David Bowie played ‘Outside’ to Jeffrey Wright and Gary Oldman before it was released

nme.com:

David Bowie once played his album ‘Outside’ for him and Gary Oldman before it had been released.Wright and Oldman co-starred in the 1996 film Basquiat alongside Bowie, a biopic focusing on the life of the American painter Jean-Michel Basquiat.

In the film, Wright played the titular artist, while Bowie portrayed Basquiat’s mentor, Andy Warhol. Oldman, meanwhile, played another artist, a character loosely based on the film’s director, Julian Schnabel.In a new interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Wright revealed that in a spare moment during the shooting of the film, Bowie decided to test out his new material on his fellow cast members.“I remember one day we were in the hair and makeup trailer — Gary Oldman was in the film as well — we’re sitting there and David walks in,” Wright said. “He goes, ‘You want to hear some music?’ We’re like, huh?

His music. We’re like, yeah, David Bowie, we will tolerate your music. Yeah, sure. Put in your little disc there.”The music in question was ‘Outside’, Bowie’s 20th studio album, released in September 1995.

The record was Bowie’s first time working alongside Brian Eno since the Berlin trilogy of the late 1970s, and featured elements of industrial, jazz and electronica.“Some of the music is featured in the film because it’s kind of reminiscent of the story in some ways,” Wright continued. “His guitarist was named Reeves Gabrels and he plays this really abstracted beautiful stuff,” Wright added. “And we’re listening to it, and we’re like, woah.