Taron Egerton has done a lot in his years as an actor. He’s done tough, long shoots for action movies like Kingsman and Robin Hood and he even learned to ski for Eddie the Eagle. But nothing was quite like having to perform in front of Elton John for the upcoming flick Rocketman. According to Taron Egerton…
There's really nothing more intimidating than performing in front of Elton. I don't think I could have done it if he was around a lot. But I think he knew that. He's very astute in that way.
Previously, while speaking onstage with director Dexter Fletcher at CinemaCon 2019, Taron Egerton also revealed to the audience that Elton John wasn’t a major presence on the set of Rocketman, preferring the creative team to put together their own version of his life story without him present most of the time on the set.
However, THR also revealed that while Elton John only came and watched Taron Egerton during a day when he was performing “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” at a carnival in front of a group of extras, he did watch the dailies as they came in from the set.
Related: Watch Rocketman's Taron Egerton Sing "Tiny Dancer" With Real Elton John
Paramount’s Rocketman was already preparing for release when Bohemian Rhapsody started winning awards early this year. The second musical biopic to come out in just as many years, Rocketman will follow the life of legendary singer and performer Elton John, who is currently on the road performing his farewell tour.
Paramount is likely hoping it will have a similar trajectory to Bohemian Rhapsody, which went on to gross over $900 million worldwide.
There’s no reason to think it couldn’t, as Elton John is currently on a tour he has dubbed his Farewell Yellow Brick Road aka retirement tour, after a career spanning multiple decades and an absolute ton of record sales, over 300 million in fact. He's popular and the movies early trailers look great.
However, while the Queen biopic softened Freddie Mercury’s story somewhat and kept to a PG-13 rating, the Rocketman team is going a lot harder, telling the full R-rated tale of Elton John’s life story, likely with some embellishments as well. R-rated movies can sell and sell well, but they certainly aren’t as friendly in some markets as others.
Previously, Taron Egerton talked about how he hopes to make Elton John happy with his portrayal when the movie comes out, noting,
He’s so universally loved, and I just want to make him happy really. Just getting over the pressure of it and having a good time.
No matter what ends up happening with this movie (although from the footage I saw at CinemaCon it looks great), Taron Egerton will be able to look back and say. 1. He did all of his own singing playing Elton John in this movie (which Malek did not as Mercury). 2. He cut his hair to create a receding hairline in this movie.
He did quite a lot to give Rocketman his all and we’ll be able to see how it all pans out—and hopefully exactly what Elton John thinks—when the movie hits theaters on May 31. Take a look at what else is coming this summer with our full schedule.
