Music Biopic Week: Rocketman (2019) — The Dream That Became Elton John

Rocketman

Directed by Dexter Fletcher

Written by: Lee Hall

Starring: Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Richard Madden

Release Date: May 31, 2019

Rocketman is more than an Elton John biopic — it’s a dazzling, dreamlike musical about fame, addiction, and self-acceptance. Taron Egerton delivers a fearless, heartfelt performance in Dexter Fletcher’s visionary reimagining of a rock legend’s life.

A Biopic That Dares to Dream

Rocketman isn’t a typical music biopic. It’s not a linear walk through Elton John’s career milestones or a sanitized story of redemption. Instead, it’s a fever dream — a kaleidoscope of memory, regret, and melody.

From the first frame, Dexter Fletcher makes it clear this isn’t about cold facts. The film unfolds like Elton John recalling his life through the fog of stardom and substance abuse. The result is a surreal, confessional musical that blurs the line between performance and therapy.

Elton himself executive-produced the film, and it feels like we’re watching him narrate his own subconscious: moments of euphoria, loneliness, and creative combustion stitched together by the songs that defined him.

Taron Egerton Becomes Elton’s Reflection

Taron Egerton doesn’t mimic Elton John — he reimagines him. He doesn’t look or sound precisely like the real man, but that’s the point. This is Elton’s dream of Elton. A fantasy version who’s at once more handsome, more tortured, and somehow more fragile.

Egerton captures both Elton’s swagger and insecurity with extraordinary empathy. His performance brims with charisma and self-awareness, the kind that makes you believe he’s not just playing a role — he’s embodying a feeling. And crucially, he does his own singing, giving every musical number a raw, lived-in energy that no lip-sync could match.

After Rocketman, I was fully on board with the idea of Egerton as a bona fide movie star, history has yet to see him make that leap. In Rocketman however, he’s a superstar who sells emotion, humor, and heartbreak in equal measure.

The Complicated Friendship at the Heart of It All

Jamie Bell plays Bernie Taupin, Elton’s lifelong lyricist and creative soulmate. Their relationship forms the film’s emotional spine — two misfits who found in each other a way to express their pain and joy through art.

Many casual fans once assumed they were lovers; Rocketman clarifies that their bond was something deeper — a spiritual partnership that transcended romance. Bell’s quiet warmth and sensitivity ground the movie’s more extravagant sequences, and his musical chemistry with Egerton is as powerful as the real thing.

Villains, Lovers, and Parents Through Elton’s Eyes

Richard Madden plays John Reid, Elton’s lover and manipulative manager. Critics who call Madden’s performance too broad miss the point: Rocketmanis told through Elton’s distorted memory. Of course Reid comes across as a larger-than-life villain — that’s how Elton remembers him.

The same applies to Bryce Dallas Howard and Steven Mackintosh as Elton’s emotionally distant parents. They aren’t portraits of real people; they’re symbols — Freudian approximations of rejection and longing. In this dream logic, Fletcher turns biographical trauma into cinematic myth.

A Jukebox of Emotion

Rather than treat Elton’s songs as set dressing, Rocketman uses them as emotional architecture. “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “I’m Still Standing,” and “Your Song” aren’t just performances; they’re expressions of who Elton is at each stage of his life.

Lee Hall’s screenplay and Fletcher’s direction let the music dictate the rhythm of Elton’s psyche. Every number feels like a confession disguised as a showstopper. This isn’t Bohemian Rhapsody’s cleaned-up timeline — this is the unfiltered interior life of a man who turned pain into poetry.

Final Thoughts

Rocketman is a biopic that sings from the soul. It’s bold, imaginative, heartbreaking, and triumphant — much like Elton John himself.

When I first saw it, I didn’t expect to be swept away. I’m a fan of Elton’s music, but not a superfan. And yet, by the time the credits rolled, I felt like I had lived inside his heart for two hours.

Rocketman is one of the finest musical biographies ever made.