Everyone loves sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, so it was only a matter of time before a feature film captured all three in a musical era where they were perhaps most prevalent.

OK, so the flower power of the Sixties best fits that description. But Eighties metal isn't far behind. And with the genre having undergone a nostalgic renaissance in America in recent years via summer package tours, music video programs and compilation albums, the timing could not have been 
better to immortalise on screen all things hair, leather and spandex. Rock Star (formerly known as Metal God) does that and more, endearingly - and quite humorously - recreating the excesses of the genre. Although the film won't be released in America until September, it was screened for prominent members of the Los Angeles metal community yesterday (3 April), presumably to start the proverbial word-of-mouth buzz.

Most metalheads know that Rock Star is loosely based on the ascension of current Judas Priest frontman Ripper Owens from tribute band obscurity to rock star glory, with Mark Wahlberg taking the starring role. Although he's an accomplished actor with credits that include Boogie Nights and Three Kings, some have raised eyebrows at the casting of the one-time rapper in a metal movie. But Wahlberg is the film's most pleasant surprise, as he convincingly and charmingly portrays an aspiring rock singer who scores - and nails - an audition with his heroes, Steel Dragon, after the group sees a videotape of him performing in a tribute band.

Though it's somewhat disguised by mounds of makeup and hoards of hair, Rock Star is a love story at heart, showing how fame and fortune - and groupies - can get in the way of romance, with sitcom star Jennifer Aniston portraying Wahlberg's girlfriend/manager. But rock fans will care more about some of the film's other stars, as a slew of musicians, including Jason Bonham, Slaughter's Blas Elias and Dokken's Jeff Pilson appear as members of Wahlberg's various bands. Best cast, though, is Zakk Wylde, hysterical as a monosyllabic, but still foul-mouthed, guitarist with a penchant for hunting and drinking. (Big stretch, we're sure.) Several of the LA attendees also got a kick out of a hilarious cameo by local tribute band king Ralph Saenz, known in the TV commercial world as the leader of Danger Kitty.

There undoubtedly will be griping about the inaccuracy of the film's soundtrack, as Rock Star is set in 1985 and 1986, yet it contains songs from before (Kiss' Lick It Up) and after (Def Leppard's Let's Get Rocked) that period. British viewers will also likely shake their heads at American actors trying to master an accent that's apparently quite foreign (although it makes for a classic scene when Wahlberg tries to perfect it). And while its ending doesn't quite match up with the story that inspired it, the film as a whole paints an engaging and always entertaining portrait of the cult of metal when it was at its commercial peak.

Several veterans of the era - including Metal Edges Gerri Miller, RIPs Lonn Friend and Headbanger's Ball host Riki Rachtman - were in attendance, as was Motörheads Lemmy (the first in line at the open bar after the film ended). But most interesting was what Halford guitarist Pat Lachman said the real Metal God would think of the movie: "He'd laugh his ass off!"

Clay Marshall

Don't count on any interspecies breeding in the new "Planet of the Apes." 

Studio execs have vetoed a sex scene between man and monkey, say well-placed sources.

As we told you last August, director Tim Burton was keen on consummating the relationship between the stranded astronaut played by Mark Wahlberg and the sympathetic simian scientist played by Helena Bonham Carter.

Makeup artist Rick Baker confided in a recent interview that Burton "wanted to have this sexual tension between [the two]. Tim wanted her to be sexually attractive to men."

The animal husbandry was to have taken place in the Forbidden Zone, where Wahlberg's character seeks refuge from his primate pursuers.

But honchos at Fox ruled that "bestiality was way over the line," says an insider.

Even though Bonham Carter speaks with the cultivation of one of her Merchant-Ivory characters, says the source, "Fox thought American audiences would recoil and that the movie would get an NC-17 rating. That would kill the movie [for] kids."

A Fox spokeswoman yesterday denied that there was ever any Darwinian kinkiness planned. However, a source close to Bonham Carter confirms "the scene was in there originally, but the studio freaked out."

Reel.com columnist Jeffrey Wells reports that, based on a recent script he read, Wahlberg and Bonham Carter now share but a kiss.

"The script builds a credible love story," says Wells. "You feel you're going to see something. But then they wimp out. I was greatly disappointed."

Ah, well, guys can still look forward to the scene where swimsuit model Estella Warren, playing a feral human who also has the hots for Wahlberg, washes herself.

Meanwhile, we hear that Burton, who brought you such edgy flicks as "Beetlejuice," "Edward Scissorhands" and "Sleepy Hollow," has been talking with several of his favorite actors, including Johnny Depp and Paul Reubens, about making hairy cameos. 

The movie is due to open July 27.