 Marlene Dietrich was persuaded to come out of retirement to make the film, reportedly receiving $250,000 for two days' shooting.It was Bowie's first movie role after Nicolas Roeg's "The Man Who Fell to Earth" (1976).As Roeg's film had played upon Bowie's earlier identification with science fiction and alienness, so "Just a Gigolo" fitted his then-current interest in pre-war Berlin, pricked by meeting Christopher Isherwood, whose "Goodbye to Berlin" had inspired the musical "Cabaret".