In the works for a while now, Elton John semi-biopic Rocketman is finally nudging its way into production, as a tweet from star Taron Egerton (find it lower down the page) demonstrates. Now we know that Jamie Bell will be playing John's longtime songwriting collaborator, Bernie Taupin.
Rocketman is planned less as a straight biopic of Elton and more a musical film based around a blend of his life and his music. Lee Hall wrote the script, Dexter Fletcher is in the director's chair and Matthew Vaughn is producing alongside John and partner David Furnish.
As for Taupin, he started working on songs with Elton John in 1967 after they both answered an advert in the NME by Liberty Records. Despite being rejected for the job, John found Taupin's poetry, and that sparked a songwriting team that would last decades, resulting in songs including Crocodile Rock, Tiny Dancer, Candle In The Wind and Rocketman.
For more on the film, you can find Edgerton talking it up here on the Empire Podcast.
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