HBO acquires ‘David Bowie: The Last Five Years’

HBO has acquired the rights to the forthcoming documentary “David Bowie: The Last Five Years.”

The film, directed and produced by Francis Whately, follows the late Bowie through the recording of his final two albums, “The Next Day” and “Blackstar,” and the stage musical “Lazarus.”

“Blackstar,” which was released two days before his death in January 2016, won five Grammys this year, including rock performance, alternative music album and rock song.

The documentary will showcase rare archival Bowie images, recordings from the albums’ studio sessions and interviews with a number of Bowie’s closest late-in-life collaborators, including longtime producer Tony Visconti.

“Looking at Bowie’s extraordinary creativity during the last five years of his life has allowed me to reexamine his life’s work and move beyond the simplistic view that his career was simply predicated on change,” Whately said in a statement from HBO.

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