Most embarassing role by a musician in a bad "cyberpunk"-style sci-fi movie

I'm thinking it might be Ice T as a kangaroo in Tank Girl, but I have a feeling Rollins must have at least a couple of these in the running.

Mick Jagger in Freejack

Haha wow three hard choices there.

ice t in johnny mnemonic vs henry rollins in johnny mnemonic

"Information overload! All the electronics around you poisoning the airwaves. Technological fuckin civilisation. But we still have all the shit - cause we can't live without it. Lemme get to my work..."

Tricky in the Fifth Element

weird, molly shannon was in "lawnmower man 2: beyond cyberspace" (as "homeless lady")

wtf, Tricky was awesome in "The Fifth Element"!

Ice Cube in Ghost on Mars maintained self-respect ... probably because he was playing a thug and not a kangaroo.

Surprised Method Man has never been in a bad cyberpunk-style sci-fi movie.

yeah the fifth element was radddd

Also Ghost of Mars isn't cyberpunk.

ice t in tank girl vs iggy pop in tank girl

i can't think of many examples to differentiate between embarassing and not actually bad, guys (although i do personally hate Fifth Element and lolled at Tricky rasping out dialogue).

I wonder hom many of the non-kangaroo roles for rock stars in these type movies will be futuristic drug dealers who deal "information" that you plug in your head or made-up future drugs.

Iggy Pop was also in Hardware eek.

huh: I always figured that even if you didn't go for that movie, Tricky's appearance in it was, like, non-awkward and totally in keeping with the general style of the thing and seemed, you know, cool

his appearance on Girlfriends not to much, but I'd have to really stretch some points to call that "cyberpunk"

i saw Ice T speak at a thing a couple years ago where he kinda detailed his transition from music to acting, and his whole bit about Tank Girl was just hysterical, him trying to explain why it seemed like a good idea at the time in a really self-deprecating way

Marc Anthony was in Hackers!?!?!

like i said, i was just throwing out the example, i don't really think of Tricky as being embarrassing in that movie. although just the idea of him reciting any dialogue in a movie is kind of funny to me for some reason. xpost

haven't seen it but can we just say coolio in dracula 3000

xp Brio: or sidekicks in innumerable Resident Evil sequels ...

Can we count Juliette Lewis in "Strange Days" since she tried to have a band?

Debbie Harry is pretty crappy in Videodrome, but it's obviously a good movie despite that.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2257/2195969170_8cb64b4a74.jpg

^^^ not cyberpunk as such, but this clown is the grandaddy of all this, eh?

Iggy Pop was also in Hardware eek.

― Alex in SF, Friday, May 8, 2009 4:09 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark

I think lemme kilmister and that count chocula guy from the fields of the nephiliminilim are too

does jubilee count as cyberpunk?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076240/

xp Hi Dere: If you count Juliette Lewis, you need to count Keanu Reeves as well ...

oh snap, that's right

Yeah, Keanu is the undisputed king of bad-cyberpunk style sci-fi, it's not fair to make the real musicians compete.

xp Brio: but the musicians might have had more embarrassing roles ...

Ice T in "Tank Girl" is winning for me so far

Rollins' quotes on the Johnny Mnemonic page are making me think this is pretty close.

we're going to poll these, right?

Mick Jagger was fucking awesome in Freejack.

You're like "wow this car chase is fucking awesome, all that would make it better is Mick Jagger being bitchy on a laptop screen" and then BAM!

David Johansen wrestles with Emilio Estevez in this movie too. Simian rock stars HATE emilio.

Marc Anthony was in Hackers!?!?!

Yeah, he's the cop that's always trailing the leads (this movie was on tv at least three times last week, and I must admit I caught a chunk of each screening).

Does Cornel West as Councillor West count?
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/412YK0X4PPL._SL600_.jpg http://www.filmdope.com/Gallery/ActorsW/49109-26016.gif

fave moment of that freejack clip is at 1:20 when mick jagger magically makes the laptop screen lift back up so he can laugh at emilio before he slams it shut again

Emilio vs. Mick. It's like that scene in Heat with DeNiro and Pacino. Intense, yet understated. Two masters facing off. Mesmerizing. You almost forget there's a really slow boring car chase going on with all the sparks flying between those two.

slow boring car chase? Did you HEAR Those wilhelm screams?

omg, are they really using a james brown scream as a "bystander jumping out of the way of a futurecar" foley effect in that freejack clip? must netflix this immediately.

xp!

pretty sure the first one is james brown

xpost!

that's a pretty normal, modern-looking laptop design for '92

"Oh no! I hate the dark!"

You can't get rid of me that eas-i-ly!

I have this image of myself in Blockbuster trying to talk my girlfriend into watching Freejack with me now. "Heyyyyyy... look, they have Freejack... You love the Stones! We should totally rent this!"

holllly fuck

"freejack is a great statement about what could happen if we don't get our heads out of the sand." - gary busey

love that he admits while promoting the film that if he had more than a week to think about it he would have said no

(xpost) what, we'll all end up with chiclet teeth?

They should have cast Little Richard instead of Jagger

well as david johansen explains, freejack is what it looks like when people have lived half their lives with no ozone layer

xp Hi Dere: I think we can also include Will Smith

Gene Simmons in Runaway

Ian Dury in Judge Dredd. Not to bad of an acting job but a shitty flick.

The funny thing is that Billy Idol already looks like a cyborg even without any prosthetics or make up. Never mind all the metal plates holding him together after his numerous motorcycle accidents.

I'm thinking it might be Ice T as a kangaroo in Tank Girl

no one's yet topped this

doesn't beat Ice T as a kangaroo, but Tom Petty in The Postman:

Surprised Method Man has never been in a bad cyberpunk-style sci-fi movie.

― Alex in SF, Friday, May 8, 2009 8:06 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark

that would be because he did a bad cyberpunk-style sci fi concept album

http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/m/method-man/album-tical-2000-judgement-day.jpg

Carl McCoy of the Nephilim in "Hardware"

would tina turner in 'beyond thunderdome' count?

Alex in SF please adjudicate the cyberpunkness of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

fuck you, thunderdome is kickass

Also not cyberpunk.

¯\(°_o)/¯

"Thunderdome" is kickass *UNTIL* those fuckin' kids show up.

...at which point the film plunges into the toilet.

I like the kids ... not as great as Feral Boy in Road Warrior but ... I usually dislike children in films, and I was okay with these.

J-Lo in The Cell

Ooooh. "The Cell." Nice visuals but dreadful film.

omg mick jagger talking about hanging out in atlanta strip clubs with emilio estevez

So, do all Cyberpunk movies have musicians in them? Were they added because there's something cyberpunkish about having stilted deliveries coming from familiar faces? Or was it 'cause the genre was so lowly-esteemed that getting anyone with a name was a plus?

John Lurie, as "Distinguished Man", in New Rose Hotel. Perhaps not the most embarrassing role, but easily the worst professionally produced William Gibson adaptation that will ever be made.