997 New York Times article, his mother Sherri Owens recalls how & i quote
“'His room -- walls and ceiling -- was nothing but posters of Judas Priest.''
In 1997 when the new york times put out the article
owens was still in shock being part of the group,
saying how: ''At first I was in absolute awe,''. ''But it gets a little more real every day.''
Meanwhile, Rob Halford’s portrayal would offend Owens and some fans
when his character was fired for being gay. In truth, he was already out of
the closet long before then and he chose to leave Judas Priest on his own accord.
Ultimately, karma caught up with Warner Brothers when the movie grossed just under $20 million out
of a $57 million budget. The movie scored just 53% on rotten tomatoes with reviewers saying things
like “It’s a nonstop cliche” and “A bad example of the "average person's dream come true" plot.”
The band never pursued legal action against Warner Brothers for producing the film.
Owen’s for his part said he felt powerless about the movie’s release,
sharing in a 2001 interview with MTV music online and i quote "There's no telling what
they put in there. If I could sue, I would." The film would take place in the 1980's and the
hedonistic revelry that steel dragon took part in was purely fictional as was the lovestory between
wahlberg and co-star jennifer anniston. There would be one thing that the movie
got right. Mark Wahlberg's character would end up playing smaller gigs with his own material
after leaving the band. owens would look back at his time in judas priest having one regret saying
“We all knew that Rob would come back eventually.
That was a given. I love the guys in PRIEST, and if there's anything where I look back and wish,
'Oh man I wish it could have worked out,' that would probably be it. I was glad to see Rob come
back, [but] I do wish they would play some of my material when they're out there [on the road]."
Less than a decade into the 2000’s, Hollywood finally hit it’s stride
and started producing higher quality music biopics like 2002’s 8 Mile about rapper Eminem,
2005’s Walk the Line about Johnny Cash, and 2007’s “I’m not there” about Bob Dylan.
Arguably, the movie’s fatal flaw was that it was just too generalized when the real
life story itself about Tim “Ripper” Owens was actually much more interesting. So let me know
in the comments section guys did you see Rockstar and what did you think about the film. Let me know
what your favourite rock biopic is in the comments and which one you think i should cover next.