David Bowie’s son, the filmmaker Duncan Jones, has said the forthcoming Bowie biopic Stardust does not have the family’s blessing. He also disputes a report that the film will feature Bowie performances. “If you want to see a biopic without his music or the family’s blessing, that’s up to the audience,” he tweeted.

In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, the UK producers of the film responded, “We would like to clarify that this film is not a biopic, it is a moment in time film at a turning point in David’s life, and is not reliant on Bowie’s music.” They continued, “The film was written as an ‘origins story’ about the beginning of David’s journey as he invented his Ziggy Stardust character, and focuses on the character study of the artist, as opposed to a hits driven ‘music’ biopic.”

Producer Paul Van Carter added, “We offered to send the screenplay and make the [Bowie] estate involved in the creative process. We were told there wouldn’t be approval from the estate… the estate doesn’t [typically] license Bowie’s music.” He also said definitively, “We’re not using any Bowie music. We always knew that we weren’t going to.”

In addition to his complaints about the film, Jones tweeted at author Neil Gaiman and director Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), saying that if they were to pitch a film using Bowie’s characters, he “would urge everyone on my end to pay attention and give the pitch serious consideration.”

After ruling himself out of making a Bowie film, Jones said he would “stay completely out of the way, cheerleading with all my heart” if artists like Gaiman and Ramsey were to make one. After Ramsey said he was “not worthy,” Jones tweeted, “Everything is yours for the asking. You have choices upon choices... but if you will, consider it. I think you could make something... as special as what you just accomplished with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Ramsey responded with a fainting lady GIF.

Gaiman wrote back to Jones, “You are the best. Thank you.” Later, he light-heartedly agreed with a fan who lamented that a Bowie project would be too tempting for the author to resist, when he could be writing another book.

In Stardust, set in the early 1970s, Johnny Flynn will play Bowie, accompanied by Marc Maron—portraying Bowie’s publicist—and Jena Malone (The Hunger Games) as Bowie’s first wife and Duncan Jones’ mother, Angie. Screenwriter Christopher Bell (The Last Czars) and director Gabriel Range (I Am Slave) are also on board.