The Man Who Fell to Earth

The Man Who Fell to Earth is a novel by Walter Tevis about an extraterrestrial who crashlands on Earth seeking a way to ship water to his planet, which is suffering from a severe drought. The novel served as the basis for the cult 1976 Nicolas Roeg film and a less-successful 1987 television adaptation.

Trivia

• Images from the film appear on the covers of the Bowie albums Station to Station and Low, which are said to contain fragments of the soundtrack music he wrote for the film, but which was not used.
• Toward the end of the film, in the record store, Bryce walks past a display for David Bowie's "Young Americans" album.
• The music that Oliver Farnsworth is listening to in his first scene and in one of his last is Holst's The Planets.
• At one point Mary-Lou shouts to Tommy, "Tommy Can You Hear Me?". A reference to The Who's rock-opera Tommy.
• Nicolas Roeg was nominated for the Golden Bear award at the 1976 Berlin International Film Festival.
• In the novel Mary-Lou is known as Betty Jo.