Elton John says studios wanted the sex, drugs toned down in Rocketman

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

This weekend sees the release of the Elton John fantasy musical biopic, ROCKETMAN, which embraces an R-rating as it showcases both the high highs and low lows of the rock star’s life. It should come as no surprise that the studios weren’t initially keen on releasing such an adult biopic, but John and everyone involved in bringing the movie to the big screen stood firm in wanting to tell a pull-no-punches story that featured all the sex, drugs and rock n’ roll that made up John’s real life.

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In a piece John wrote about his career for The Guardian, the musician talked about how some of the studios they pitched it to wanted them to tone some things down for the sake of a PG-13 rating. John felt that would be a disservice to his story, as it’s as far from PG-13 as you can get.

“Some studios wanted to tone down the sex and drugs so the film would get a PG-13 rating. But I just haven’t led a PG-13 rated life. I didn’t want a film packed with drugs and sex, but equally, everyone knows I had quite a lot of both during the ’70s and ’80s, so there didn’t seem to be much point in making a movie that implied that after every gig, I’d quietly gone back to my hotel room with only a glass of warm milk and the Gideon’s Bible for company.”

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This kind of editing is not uncommon for studios looking to push a more marketable PG-13 rating, but everyone involved was firm in trying to preserve the adult elements of the story. Star Richard Madden – who plays John’s manager and former lover John Reid – talked to EW about how they wanted to cut a nude scene between him and Taron Egerton, who plays the music icon. He said it would be “a disservice” to the musician’s life. “It’s an intimate thing between these two characters and a significant moment in Elton’s life. And Elton’s life was very R-rated, wasn’t it?”

John talked about how it wasn’t until the last few years where he thought about making a biopic about his life, and it came when in his 60s his family started getting much bigger, and he began caring how they got to learn about his life.

"I’ve never been very interested in looking back at my career. It happened, I’m incredibly grateful, but I’m more interested in what I’m doing next rather than what I did 40 years ago. But that began to change a little the older I got, and I really started to approach things in a different way when I had children. I was 63 when our first son, Zachary, was born, 65 when Elijah came along – and I did start thinking about them in 40 years’ time, being able to see or read my version of my life. I became less conscious about keeping it all to myself. I liked the idea of them having a film and an autobiography, where I was honest."

Thankfully everyone persevered in keeping the movie R-rated so that we could have an honest, unflinching portrayal of John's life. While it would likely still have all the fantastical elements and the music to carry it there would be something sorely missing if such an important part of his life and who he was during that time was left on the cutting room floor. This is one issue folks had with the recent hit BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY and its PG-13 rating, but hopefully, ROCKETMAN can prove that even with the adult rating audiences will flock to the screen to see a music legend's life on the big screen. 

ROCKETMAN is in theaters May 31.