Earlier this year, Rocketman seriously impressed audiences with its artful direction and unflinching look at Elton John’s legacy. Taron Egerton received enormous praise for his portrayal of Elton John and the film has earned even higher praise than last year’s Bohemian Rhapsody.
It would be a true surprise if we didn’t see it on the upcoming awards circuit. The film finally arrived on DVD and Blu-ray recently and if you were a huge fan of the movie you’ve probably rewatched it several times already. Here are some fun details about the movie you may have missed!
Elton didn’t want his past sanitized
One of the biggest issues with Bohemian Rhapsody is how much the film edited out the dark parts of Freddie Mercury’s life. Elton John didn’t want that happen with the portrayal of his life story.
He was adamant about the truth being revealed and that’s why the movie ultimately resulted in an R-rating. It’s also one of the reasons that Taron Egerton is shown wearing a Devil costume in the notable therapy scene in the film. It was a way to reflect the darkness from Elton John’s life.
Elton John encouraged Taron Egerton to add his own spin
Despite the movie being the story of Elton John, the acclaimed singer didn’t want Egerton to simply mimic him. He wanted him to add his own flair and flourish to the character and bring him to life in a way that unique and different from the real-life version.
This wound up helping quite a bit with the movie’s tone since it was far from a generic biopic and more of a musical fantasy overall.
Eyes are the windows to the soul
Taron Egerton wore more than 50 different eyeglasses during the film. In real life, Elton John’s collection of different glasses is staggering. He is rumored to have several thousand different pairs.
Given how much we know about the movie and Elton’s dedication to revealing his whole self and not sanitizing his history, it makes sense they would have wanted to reflect the importance of the glasses in the movie. The eyes are the window to the soul after all and the dedication to a symbol as important as John’s glasses was necessary for the film.
Some stock footage was used
Most films have to use some degree of stock footage because certain shots may be impossible to get. This occurs in the film when you see the outside of the famous Troubadour club.
It would have cost production too much money to film in front of the club and re-design it to appear like it was from the 1970s. Instead, they used stock footage and edited it to fit into the movie. It’s not something you would probably notice unless you were looking for that specifically.
Wizard of Oz shout-out
During the segment of the movie where Elton John is singing “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” he dons a pair of glittering red boots. It might seem like those boots are just another of the many eccentric clothing items and accessories in Elton John’s closet but they were actually an intentional shout-out to The Wizard of Oz.
In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is known for her ruby red slippers and his boots in this segment are a direct homage to those infamous slippers.
Real music video footage was used
Like the stock footage mentioned above, the movie also made do with some of the real music video footage from Elton John’s vast musical library.
During the part in the movie where you can watch the music video for “I’m Still Standing,” you might notice that it was using real segments from the music video. The only difference was obviously the fact they replaced Elton John with Taron Egerton for the movie.
The movie almost contained a crazy cameo
Dexter Fletcher directed Rocketman. Fletcher also served as an assistant director on Bohemian Rhapsody. It is rumored that was originally going to be a cameo from Rami Malek’s Freddie Mercury in the movie as a clever nod to the other big musical biopic of the last few years.
However, ultimately, Fletcher decided it would be too gimmicky and refrained from adding in the cameo. That said, there is a little shout-out to Queen in the movie that is likely a nod to Fletcher’s work on the other movie.
Some lyrics were changed
There are a couple of songs in the movie that might make you pause if you know them well enough. A few little phrases were tweaked slightly and you might catch it if you listen closely. It’s not entirely clear why they changed some of these phrases. For example, in the Rocketman sequence, the lyric “I miss my wife,” was changed to “I miss my life.”
This one makes more sense as to why it was changed since we know that Elton John is gay. It is likely they wanted to reflect that rather than by keeping the original lyric in which may have been added by John as a way to hide his true self. This version feels more authentic to who he is.
Sing helped Taron Egerton land the role
Did you catch the animated movie from a couple of years ago called Sing? The film followed a group of animals with a love for singing and it featured a lot of big-name musical stars and actors like Reese Witherspoon, Tori Kelly, and more.
Taron Egerton played a Johnny the gorilla and in one scene of the movie he sings the iconic song, “I’m Still Standing.” His version of the song helped him eventually go on to win the role of Elton John. Egerton does indeed do all of his own singing in Rocketman if you were curious.
The movie couldn’t have been anything other than musical fantasy
One thing you might notice when watching Rocketman as compared to other musical biopics is how fantastical it is. It’s not your traditional biopic and is more of a musical fantasy. But when you think about Elton John and his incredible legacy, it makes complete sense why the film would have become a musical fantasy.
It never really could have been any other kind of movie, if it was, it wouldn’t have paid true respect to Elton John’s legacy. The tone of the movie and its degree of fantastical elements are what makes it such a successful interpretation of his life.
