Rocketman is a colourful exploration of Elton John’s path to stardom – and naturally, sex and drugs play a big part.
But in the hands of the wrong studio, Elton may have been portrayed as more of a saint.
The Tiny Dancer singer admits that he had to fight for the more adult themes of his life to be portrayed in the biopic, claiming that some studios wanted to leave out sex and drugs in favour of a more lenient rating.
Writing for The Guardian, Elton, 72, said: ‘Some studios wanted to tone down the sex and drugs so the film would get a PG-13 rating. But I just haven’t led a PG-13 rated life.
‘I didn’t want a film packed with drugs and sex, but equally, everyone knows I had quite a lot of both during the 70s and 80s, so there didn’t seem to be much point in making a movie that implied that after every gig, I’d quietly gone back to my hotel room with only a glass of warm milk and the Gideon’s Bible for company.’
In the end, Elton won out, and drugs and sex are included in the 15-rated film – including a gay sex scene portraying the legendary musician losing his virginity.
He added that he didn’t find it difficult to watch the scenes in Rocketman in which he discovered cocaine, writing: ‘They’re truthful and, unlike my childhood, it was my own fault. No one forced me to do drugs and drink. In fact, more than a few people tried to warn me I was out of control.
‘It took a fairly Herculean effort to get yourself noticed for taking too much cocaine in the music industry of 1970s LA, but I was clearly prepared to put the hours in.’
Elton is played by Taron Egerton in Rocketman, directed by Dexter Fletcher, with Elton’s darkest moments weaved in with more fantastical elements.
Perhaps the darkest moment shown is Elton’s suicide attempt in 1975, with his on-screen persona shown trying to take his own life at a house party attended by his family members.
The harrowing incident was recounted in Elizabeth Rosenthal’s 2004 biography His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John.
Elizabeth wrote that Elton announced he had taken pills, and: ‘He threw himself into the water, then struggled to come to the surface. [Guitarist] Caleb Quaye later remembered the arrival of an emergency medical team to pump the pianist’s stomach.’
Opening up on his downward spiral, Elton told The Telegraph in 2010: ‘It was stress.
‘I’d been working nonstop for five years. But it was typical me. There was no way I was going to kill myself doing that. And, of course, my grandmother came out with the perfect line: “I suppose we’ve all got to go home now”.’
Rocketman is in UK cinemas now.
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