Rocketman (2019) on Netflix
Shy Reginald Dwight grows up in 1950s Britain, studies piano and enters the Royal Academy of Music. Renamed Elton John, he teams with lyricist Bernie Taupin to write songs.
- Netflix4.1/5
- IMDb7.3/10212,117 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes89%
Trailer
Plot summary
Reginald Dwight is a shy boy in 1950s Britain. His mother, Sheila, is distant; his grandmother Ivy gives him warmth, and his father, Stanley, pays him little attention. Piano lessons lead him to the Royal Academy of Music. After Sheila's affair, Stanley leaves, and her boyfriend Fred moves in. Reginald performs in pubs and joins Bluesology, backing the Isley Brothers and Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles. Ronald Isley advises him to write songs. He changes his name to Elton John. Through Ray Williams he meets lyricist Bernie Taupin; they become friends, share a flat, and compose together. When Elton admits he is gay, he ends a relationship with their landlady, and they are evicted. They stay with his grandmother, mother and Fred and write "Your Song". Dick James arranges a debut at the Troubadour in Los Angeles.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Rocketman (2019)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Russia cut about five minutes from Rocketman, with distributor Central Partnership removing all scenes involving homosexuality and drugs, a move criticized by both Elton John and Paramount.
- The producers filmed a sequence of Taron Egerton as Elton John performing two of John's songs and showed it to Paramount CEO Jim Gianopulos; Paramount and New Republic Pictures then agreed to finance the film in exchange for worldwide distribution rights.
- The film has John take his surname from John Lennon, but in real life he adopted it from his mentor Long John Baldry, who hired Bluesology as his backup band in 1966; John admired Baldry as one of the few openly gay and highly esteemed figures in the music scene.
- Corriere della Sera reported in December 2019 that Rocketman was partly financed by Centurion Global Fund, a Malta-based firm backed by the Holy See, after a Vatican inquiry into Peter's Pence allocations uncovered a €1 million donation from Centurion to the production.
- Entertainment Weekly digital director Shana Krochmal accused Delta Air Lines of removing almost every reference to Elton John's sexuality, including scenes of kissing and gay sex, from the version of the film shown on the airline.
- In January 2012, Elton John announced that he had named Justin Timberlake his top choice to play him in the film.
