Outside, his 1995 collaboration with Brian Eno, was not well received, nor was the industrial-rock album Earthling.

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Ryan Reynolds, mocking the role, is the earthling a hotshot pilot selected to continue the fight against evil, and he looks dubious when he pledges allegiance to a lantern.

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On display will be more than 60 stage-costumes including Ziggy Stardust bodysuits (1972) designed by Freddie Burretti, Kansai Yamamoto's flamboyant creations for the Aladdin Sane tour (1973) and the Union Jack coat designed by Bowie and Alexander McQueen for the Earthling album cover (1997).

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Ms. Broackes's own Bowie highlights include a 1974 Terry O'Neill photograph of David Bowie with Beat writer William S. Burroughs (hand-colored by Bowie), the Alexander McQueen jacket from his 1997 "Earthling" album cover and the mannered starkness of Mr. Bowie's Thin White Duke garb from 1976.

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Up against them is a rank of supernatural forces played by Alan Rickman, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, and Selma Hayek a perplexed earthling (Linda Fiorentino), and a couple of unwitting prophets, played by the grungy Jason Mewes and the bearded Smith himself, back by popular demand from his previous pictures.

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