Musical icon Elton John’s life is about to be adapted into a biographical movie titled Rocketman , with Taron Egerton handling the role of the icon himself. As The Inquisitr previously reported, Egerton was John’s first choice to play him in the film, and the actor has even recreated all of John’s songs in the movie about his life. Despite the full blessing of the subject of this biopic, Rocketman, however, isn’t without controversy, as a recent report from The Daily Mail suggested that the production company wanted to remove a gay scene from the movie. Now, the director of the film has taken to social media in order to clarify the issue and reassure fans.
Elton John, an openly gay man, has apparently asked the filmmakers to go as explicit as required to capture his authentic life on screen. Despite this, the rumor that did the rounds, as reported by The Daily Mail , alleged that Paramount Studios, producer of Rocketman , wanted to remove 40 seconds of a scene from the movie showing Egerton and Richard Madden (playing John’s lover at the time) cuddling in the nude. Understandably this caused quite a bit of backlash and outrage from the LGBTQI community, as well as fans of John as well.
This new controversy came on the heels of the success of Bohemian Rhapsody , a movie that Fletcher took over as director after the unceremonious firing of original director Bryan Singer, as outlined by IndieWire. Bohemian Rhapsody portrayed the life and times of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, who was also an openly gay man, something that the film seemed to have delicately maneuvered around, much to the chagrin of many, as outlined in this report by Pride Magazine.
The director of Rocketman has now issued reassurance to fans on his Twitter account, promising them a “no holds barred” biopic.
Seeing much speculation about ROCKETMAN!! That’s good! It’s still unfinished so it’s nothing but rumors. It has and always will be the no holds barred, musical fantasy that Paramount and producers passionately support and believe in. See for yourself May 24. Dx x
— Dexter Fletcher (@Dexfletch) March 22, 2019
The alleged involvement of Paramount is said to have been due to trying to secure a PG-13 version of the film, instead of going with an R rating. However, John himself has been paraphrased by producer Matthew Vaughn, as wanting to go R.
“‘Tell it all. Go as R-rated as you need to.”
It’s unclear whether Fletcher’s comments are just for damage control to placate audiences and redeem the perception of the film before its release, or if he truly intends to tell the genuine life story about John, which includes his relationships and sexual identity.
Rocketman is set to release May 31.
