Although most music biopics tend to offer up conventional retellings of their subjects'
life and times, Rocketman proudly identifies as an "epic musical fantasy," where the more
conventional parts of the story are intertwined with musical numbers and dreamlike, choreographed
sequences.
Of course, this approach comes at a price, and a few vital aspects of Elton John's story
are noticeably missing from the final film.
One of the most glaring omissions in the first third of Rocketman is Long John Baldry, an
integral part of Elton's life who is nonetheless nowhere to be found.
In case you don't know, Baldry was a popular musician of the time who enlisted Elton's
band Bluesology as his backing band before Elton left to shape his own destiny.
Baldry is a significant character in the Elton John story partly because, from 1967 to 1969,
the very much closeted Elton was in a relationship with a woman named Linda Woodrow.
The two were scheduled to get married, but Elton grew increasingly desperate and unhappy
in the relationship, even at one point contemplating taking his own life.
That's when Baldry stepped in, telling Elton to put aside his suicidal thoughts, embrace
his sexuality, and call off the wedding.
Although Elton didn't fully come out of the closet, he still took the advice.
In fact, Baldry's influence loomed so large that he and Bernie Taupin later immortalized
his advice in the 1975 song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight."
Rocketman depicts a slightly diluted version of this story, but gives Baldy's crucial role
to Taupin.
While this is somewhat understandable since the lyricist was present during Baldry's pep
talk, it's still strange that the movie chooses to completely omit a man who so heavily influenced
Elton John's formative years.
At its core, Rocketman is a story about family and the quest for familial love.
Elton John's difficult relationships with his mother and father receive copious screen
time, and the members of his extended family are depicted in their droves - his grandmother
here, his stepfather there, and there's even a scene featuring his young half-brothers
from his estranged father's new marriage.
When John patches things up with Bernie Taupin at the end of the movie, their mended relationship
is underlined when Taupin specifically identifies himself as John's brother.
With such emphasis on family and brotherhood, it's a little odd that the movie doesn't even
bother mentioning that Elton actually does have a half-brother from the family he actually
grew up with.
Elton's mother Sheila Farebrother and his stepfather Fred have a son named Frederick,
who is conspicuously absent from Rocketman.
Seeing as the movie makes it clear that Fred Farebrother is a reasonably stand-up guy and
a supportive stepfather to Elton, you'd think his son with Elton's mother would at least
warrant a mention.
As Bohemian Rhapsody's Paul Prenter will tell you, a music biopic needs an antagonist, whether
or not its hero actually had one.
Rocketman's bad guy is John Reid, the sharp-dressed, handsome businessman who seduces Elton John
and takes over as his manager before Elton gets the chance to find out what a cold, calculating
monster he really is.
But Rocketman eventually allows Reid to shimmer out of focus as it shifts its focus to the
real villain of the story: addiction.
But real life, as always, is another matter.
The actual John Reid was virtually joined at the hip with Elton for three decades, first
as a lover and then as a manager.
This ended in a bitter court battle in 2001, after some of Reid's correspondence leaked
to the press and Elton became convinced that the manager had turned into a mismanager.
Reid eventually paid Elton a $2.54 million settlement, and the latter cut all connections
to his longtime associate - to the point that he ended up pretending that Reid didn't exist
at all.
Rocketman goes to some lengths to portray Elton John as a man who is always alone, even
when he's surrounded by people.
After he becomes Elton John, his lyricist Bernie Taupin is pretty much the only positive
force in his life right up until he decides to get sober.
While this is no doubt true in a sense, it implies that Elton had no real friends to
speak of.
But this is patently untrue - in fact, Elton had some very famous friends indeed.
For example, Elton was very close friends with Queen's Freddie Mercury, who was ironically
portrayed in a similar fashion in 2018's Bohemian Rhapsody.
Even in his final days, Mercury took the time to arrange the delivery of a particularly
thoughtful Christmas present to Elton - a painting by one of his favorite artists.
Another good rock friend of Elton's is Rod Stewart, who has known Elton for five long
decades.
Like all great mates, the pair regularly snipe at each other with humor, elaborate practical
jokes, and cutting insults.
"They wanted me to make Christmas albums, and you know, cover albums, Motown records,
but is so silly.
I’ll leave that to Rod Stewart and people like that.”
Mercury and Stewart also knew each other, and the trio got along so well that they once
briefly considered forming a drag trio called "Nose, Teeth and Hair."
Rocketman isn't particularly big on the concept of Elton John's bisexuality.
In the movie, he tries his hand at passing himself off as bisexual for all of one scene,
and his musician drinking buddies almost immediately dismiss the very idea.
This could be a nod to Elton's "out and proud" attitude and status as a gay icon today, but
in real life, his closeted phase lasted slightly longer.
In fact, he didn't come out until 1976, and even when he did, it was as a bisexual.
He didn't officially come out as a gay man until 1988, when he divorced Renate Blauel.
To be fair, Elton had certain professional reasons to keep that closet door closed, and
the movie uses the villainous John Reid to stealthily convey them.
In one scene, Reid outright tells the enamored Elton that they must keep their relationship
secret, because the backlash from the reveal could end him.
Indeed, when the musician gave his "I'm bi" interview in 1976, his album sales temporarily
dropped.
If nothing else, Rocketman is really very honest about the many, many vices of Elton
John.
In fact, Taron Egerton's Elton pretty much starts the movie by rattling off his assorted
addictions and issues.
Despite this ready admission of his many weaknesses, there's one that even this movie doesn't dare
touch: soccer, or as Elton would call it, football.
Elton has followed his favorite club, Watford FC, since childhood.
As time progressed and his finances allowed, he moved from the mild stuff - that is, simply
watching matches as a fan and booster of the team - to harder substances; in this case,
actually buying the club and sitting as its chairman on two different occasions.
Elton's involvement in Watford FC is considerably more relaxed these days, though he's still
the honorary chairman for life and has a stand at the club's stadium named after him.
It's fairly understandable why this side of Elton didn't make it into Rocketman - after
all, a hearty game of soccer midway through might have disrupted the film's attempt to
portray a drug-fueled, tortured artist.
John Lennon's role in Rocketman is somehow both much larger and much smaller than it
was in Elton John's actual life.
In the movie, Lennon is the inspiration for the "John" part of Elton John when the star
only has the "Elton" part down - and has to quickly improvise a surname.
This anecdote isn't true in the slightest, however.
The "John" actually refers to Long John Baldry, but the film also completely ignores the fact
that Lennon was very much a part of Elton's life.
The two superstars knew each other very well - in fact, they were such good friends that
Lennon's last onstage performance before his death was at an Elton John show in 1974, an
appearance made due to a lost bet.
However, the famously acerbic Lennon was enough to make even Elton John nervous: while the
ex-Beatle was never anything but pleasant toward the Rocket Man, Elton has since admitted
he was rather intimidated by Lennon's reputation as an abrasive guy toward people close to
him.
Long-term soulmates are a rare thing in any avenue of life, let alone in the notoriously
fickle music industry.
Perhaps that's why Rocketman leans so hard on the relationship between Elton John and
Bernie Taupin - one that was as vital to Elton's story in real life as it is in the movie.
"He's never said to my face, ‘I’m not sure about that,’ even though there must
have been times when he thought, ‘I didn’t think it should turn out like that,’ he’s
been brilliant.
We’ve never had an argument."
Rocketman also makes a point of emphasizing the way their business and personal relationship
falls apart at the seams when Elton's assortment of addictions get the better of him.
In the movie, Taupin leaves their partnership a couple of times: once at the height of their
fame, as the partying becomes too much for him, and again near the end of the movie,
when Elton's partying becomes too much for him.
He doesn't return after that second time until Elton seeks help for his addictions, and promptly
restores the artist's confidence with some brotherly words and a stack of fresh lyrics.
While it's true that the real Elton and Taupin had a timeout at one stage of their career,
it was a significantly more mundane affair than the movie would have you believe.
The pair broke up for a period in the late 1970s, but this was chiefly so they could
collaborate with other people for a while, and they were soon back at work together.
As for the second "breakup," Taupin fully admits they had a creative slump in the late
1980s and early 1990s, but this wasn't because they had broken up - it was simply because
they had a lot of stuff going on and weren't communicating enough.
Elton John's piano skills might be world class, but as with most artists, it's his voice that's
the real star of the show.
As such, it's curious that Rocketman completely ignores one of the most dramatic events of
his 1980s: his surgery-induced voice change.
Imagine the shock if Freddie Mercury had suddenly started singing with a completely different
voice.
Well, this strange scenario actually happened to Elton in 1987, when "spasmodic bouts of
pain" forced him to seek medical help.
As a result, something was removed from his vocal chords.
The exact nature of his ailment has been speculated to have been throat cancer, described by his
team as non-malignant lesions, and described by Elton himself as "cancerous… whatever."
Whatever the culprit, the operation altered Elton's voice in a way that greatly pleased
the man himself, but disheartened a portion of his fans.
And while Elton could now sing more fully than ever before, he had lost some of the
falsetto that had helped make him famous.
Rocketman's only nod to the existence of British royalty comes in the form of a quick aside
where a character notes the Queen Mother is an Elton John fan.
While this is certainly no mean feat for an artist, it also deftly sidesteps the fact
that Elton has been hobnobbing with the royals pretty much ever since he had his breakthrough.
Elton has been a member of the royal family's inner circle since 1970, when the Queen Mother
and Princess Margaret first took a liking to his music.
He became friendly with Princess Margaret to the point where they often attended art
events together, and even danced jive with Queen Elizabeth herself on at least one occasion.
"And the Queen came in, and she said ‘can we join you?’
And I was supposed to say, ‘no, f--- off,’ right?"
In 1981, he added Princess Diana to his friendship notebook, and later her sons as well.
For decades, Elton has been a permanent fixture on the royal family's guest list, save for
a slight hitch in 1997, when his involvement with Gianni Versace's lewd photography book
Rock and Royalty sent him into a temporary "deep freeze" with the family.
That same year, though, John performed his updated version of "Candle in the Wind" at
Diana's funeral.
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