40 Fun Facts About Rock Star (2001 Film)

Which sitcom star plays Emily Poule, Chris Cole's girlfriend and band manager, in Rock Star?

Jennifer Aniston was in talks for the role in November 1999, weeks after the film found its director. Emily manages Chris's tribute act as well as dating him.

Rock Star was inspired by a tribute-band singer who joined which real British heavy metal band?

Judas Priest were approached about the film but objected to the first script, so it was rewritten into a looser story about an invented band.

Which A-list actor signed to star in Rock Star in 1998 but quit over creative differences?

Brad Pitt dropped out after disagreements with the studio, and Mark Wahlberg was hired for the lead in May 1999.

Rock Star's crew pranked Mark Wahlberg mid-performance by playing which of his own old rap hits?

Good Vibrations, a 1991 US number one for Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, blared out instead of a rock track. Footage of the prank runs over the end credits.

In which city does Chris Cole reunite with Emily and start a new band at the end of Rock Star?

Seattle is where the pair had agreed to meet mid-tour, but Chris was too drunk to remember the plan or even which city he was in.

Which Justified star plays Rob Malcolm, the tribute-band guitarist who brawls with Chris Cole in Rock Star?

Timothy Olyphant's Rob accuses Chris of hiding in a tribute act instead of writing his own music. The two later team up again in a band that plays originals.

Which actor, later famous as Jimmy McNulty in The Wire, plays Steel Dragon's founder in Rock Star?

Dominic West is the only actor in Steel Dragon's instrumental line-up. The other three players are all real rock musicians.

Which son of Led Zeppelin's late drummer plays Steel Dragon's drummer, A.C., in Rock Star?

Jason Bonham has also sat in for his father when Led Zeppelin's surviving members reunited, including their 2007 show at London's O2 Arena.

The singer whose story inspired Rock Star compared the film to which earlier rock comedy?

This Is Spinal Tap was his comparison because the film piled on sex, drugs and rock cliches. He was still flattered to be the basis for a movie.

Which Hollywood star's newly founded company, Maysville Pictures, helped produce Rock Star?

George Clooney had recently co-starred with Mark Wahlberg in Three Kings before Wahlberg was hired as the lead.

Which longtime Ozzy Osbourne guitarist plays Ghode, Steel Dragon's lead guitarist, in Rock Star?

Zakk Wylde did more than act: he played guitar on the Steel Dragon songs recorded for the film, so the invented band sounds like genuine metal players.

Which former Dokken bassist plays Jörgen, Steel Dragon's bass player, in Rock Star?

Jeff Pilson went on to join Foreigner, a band the man behind Steel Dragon's drum kit also played in.

Which Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels actor plays Steel Dragon's fired lead singer in Rock Star?

Jason Flemyng only mimed the part. The fired frontman's singing voice was recorded by a real hard rock vocalist.

Which actor, Peter Pettigrew in the Harry Potter films, plays Steel Dragon's road manager Mats in Rock Star?

Timothy Spall's Mats is the last person Chris speaks to before he walks out of a Steel Dragon concert for good.

In which Pennsylvania city does Chris Cole live and sing in a tribute band at the start of Rock Star?

Pittsburgh in 1985 is where the story begins, though the film's big concert scene was shot far away, in a Los Angeles arena.

What is Chris Cole's day job at the start of Rock Star, before Steel Dragon comes calling?

Photocopier technician is his daytime trade; at night he sings every Steel Dragon song note for note and expects his bandmates to do the same.

What stage name does Chris Cole adopt when he becomes Steel Dragon's new lead singer in Rock Star?

Izzy is the name Chris takes when he joins the band, and he ditches it along with the rock star image when he walks away to write his own music.

What is the name of the Steel Dragon tribute band that Chris Cole fronts at the start of Rock Star?

Blood Pollution is also the title of a Steel Dragon song on the soundtrack, written by former Marilyn Manson bassist Twiggy Ramirez.

What is the name of the Steel Dragon singer whose firing gives Chris Cole his big chance in Rock Star?

Bobby Beers is thrown out for skipping recording sessions, missing gigs and turning in lacklustre performances, and Chris walks in on the row.

What kind of business is Emily running when Chris Cole finds her again at the end of Rock Star?

A coffee shop that Emily and her roommate had bought years earlier is where Chris spots her, at first too ashamed to say a word.

Which Ohio singer's jump from a tribute act to his heroes' band inspired the film Rock Star?

Tim Owens took his nickname, Ripper, from a song he sang with his tribute band, which was called British Steel.

What was the working title of Rock Star before Warner Bros. renamed it to reach a wider audience?

Metal God was dropped by 2001 because the studio wanted to draw rock fans in general, not only metal fans.

Which director of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and The Mighty Ducks made Rock Star?

Stephen Herek signed on in October 1999, by which point the project had already lost its first leading man.

Which actor, Cougar in Top Gun, later wrote the screenplay for the film Rock Star?

John Stockwell prepared by studying the heavy metal and tribute band scene and by visiting the real singer's hometown.

Which Oscar-winning writer of Thelma & Louise was hired to revise the script of Rock Star?

Callie Khouri's rewrite was reported in November 1999, just as the film was lining up its leading lady.

A 1997 profile in which newspaper set off the Hollywood bidding war that led to Rock Star?

The New York Times profile, written by Andrew Revkin, sent several studios chasing the film rights, and Warner Bros. won the bid.

Rock Star's screenwriter researched the script in the real singer's hometown, which Ohio city?

Akron was one stop in the writer's research, which also took him deep into the heavy metal and tribute band scene.

A Rock Star concert scene was shot before 10,000 real fans of Megadeth and which other metal band?

Metallica and Megadeth fans filled the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, handing the fictional Steel Dragon a genuine arena crowd.

Which future Alter Bridge frontman has a cameo in Rock Star as Thor, a superfan who sings along?

Myles Kennedy, then singing with The Mayfield Four, got the audition because the filmmakers wanted someone who could sing very high.

Chris Cole's singing voice in Rock Star belongs to Miljenko Matijevic, the frontman of which band?

Steelheart's frontman sang Chris's parts in the Steel Dragon songs, while a different vocalist handled the closing song.

What does a furious Chris Cole sabotage mid-song when his guitarist improvises a solo in Rock Star?

His amplifier is the target because Chris insists on note-for-note copies of Steel Dragon's records, and the stunt sets off a fight on stage.

Which Bon Jovi hit is on the Rock Star soundtrack even though it came out after the film's 1985 setting?

Livin' on a Prayer came out in late 1986, a year after the story begins, making it one of several songs in the film that are too new for its setting.

Why does Chris Cole turn against Steel Dragon while recording a new album in Rock Star?

They reject his song ideas even though they like them, insisting the band must keep giving fans the sound they expect. Chris realises he was hired only for his voice.

Stephan Jenkins, who plays rival tribute singer Bradley in Rock Star, is the frontman of which real band?

Third Eye Blind's frontman plays the arch-rival who takes over Chris's spot in his own tribute band the day after an onstage fight.

Which song does Chris Cole sing at his Steel Dragon audition in the film Rock Star?

We All Die Young is a real power ballad first released in 1996, so the song Chris belts out in the mid-1980s did not exist yet.

Which band, formed by singer Art Alexakis, performs the title song on the Rock Star soundtrack?

Everclear licensed the song to the film in the summer of 2001, and it opens a soundtrack album otherwise heavy on 1980s metal.

Colorful, the original song Chris Cole performs at the end of Rock Star, is by which real band?

The Verve Pipe's singer Brian Vander Ark recorded the vocal himself, and he also appears on screen as the bassist in Chris's tribute band.

Which former Yngwie Malmsteen vocalist provided the singing voice of Steel Dragon's ousted frontman in Rock Star?

Jeff Scott Soto is heard but never seen in the film, and he went on to be the lead vocalist of Journey in 2006–07.

Ralph Saenz, the singer who auditions just before Chris Cole in Rock Star, went on to front which comedy metal band?

Steel Panther's lead singer is better known by his stage name, Michael Starr, and the band is famous for its profane, humorous take on glam metal.

What is the name of Steel Dragon's founder, who phones Chris Cole to offer an audition in Rock Star?

Kirk Cuddy is also the band's rhythm guitarist, and he is the one who later tells Chris the group must stick to its familiar formula.