Welsh actor Taron Egerton has transformed into Elton John for his role in the upcoming biopic about the iconic singer that tells the story of Elton John's life, from his years as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music through his influential and enduring musical partnership with Bernie Taupin.
The thinning hair, the ridiculous spectacles, the gold bomber jacket, the short-shorts and the winged platform boots…they are unmistakably Elton.
The film is now in production and also stars Bodyguard and Game of Thrones actor, Richard Madden, who is playing John Reid – Elton’s former lover and manager. Billy Elliot’s Jamie Bell stars as Bernie Taupin, who wrote a catalogue of hits with Elton and Bryce Dallas Howard and Steven Mackintosh are starring as Elton’s parents, Sheila Eileen Dwight and Stanley Dwight.
Rocketman is being directed by Dexter Fletcher, who worked with Egerton on 2015’s Eddie the Eagle – a biography of Eddie Edwards, the notoriously tenacious British underdog ski jumper. Rocketman also features a screenplay that has been written by Lee Hall, the Oscar nominated writer of Billy Elliot and War Horse.
X-Men: First Class and Kingsman director, Matthew Vaughn, is on board as Producer and has predicted that the film “is going to make people’s jaws hit the ground”.
Vaughn also went on to say that Elton John himself gave them his blessing and told them to “Tell it all. Go as R-rated as you need to” and Vaughn says “We do just that. The flaws and the genius are all there.”
Elton John is also on serving as a Producer on the movie, showing that he isn’t afraid of the fact that this movie is going to highlight all aspects of his life, from the good to the bad to the ugly. Elton is notorious for how honest and outspoken he is, so it stands to reason that his biopic should be the same way.
Rocketman will hit UK cinemas on May 31st, 2019.
