Looking Back On The Elton John Biopic ‘Rocketman’

Posted On June 26, 2020

Samantha Colleran, June 2020

Last month marked the one year anniversary of the Elton John biopic Rocketman being released, and I still can’t fully wrap my head around just how incredible it is. From the costumes, to the cast, to the soundtrack, Rocketman is one of those movies that will certainly become a classic as time goes on. 

One thing I loved about the style of Rocketman was that it used Elton’s songs to develop his story. This upset some people, especially with the scene where Elton (played by Taron Egerton) plays “Crocodile Rock” at the Troubadour. Did it fit the exact timeline? No, but did it perfectly fit the moment and show us a stellar performance where Elton truly broke in America? Absolutely! The same goes for the song “I Want Love”. This song was written in 2001, but it was executed perfectly as a young Reggie Dwight and family sing about their broken home life. It even brought Elton to tears when he first saw it, as stated in his autobiography Me (you can click here for my review of Me from this Wednesday’s post!).

Since the soundtrack uses the songs to explain the moments rather than following the exact timeline of releases, there’s more range to play around with lesser known songs. I certainly wasn’t expecting to see “Rock and Roll Madonna” or “Amoreena” on the soundtrack, but they’re there and fit their given scenes perfectly. “Thank You For All Your Loving” is an unreleased song (it was only recorded as a demo and never released on an Elton album, you can listen here) that made it to the soundtrack as well, and has grown to be one of my favorites. One of my personal favorite Elton numbers, “Honky Cat”, is sung by Egerton and Richard Madden who portrays Elton’s former manager and ex-lover John Reid. Although Reid is an unlikeable character, Madden and Egerton did the song justice, and the actual scene is one of the highlights of the movie.

Of course Taron’s voice in this movie is exceptional, but credit certainly needs to be given to the actor who played a slightly older Reggie, Kit Connor. His performance of “I Want Love” and the beginning of “Saturday Night’s Alright (for Fighting)” are stellar. “Saturday Night” sees Connor playing in a pub as a fight breaks out, running through the streets and transitioning to a carnival where we’re given an introduction to Taron as a teenage Elton. 

Although the actual “Rocket Man” scene is beautifully done, I think that one scene that shows Elton’s downfall a little bit better was the scene immediately after, the “Bennie and the Jets” interlude. Sure, the entire scene for “Rocket Man” shows Elton’s famous suicide attempts hours before getting on stage in Dodgers Stadium (arguably his most famous performance) donning the custom sparkly Dodgers uniform. “Bennie”, however, shows a true moment of spiral. 

Taron is portraying Elton at the height of his career, everyone wants him and envies him for his success; people are throwing themselves at him and he can have anything and everything he wants. In between clips of him in a Queen Elizabeth dress slurring his words and not knowing what country he’s in as he kicks into an anger driven performance of “Bennie”, we see clips of him in a club surrounded by people clawing at him, kissing him, offering him drugs and alcohol. The angry piano slowly fades out and is replaced with the sound of a disco edit of “Bennie” as Taron is thrown into a crowd partaking in what’s assumed to be NSFW activities. It doesn’t show anything apart from people moving around on the floor, but Egerton is passed along the top of the crowd, as thoughts filter through his mind of a young Reginald being scolded by his father, a disapproving anecdote from his mother, among other highlights leading him to this very moment. The scene ends with Egerton falling out of the crowd, realizing that he’s hitting a low as the phrase “I’m going home for a while” spoken by Jamie Bell, who plays Bernie Taupin, is repeated before the scene cuts out. It’s a raw and oddly emotional scene.

The movie, although receiving a lot of positive feedback, was censored in Russia for having a gay sex scene between Taron and Richard. When it was brought to the attention of Elton and his team, they released a statement saying that Paramount were “brave and bold partners” that allowed them to create an honest representation of Elton’s life and career. “That the local distributor has found it necessary to edit out certain scenes, denying the audience the opportunity to see the film as it was intended is a sad reflection of the divided world we still live in and how it can still be so cruelly unaccepting of the love between two people,” the statement reads. “We believe in building bridges and open dialogue, and will continue to push for the breaking down of barriers until all people are heard equally across the world.”

Despite some hardships, the movie performed extremely well. It was nominated for and won a number of awards, including the Oscar for “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)” (Elton and Bernie) for the duet between Elton and Taron played during the credits called “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again”, and two Golden Globes for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy” (Taron) and “Best Original Song – Motion Picture” (Elton and Bernie). To celebrate the masterpiece that is Rocketman, take a listen to the soundtrack on your preferred streaming service, and let me know your favorite song or scene from the movie (if you’ve seen it) in the comments. Thank you Elton for allowing your story to be shared, and shout out to Mr. Taron Egerton for filling the many, many Elton John costumes so effortlessly!

Note: Rocketman was recently added to Hulu, and is also available to rent/buy with Amazon Prime, so if you haven’t watched it yet and have either of those services, I highly recommend having a movie day and watching it!