Oscar-winning director reveals he was snubbed by his hero.

Danny Boyle was forced to abandon his musical film about David Bowie after the pop icon refused him permission to use his songs.

The Trainspotting 2 director told the Radio Times this week that he spent years working on the film with 24 Hour Party People screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, saying that Bowie’s refusal to be involved in the project had left him “in grief”.

He took on his latest film, Steve Jobs, a biopic of the late Apple chief executive, to “fill the space in my heart left by the abandoned Bowie script”, he said, adding that while he was “very keen to direct a musical” at some point, the project was not a musical in the traditional sense.

Bowie’s been rejecting the super-fan director’s advances for years – Boyle also failed to persuade the star to take part in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics.

Meanwhile the pop veteran has just announced a new album, Blackstar, due in January, and has written the title music for a new heist drama, The Last Panthers.