{"id":485776,"date":"2019-05-13T07:00:58","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T13:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=832978"},"modified":"2019-05-13T07:00:58","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T13:00:58","slug":"elton-johns-magical-mystery-movie-inside-the-making-of-rocketman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/elton-johns-magical-mystery-movie-inside-the-making-of-rocketman\/","title":{"rendered":"Elton John\u2019s Magical Mystery Movie: Inside The Making of \u2018Rocketman\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

When director Dexter Fletcher signed on to make a movie about Elton John<\/a>, he knew that a traditional docudrama \u2014 like Bohemian Rhapsody<\/em>, say, or Walk the Line<\/em> \u2014 simply wouldn\u2019t fly. \u201cElton is all about fantasy and imagination and magic,\u201d Fletcher says. \u201cWe wanted to use his songs to elevate this to be more than just a biopic. We wanted to make a magical fantasy that tells the story of his life, or at least elements of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result is Rocketman<\/em>, in theaters May 31st, which presents Elton\u2019s life as an elaborate musical with fantastic elements, like the carnival crowd that does a choreographed dance to \u201cSaturday Night\u2019s Alright for \u00adFighting.\u201d And unlike in Bohemian Rhapsody<\/em>, where Rami Malek lip-synced to recordings by Freddie Mercury or an impersonator, Rocketman<\/em> star Taron Egerton does all of his own singing. \u201cMusicals are all about expressing yourself through song,\u201d the British actor says. \u201cIf you don\u2019t sing them yourself, then you aren\u2019t really expressing anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movie begins with Elton John entering rehab in the early Nineties to kick an addiction to drugs and alcohol that nearly took his life. \u201cHe\u2019s our narrator, and he\u2019s telling the story as he recalls it,\u201d says Fletcher. \u201cHe\u2019s dealing with his demons and trying to see the light again through the darkness. That lends itself to imagination and these kind of emotional beats and gestures. And what I find interesting about that is that I can tell you a story of an event that I remember, but it\u2019s going to be colored by my own perception of what was going on at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

So even though the movie hits on many familiar beats in Elton\u2019s story \u2014 from his pre-fame days in the band Bluesology to his first encounter with lyricist Bernie Taupin<\/a> in 1967, the writing of their breakthrough \u201cYour Song\u201d and John\u2019s battles with substance abuse at the peak of his fame \u2014 the filmmakers weren\u2019t afraid to take some liberties with the truth when it aided the storytelling. When Elton makes his U.S. debut, at L.A.\u2019s Troubadour in 1970, for example, he performs \u201cCrocodile Rock\u201d even though he wouldn\u2019t write the song for another two years. \u201cI was aware of that,\u201d says Fletcher. \u201cBut what I care about is capturing the moment cinematically and musically.\u201d<\/p>\n