Verified source report
‘David Bowie was a crazy workaholic’: Labyrinth at 40 – an oral history
Today, Jim Henson’s dark fairytale is seen as a classic of 80s high camp. But on release, it bombed. Here, members of the cast and crew remember laughter, tricky puppets and Henson’s ‘joyful magic’ Labyrinth arrived 40 years ago with David Bowie at his most devastatingly charismatic, a breakthrough performance by Jennifer Connelly, and lots and lots of puppets. The film about the quest of stroppy teen Sarah (Connelly) to rescue her baby half-brother from the clutches of Jareth (Bowie), the nefarious goblin king, was a dark fantasy that played out like a trippy Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. As Sarah tries to navigate an ever-shifting maze, the story evolves into a thoughtful coming-of-age tale. Director Jim Henson, the creative powerhouse behind the Muppets and Fraggle Rock, breathed life into Labyrinth, and his company Creature Shop designed a dazzling array of puppets to appear alon
What happened
According to The Guardian’s source item, ‘David Bowie was a crazy workaholic’: Labyrinth at 40 – an oral history, Today, Jim Henson’s dark fairytale is seen as a classic of 80s high camp. But on release, it bombed. Here, members of the cast and crew remember laughter, tricky puppets and Henson’s ‘joyful magic’ Labyrinth arrived 40 years ago with David Bowie at his most devastatingly charismatic, a breakthrough performance by Jennifer Connelly, and lots and lots of puppets. The film about the quest of stroppy teen Sarah (Connelly) to rescue her baby half-brother from the clutches of Jareth (Bowie), the nefarious goblin king, was a dark fantasy that played out like a trippy Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. As Sarah tries to navigate an ever-shifting maze, the story evolves into a thoughtful coming-of-age tale. Director Jim Henson, the creative powerhouse behind the Muppets and Fraggle Rock, breathed life into Labyrinth, and his company Creature Shop designed a dazzling array of puppets to appear alon
Context
The development sits in VINI’s Global file for readers following international affairs, institutions, conflict, diplomacy, economics, and cross-border consequences. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The source item is dated 2026-06-16T09:00:19+00:00.
What to watch
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Source
Primary source: ‘David Bowie was a crazy workaholic’: Labyrinth at 40 – an oral history via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.
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Source links
- ‘David Bowie was a crazy workaholic’: Labyrinth at 40 – an oral historyThe Guardian - 2026-06-16T09:00:19+00:00
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