Thoughts I Had... while staring at the first photo of Taron Egerton as Elton John in "Rocketman"
Saturday, September 29, 2018 at 12:05PM by Nathaniel R
click to embiggen
Thoughts as they came without self-censorship:
Since he's wearing winged shoes we expect him to float up into the sky during a musical sequence, like a queer Mercules auditoning for the Griffiths Observatory number in La La Land...
There better be gayness in this movie. Enough with these straightwashed bios. Especially since the movie is billing itself as a "musical fantasy" about the singer's breakthrough years.
Love how he kind of matches the couch here but doesn't blend in. Elton John is incapable of blending in.
Elton John and his husband David Furnish are producing so you know they had casting approval. Taran Egerton is hotter than Elton ever was, even in Elton drag. Didn't Elton also have Justin Timberlake play him in a music video once? These are what we call 'esteemable acts.'
Elton John's storied rise to fame is before my pop culture time so no spoilers please (hee). The first Elton John song I remember listening to as it was on the charts -- as opposed to in the air since he already had several "standards" I absorbed through cultural osmosis -- was "Sad Songs" and "I'm Still Standing" in 1983 and they made me crazy since the radio played them incessantly. Since this musical is about his rise to fame I assume we're only taking place from the early 1960s through the early 70s so maybe ending with his giant "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" album from 1973?
Bios produced by the people they're about are often hagiographies so we can't trust this one until it proves itself.
Elton John and Bernie Taupin in 1970 photos.
That said, very excited to see Jamie Bell portray Bernie Taupin, the other half of Elton's iconic music. Largely because Bernie Taupin is the invisible half of that duo but Jamie Bell is never invisible to us as one of the finest actors of his generation. (The film also stars Richard Madden, Gemma Jones, Steven Mackintosh, and Bryce Dallas Howard.... but JAMIE BELL!)
Will they give Jamie Bell a unibrow? Nooooooooooo
I only know Egerton through Eddie the Eagle which is a weird place to only know of him since he's starred in a successful franchise The Kingsman. I am not seeing Robin Hood which looks a-tro-cious.
Dexter Flesher (Eddie the Eagle) is behind the camera but he started as a child actor (and still acts here and there). If you've ever seen the Scott Baio/Jodie Foster musical comedy Bugsy Malone (1976) he played "Baby Face" in that one.
This earlier photo on the set of Rocketman had the Daily Mirror calling Egerton the "spitting image of Elton John" but I think he looks more like "spitting image of a younger Matthew Rhys in Elton John drag"
Rocketman hits theaters on May 31st, 2019, so it's up against Godzilla: King of the Monsters for summer box office gold. Not that either of them will take the box office crown that weekend since that's the second weekend of Disney's Aladdin which will surely earn ungodly sums in next summer's box office derby.
Reader Comments (15)
Why is this being made???
Nat: I mean, does this new Robin Hood really look worse than the Russell Crowe/Ridley Scott movie? Taron Egerton is at least good CASTING for Robin Hood.
I will give it the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully it will be gritty, funny and entertaining. Their hair was awful and they seem to be recreating that look. I like Taran's voice. Elton is legend.
markgordonuk- Elton John is considered by many to be a legend in the music industry that alone sells why someone might want to make a movie about him.
I just hope it's a good movie. Just as long as we don't get a David Bowie biopic as I think that would be an impossible film to do considering that Bowie was always ever-changing. The only way that would work is to get several people to play Bowie like what Todd Haynes did with I'm Not There about Bob Dylan.
@Brian yes I know who he is i'm from England,he hasn't escaped me,I was asking why this film Now.
Good for him that he won't be stuck with the Spider-Man movies.
"the spitting image of a younger Matthew Rhys in Elton John drag" - THANK YOU for putting into words what my brain was trying to process and just couldn't
He probably knows he's getting on in years and wanted a biopic made that he could endorse rather than one after death that is inaccurate or sanitised or whatever. Plus, Taron seems perfect so the timing is right.
I can bet my last dollar they won't say anything about his 'straight' marriage in the 70s.
No.
Is that Madonna biopic still happening?
In my mind, this looks so off, it's almost satirical. But of course it's just stills, so I'll wait for a teaser at least.
Like you Nathaniel I only started paying attention to Elton around "Too Low Four Zero" and I played that tape too death literally as one day, attempting to take the tape out of the player, it got caught and broke.I was devastated as I couldn't afford to go out and buy a new one. Kids these days just don't know how lucky they are to be able to access music so easily. I'm really looking forward to this movie to get a look at Elton's early days.
Btw it's Dexter Fletcher not Flesher (I'm sure that's just a typo) He was in a brilliant UK Kids TV series from the early 90's called Press Gang.
Err, it seems you didn't see the trailer for Godzilla King of the Monsters. No way in hell does Aladdin beat it in its 2nd weekend.