"It was wild, like nothing I've ever experienced." says Jason Flemyng of performing as Steel Dragon's Bobby Beers. "I was on stage and all the extras were so excited and screaming — they were doing a real good acting job, pretending that I was amazing — it was mad!"
While Jennifer Aniston's character Emily does not appear in the scenes shot that day, the actress came to the concert to support her fellow cast members, and was amazed by the atmosphere. "It felt like a real concert," Aniston recalls. "I was in the audience, watching Steel Dragon perform, and people were screaming for them, and one girl actually passed out! It was almost too real."
The cast's professional musicians had already experienced the adulation of the concert crowds — one of the highlights of their profession.
"We put a tremendous amount of energy into our shows," says The Verve Pipe's Brian Vander Ark, "and it's quite gratifying to perform live and have audiences connect to your material. Ultimately, what brings everyone together is the music and if you have great songs with an enthusiastic audience, then you have a viable rock n' roll band... worthy of tailgate parties, backstage frivolities and late check-outs."
"I really enjoy performing live," agrees Stephan, who interrupted his tour with Third Eye Blind to portray Bradley in the film. "You have this immediacy and connection with people during the ninety minutes or so that you're on stage — it's very magical. I wouldn't trade it for anything."
The filmmakers wanted original music written for fictional rock legends Steel Dragon, songs with the driving sound and hit-making qualities of '80s arena rock that would add further authenticity and texture to the story.
"The biggest task for me was finding songs that Stephen felt would reflect the drama and authenticity of the era, but not sound dated." says music supervisor Budd Carr. "We created a series of original songs and a mythology behind them. In the movie, Chris Cole lives, eats and breathes Steel Dragon, and devotes his life to paying homage to them via his tribute band, so their music has really got to impress the viewer."
"The original music that was created for the film shows a real affection for the period, but the sensibility is totally modem," explains Robert Lawrence. "We tight-roped between respecting the integrity of the 80s music and giving it a fresh, current sound."
Some of rock's most talented songwriters contributed to Steel Dragon's playlist. Sammy Haggar wrote the rousing anthem "Stand Up"; "Livin' the Life," was written by musicians Peter Beckett & Steve Plunkett; Twiggy Ramirez of Marilyn Manson wrote "Blood Pollution"; "Wasted Generation," was written by Desmond Childs, Jay Popoff and Jeremy Topan of the band Lit; and Brian Vander Ark of The Verve Pipe wrote "Jesus on a T-Shirt" and the ballad "Colorful."
"Rock Star" unfolds in an era of mid-'80s rock theatricality, and it fell to production designer Mayne Berke to recreate this environment for the setting in which Chris Cole is introduced to the world as Steel Dragon's lead singer.
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