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David Bowie stars in LABYRINTH as the powerful and compelling ruler of a magical world. He performs the five original songs he wrote for the film.
From the very beginning, director Jim Henson envisioned Bowie as the lead of this major new fantasy film production. "Way back when we first started working on the story, we came up with this idea of a Goblin King," Henson explains. "And then we thought; 'Wouldn't it be wonderful to have music and someone who can sing?' David was our first choice from the very beginning. And he liked the idea. So the whole thing was really written with him in mind."
Bowie stars as Jareth, the handsome and charismatic ruler who kidnaps Sarah's baby brother, challenges her to solve the labyrinth, and then tries to entice her into remaining with him in his magical kingdom.
What attracted Bowie to the role? "Jim gave me the script, which I found very amusing," he says. "It's by Terry Jones, of Monty Python, and it has that kind of slightly inane insanity running through it. When I read the script and saw that Jim wanted to put music to it, it just felt as though it could be a really nice, funny thing to do."
Bowie's songs for LABYRINTH range from a hauntingly beautiful love song, 'As The World Falls Down," to a lively dance number, "Magic Dance," which he performs on camera with his rowdy goblin subjects. He also sings the powerful and moving LABYRINTH theme song, "Underground," and is seen performing a song in one of the film's final and climactic scenes, "Within You." A fifth song "Chilly Down," sets the mood for a wildly exuberant dance number by some of the film's fantastic creatures, the Fireys.
As one of pop music's biggest and most influential stars, Bowie has been responsible for setting trends and standards that have influenced musical stars and audiences around the world.
"Somewhere on the edge of your imagination,
there is a Labyrinth.
It twists and turns like wicked thoughts,
and no one--no man, woman or child--
has ever reached its center.
There,
standing within the walls of Goblin Town,
is the castle of Jareth,
the goblin king.
Goblins are nasty little creatures whose
greatest delight is in stealing babies
and turning them into goblins.
But this can only happen if you
wish for it.
You must say exactly the right words
for your wish to come true.
"I wish that the goblins would come and
take you away right now!" are the right words.
When the goblins hear them,
they will come...."
"And they did."
JENNIFER CONNELLY
Biography
Jennifer Connelly was chosen by director Jim Henson from hundreds of young actresses he interviewed and auditioned on both sides of the Atlantic. "I knew she was right for the role of Sarah as soon as she walked into my office in New York," said Henson. "I wanted a girl who looked and could act that role and that age. And Jennifer was perfect."
Co-star David Bowie was just as enthusiastic: "Jennifer was absolutely right for the part of Sarah. She's extremely pretty, with looks rather like those of the teenage Elizabeth Taylor. She's also a damn good actress and was a joy to work with."
Jennifer was born on December 12, 1970, in the Catskill Mountains in New York State. When she was a baby, the family lived in New York City where, with the exception of two years, she attended (and still does) the same school.
At ten she began doing modeling work through the Ford Agency, in New York, followed by TV commercials. These led to movie auditions and she made her acting debut in "Once Upon A Time In America" in 1983, at the age of eleven. Next came an Italian film, "Phenomena" (1984), followed by "Seven Minutes Into Heaven" (also 1986). Then came LABYRINTH. "Jim Henson was wonderful to work with," she says. "He is a very gentle and considerate person as well as a wonderful director. And David Bowie was just great and it was wonderful watching him shoot, varying his performance from take to take."
The ballroom sequence in the film was her "own personal favorite," she recalls. "I wore a beautiful silver ballgown, which was a refreshing change from the blue jeans I wore in almost every other scene. It was really a gorgeous set, with masses of huge chandeliers and thousands of flickering candles, hundreds of silken cushions and curtains, and masses of people in strange masks and ornate dresses. There was the thrill of dancing with David Bowie to one of the songs he composed especially for the film. There wasn't enough room, for technical reasons, to really dance around properly, but we just drifted slowly and gracefully (I hope!) to David's music, and he looked fabulous! It's all a sort of magical fantasy sequence inside a huge bubble."
From Christine M. Egan :
I think that the Labyrinth is a modern day version of the Wizard of Oz. (Has anyone else ever thought of this?)
Reasons:
1. Both Dorothy and Sarah are running away from their problems in the begining.
--Sarah's problems are that:
a) the world wants her to grow up, but she doesn't want to
b) she wants to live in a fantasy world
--Dorothy is running away :
a) from that wicked witch lady who wants to kill her dog,
b) from a humdrum life - she wants to live in a fantasy
world "Somewhere over the rainbow."
2. Both the stories involve short people who help the heroine.
--The Labyrinth :
uses goblins
--The Wizard of Oz :
uses munchkins
3. Both stories are about long journeys the girls must take in order to reach their goals.
--The Labyrinth:
well, it's a big maze
--The Wizard off Oz :
that yellow brick road is very long
4. They are both musicals
5. Each has 3 characters that accompany the heroine to the end
--The Labyrinth:
has Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and Ludo
--The Wizard of Oz :
has the Scarecrow, the Tinman, and the Lion
6. Each film has a dog in it
--The Labyrinth:
has Merlin in the beginning (who becomes Ambrosius in the Labyrinth)
--The Wizard of Oz:
has Toto
7. Each fantasy land is built from things in the heroine's real life
--The Labyrinth :
a) Ambrosius (SirD's dog) = Merlin
b) The Labyrinth = a labyrinth marble game Sarah owns
c) The escher/Jareth scene = the escher poster Sarah
has in her room
d) The goblins = come from the book "Where the Wild
Things Are" that she owns
e) the ballroom scene = her dancing ballerina wind up
(These are just a few of the things)
--The Wizard of Oz:
the scarecrow, the tinman, the lion, the wicked witch of the west, and the Great Oz were her uncles and close neighbors in reality
8. Both contain a scene where the heroine is drugged into a deep sleep:
--The Labyrinth:
When Sarah eats the peach and dreams about the Ball w/
Jareth
--The Wizard of Oz:
The Wicked Witch of the West poisons the poppies "Poppies...poppies will put them to sleep..." and Dorothy falls into a deep sleep.
9. Both heroines must pass through castle gates in order to seek appearances at their destinations:
--The Labyrinth:
The gates into the Goblin city
--The Wizard of Oz:
The door to the Emerald City "Well! That's a horse of a different color! Come on in!"
10. Both heroines must defeat their nemesis at the end by standing up to them and not cowering
--The Labyrinth:
Sarah stands up to Jareth. "You have no power over me." and defeats him, turning him into an owl.
--The Wizard of Oz:
Dorothy confronts the "Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz." "Why, you're nothing but a coward!"
11. Both learn something from their journeys at the end:
--The Labyrinth:
Sarah learns that even though she's growing up, she can still hang on to parts of her childhood (among other things)
--The Wizard of Oz:
Dorothy learns that if she starts searching for things and doesn't find it in her own backyard, well, then it was never really lost to begin with.
BLOOPERS
-Sarah magically gets her lipstick in her pocket after throwing it at her dresser; she also throws it on the ground after realizing someone is changing her marks on the tiles, the junk lady also gets it back after the ballroom scene, although it does seem right in a way, since the junk lady already has all of Sarah's other things
-Although Sir Didymus is a puppet and most people know that, when he yells, "Charge!" in the Goblin Battle scene, you can obviously see that there is no hole for his throat
-When they all were at the Bog of Eternal Stench, and Sarah is hanging on the branch when Ludo calls all of the rocks for her to step on, they are all soaked with the Bog of Eternal Stench which then shows her stepping on them which should get her feet wet with the stench making her stink. And also when the bridge just starts to break, you can see that some water or "bog" splashes up to her feet and hits her, but you never see it on her
-If you look at the part of the movie when Sarah says, "Well, come on feet" and starts towards the labyrinth, then it shows the sunrise, then it shows the labyrinth getting touched by the sunlight; if you look at the bottom of the screen, you can see Hoggle standing at the bottom, perfectly still
-When Sarah is in the Escher room at the end of the labyrinth with Jareth and Toby, it shows a clip of her climbing up some stairs, then she looks around, then does some more climbing. A few minutes later, it shows that exact same clip
-When Sarah walks across the rocks after falling off the branch at the Bog of Eternal Stench, it doesnt make any fart noises like it does with Ludo and Sir Didymus/Ambrusious
-Sir Didymus' blue hat has the design of a piece sign on it
-Sarah has a Jareth statue. In her room, at the end when Sarah is at her dresser taking down pictures. There is a gray statue of Jareth with one arm up holding a knife.
The following is from the Labyrinth computer game Player's Guide. This of course should be read by anybody who's going to be playing the game emulation.
You! You there! Yes, you. The one getting dirty fingerprints all over this nice, clean book.
I am Jareth, the Goblin King, and you are mine. From the moment you began reading this, my grip upon your soul has tightened. Test me. Try to stop reading. You can't, can you? You are my subject, and you are destined to bow to my will for the rest of your days. The only way you can escape is to find me in the center of my Labyrinth and destroy me. Ha! Not only will you be unable to navigate the Labyrinth, I doubt you'll even be able to find your way in!
And if by some chance you do manage to get inside, I will easily defeat you. I have many ways to do this. There are rules in my Labyrinth, and woe to those who do not follow them.
I will give you only thirteen hours to solve the Labyrinth. And I can assure you... it isn't enough time.
I will set my army of goblins upon you. Each of my goblins was once in the same position you are in now... and each failed to solve the many puzzles of my Labyrinth. Now they work for me. They will throw you into dark, dank prisons I like to call my *oubliettes*... and forget about you. You will never find you way out.
I will lead you into untold dangers. The Bog of Stench alone will easily defeat you. And if you should happen to fall in - if even one drop should touch you - you smell will warn me of your presence... wherever you may try to hide.
I will recreate the Labyrinth even as you solve potions of it. It will constantly change, twisting around itself like a malevolent serpent.
Learn to love the Labyrinth, for you will be here forever. But take comfort. You will not be here alone. I rule the other poor souls as well. Hoggle might befriend you... if you pay him enough. Maybe you'd like to spend eternity in the forest of the Fireys. They may amuse you as they toss their arms and legs about. Perhaps they can lend you a hand! (Oh, I do love a little joke... especially at your expense.)
Some of the creatures in the Labyrinth are my minions, like Sir Didymus, who gaurds the bridge over the Bog... and always follows my rules. Some of them - like that accursed Ludo and his accursed friends, the rocks - have come close to defeating me. But never *too* close. My faithful goblins take care of that.
They will take care of you, too. And so will I. This is my Labyrinth, and you are mine. Forever.
Assorted Audience Paticipation Suggestions
of Varying Degrees of Refinement
(or lack thereof)
1. Sarah asks whats behind those walls Everyone Yells "We're just the Knockers! ahyuhyuhyu!"
2. When Sarah says " I wish the goblins would take you away...... Everyone yells --- " Nooo! Dont say it!!!! " just before she says "right now."
3. During the fiery dance scene, everyone trade clothing.
4. Whenever Sarah marks the path with her lipstick and the little guy insults her, add on "your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries."
5. Everytime Jareth throws a crystal, everyone throw a superball across the room.
6. During Ludo and Didymus's fight, everyone should pick a side and cheer them on.
7. After Sarah's stepmom says," you should have dates at your age", everyone yell a one syllable insult... My personal preference is witch or its equivalent rhyme.
8. Magic Dance Scene: Have one of the guys go around the room addressing the other guys and gals as Jareth does his goblins in this scene (without the throwing and kicking) Remember to throw in some of Jareth's dance moves :-)
9. Escher Room scene: When Sarah starts running up and down and all around that blasted stair room, everybody do some aerobics. Make sure, however, there is enough room to do them.
10. The final owl scene (flying into the night sky): Everybody throw their hands toward the screen (don't hit anybody) and yell "Stop! Take me with you!" Then, when the screen fades to black for the credits, everybody whine and break, yet again, into the song.
11. Throughout the movie: Everybody need a wig or some of those nice, tight pants, etc. from the movie. Have fun finding any of this stuff.
12. The False Alarms scene: When the crystal rolls by, everybody roll a ball or whatever they might have that will roll (other than pens and pencils).
13. Everything is Dancing: Put on some of those special glasses you can see rainbows through, or one of those little eye-spectacle-type-things that have the same effect. (I mean, who wouldn't want million and one Jareth's?)
14. Whenever Sarah says or does something that would really chap Jareth's ass, everyone should yell "Don't defy me!!"
15. When Jareth says to the goblins "well ....laugh" everyone laughs as loud as they can
16. When Hoggle is killing fairies everyone whip out there fly swaters and smack the screen and count how many fairies you've killed-who knows you may help him up his score?
17. When the Fireys are pulling their heads off, grab the head of the person next to you and say very loudly "Her head don't come off!"
18. During the chilly down song throw stuffed animals around
19. Whenever someone burps say "you're welcome" I do that all the time now...that is say your welcome, not burp
20. When Jareth says to Hoggle "What is that plastic thing round your wrist?" everyone say "What is that plastic thing down your pants?!" His pants are MUCH to tight and leave little up to the imagination
