David Lachappelle
David LachappelleThe long-in-the-works movie Rocketman, described as a “musical fantasy” that tells the story of Elton John‘s rise to superstardom, now has a release date.
According to Deadline, the movie, directed by Dexter Fletcher — who also co-directed the forthcoming Queen and Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody — will arrive in theaters May 17, 2019.
The movie stars Taron Egerton of the Kingsman films as a young Elton; Kingsman director Matthew Vaughn will produce. Elton appeared as himself in the 2017 Kingsman sequel Kingsman:The Golden Circle.
Rocketman was written by Lee Hall, who collaborated with Elton on the hit musical Billy Elliot.
Egerton has said he plans to do all his own singing in the movie and to sing live on set, rather than lip-sync to a pre-recorded track. He previously showed off his vocal chops when he voiced a singing gorilla named Johnny in the 2016 animated film Sing. In fact, he sang Elton’s hit “I’m Still Standing” in the movie.
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