Stardust (1974)

Interesting facts

Stardust is a 1974 British musical drama film directed by Michael Apted and starring David Essex, Adam Faith, and Larry Hagman. It is the sequel to the 1973 film That'll Be the Day, which introduced the characters of Jim MacLaine and his street-smart friend Mike Menary. It chronicles Jim's rise and fall as an international rock star during the 1960s and early 1970s, with Mike as his personal manager. It features a number of pop/rock performers, including Essex, Faith, Keith Moon, Marty Wilde, Dave Edmunds, Paul Nicholas and Edd Byrnes.

Production

Screenwriter Ray Connolly, who developed both That'll Be the Day and Stardust with producer David Puttnam, wrote about the making of Stardust in 2017.

Connolly said he and Puttnam were thinking about a sequel to That'll Be the Day even before the latter film was released, and they went on holiday to Italy to plan it. "This time we knew we were going to make a film about rock," wrote Connolly. "It was the story of young Britain in the Sixties."

Puttnam wanted to set the story in the early sixties while Connolly wanted it to go until the seventies. They compromised and the story encompassed the whole sixties.

The film originally had the title of Sooner or Later.

That'll Be the Day was directed by Claude Whatham but he and Puttnam clashed during filming so it was decided to get a new director. The film was offered to Alan Parker who had worked with Puttnam in advertising but Parker decided to make The Evacuees instead. The job went to Michael Apted who had been the first choice to direct That'll Be the Day and had recently begun work in features with Triple Echo.

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