It was recently announced that Taron Egerton had been cast to play pop music icon Elton John in a new biopic. However, it turns out that news wasn't entirely accurate in one key way. Apparently, the movie isn't actually a biopic, as Egerton is calling the movie a "fantasy musical." According to the actor...
Everyone thinks it's a bio-pic. It isn't. It's a fantasy musical so it's actually his songs used to express important beats in his life at emotional moments. He's not the only character that sings. It's going to be fun.
So, while the new movie, Rocketman, will be all about the life of Elton John, it won't be a biopic in the traditional sense because it won't be a straight dramatic retelling of the singer's life, but instead, a musical that uses the songs of Elton John as it takes us through the life of the singer. The focus is certainly on the musical side of things. It sounds like Rocketman might be comparable to something like The Greatest Showman, which was a musical that told a, quite loose, biographical story about P.T. Barnum.
We learned in the animated movie Sing that Taron Edgerton has a more the decent singing voice, though he tells Collider that he's taking singing lessons for Rocketman. One assumes that he wants to not just sound good, but also sound like Elton John when he sings those famous songs. He also says he plans to sing live on set rather than simply lip sync to his pre-recorded track, which certainly has the potential to add something special to the performances. Fans of Elton John music were probably already excited at the potential of a biopic, but the fact that this will be a full musical is probably even more exciting. All of the flamboyant performer's hits built into a story about his life is almost sure to be a fun ride for fans.
The rock musical that uses a particular artist or band's music has been a staple of Broadway for quite some time. Everybody from David Bowie to Green Day has had a Broadway show that used exclusively their music. While many Broadway shows have made the jump to the big screen or vice versa, this particular genre doesn't seem to have done that much. Even rarer is the original movie that attempts this concept. If you've never seen the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, consider yourself lucky.
This will be the second time that Taron Egerton and Elton John have crossed paths on screen. The singer had a role in the recent Kingsman sequel, The Golden Circle, where the artist played himself and even performed some music. Hopefully, Taron Egerton picked up some pointers for Rocketman, which he expects to film later this year.
