Jim Henson Also Looked at Casting Michael Jackson and Sting in LABYRINTH
The casting of David Bowie in the 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth was inspired and he became one of the iconic characters from the 80s. But, director Jim Henson was also looking at casting two other actors as well in the role of the Goblin King, Jareth. He also considered casting Michael Jackson and Sting and out of the three actors Henson went to his family for their thoughts on who he should cast.
During a recent interview with ComicBook, Henson’s son, Brian Henson revealed:
"I can't speak for my siblings, but I can say for me, I vaguely remember the name Sting coming up. I definitely remember Michael Jackson and David Bowie. I had just been at university for the one year that I went to college, and I can tell you that I was going from nightclub to nightclub, and Michael Jackson and David Bowie were the two biggest names in my generation, for sure. So when he asked me, I was leaning in favor of David Bowie. I just felt like Bowie had a quirkiness and yet a really coolness that would work really well for my dad, whereas Michael had a perfection to his work that would have been tough."
Henson went on to explain why Michael Jackson would have been wrong for the part, and why he told his dad to cast Bowie:
"I think it would have been tough for Michael to be Michael in Labyrinth. He would have had to compromise his perfection, and then maybe that's no longer Michael, whereas David was always unpredictable. I remember going with my dad to see David in The Elephant Man on stage and saying, 'God, this is such an unusual artist, David Bowie.' All I remember is when he asked me, I said, 'I think David Bowie.'"
Casting Bowie in the role was definitely the right choice. I don’t think that Jackson would have had the same impact as Bowie did. Jim’s daughter Cheryl Henson, who runs the Jim Henson Foundation, shared what Bowie was like on the set of the film, saying:
"David Bowie was a superstar even when he was on the set. He did his best to relate to everybody, and to be super friendly and make sure that everybody felt comfortable and easy talking to him, but he was still a superstar and we all knew it. So, it's not like [Jennifer Connelly, who] became famous later. He was super famous then and we were in awe of him."
It would have been quite an amazing experience for anyone to be on the set of Labyrinth working with David Bowie. That same year, Jackson went on to star in Captain EO for Disney, which was directed by Francis Ford Coppolla and written by George Lucas.
Jim Henson’s Labyrinth turns 35 years old this year!