ROCKETMAN - Elton John Biopic.

ROCKETMAN is an epic musical fantasy about the uncensored human story of Sir Elton John's breakthrough years, starring Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden and Bryce Dallas Howard.

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So now biopics of rock stars are becoming a trend? But hey, I'll take them over superhero films.

Not sure what to make of this, especially since they went with a relatively unknown actor to play him, but I do like Elton John and think he's a genius songwriter and musician, and a living legend.


Will check this out for sure when it comes out.


When will they make a legitimate biopic of John Lennon? I've been waiting on that for years.

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Didn’t you hear? This is a historical revisionists biopic in which Elton becomes the hero Rocketman.

Trailer just leaked:

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That's so funny

Anyway, we'll see if this really becomes a filmmaking trend beyond just this and Bohemian Rhapsody (neither of which have even come out and earned any judgment, positive or otherwise, that determines whether or not it even deserves to be a trend).

Actually Taron Egerton is best known as the hero Eggsy Unwin in The Kingsman films and the titular Eddie the Eagle, so he's now a well-known face. He's also playing Robin Hood opposite Jamie Foxx in the upcoming November film. Interestingly enough, Rocketman is being directed by Dexter Fletcher, who took over finishing Bohemian Rhapsody when Bryan Singer was fired and directed Eddie the Eagle. Fletcher did tell Fox to let Singer get sole credit for BR.

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In fairness, I would agree that Egerton is "relatively" unknown simply because you still have to refer to him as "the Kingsman guy".

I'm liking that teaser trailer. The movie's got Oscar written all over it.

Taron Edgerton might be an unknown to many, especially those who didn't care for The Kingsman, but this movie will define his career I think (I doubt the new Robin Hood will be be that much of a big deal). And it looks as though he will be nominated for a few dozen acting awards come awards season.

I hope both movies do well. That way a Lennon biopic will actually become a reality. Maybe an Elvis and a Michael Jackson biopic, too. Nirvana and Kurt Cobain. Aerosmith. The sky's the limit.

Depends who's got the movie rights, I guess. I was having this conversation with someone when news of this movie first came out and he said something about how a Nirvana biopic was unlikely because of Dave Grohl holding the rights or something like that, so that's a factor to consider when trying to determine which rock acts will get actual biopics. Even then, there's also the question of which subjects would make for good stories in their own right beyond the usual rise-fall-rise narrative - is there anything that interesting about the history of Aerosmith?

I thought it was Courtney Love who held the rights to the band. I can see Dave wanting to make a movie about the rise of Nirvana and the demise of grunge with the death of Kurt.

Aerosmith were a hot up-and-coming rock band in the 70's. Burned themselves out on heroin and cocaine. Dropped out of the limelight for years. Cleaned themselves up. Re-emerged in the mid-80's and took off again to become one of the biggest bands in history. Yeah, I see a story there.

The story of Lennon has so much layers and depth to it. The loss of his mom and a turbulent childhood. The founding of The Beatles. His first troubled marriage to Cynthia. His bad relationship with his son Julian. His love for Yoko. His political activism. His drug problems in England. His immigration to the US. His trouble with the Nixon administration. His possible deportation. The birth of his son. His stepping-away from music and the world of fame. His return with a new album. His senseless death.

Why Hollywood hasn't jumped on making a legitimate film about him is beyond me? And I'm not talking about Nowhere Boy which didn't encompass any or most of the subject matter I mentioned before. Maybe Yoko is giving them a hard time?

Which fits the "rise-fall-rise" narrative I already described. Then again, maybe that means Aerosmith is better suited to the biopic treatment because their history fits that generic three-act structure so easily.

There was a made-for-TV movie made about Lennon's life in the late-'60s starring Christopher Eccleston as Lennon, which does sound like it fits your suggestion (though that IMDb rating implies it's not particularly good).

I'm retracting what I said here. The movie will not be out until May 2019. So no Oscars or any other nominations this awards season.

I was only joking about him becoming a superhero but did anyone else think that this and the Freddie Mercury one seem like the start of some sort of rock star biographical cinematic universe?

And would Bowie be Thor or Loki?

I'd hope that a Bowie biopic would get weirder than these other two, I'm thinking like an I'm Not There kind of thing that involves several versions of him (or failing that I'll settle for something that covers his Thin White Duke period).

Oh man, I can't wait to see this...I think Taron Egerton is a perfect choice for the role. He proved he could sing in the animated movie Sing so no worries there. Really looking forward to this.

I just saw it and thought it was fairly good, but I feel like every time a biopic about a musician comes out, it's always the same thing. One they make it big, they get stressed out about it, and then turn to drugs, and go crazy. They then realize they need to turn things around and be a better person, or they die, in the case of The Doors (1991). But it seems that they are lives are just so similar that they couldn't do much different with Rocketman, although they still did it fairly well, with what they had.