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With director Dexter Fletcher’s Rocketman opening in theaters this weekend, I recently sat down with Richard Madden to talk about making the fantasy musical based on the life of Elton John. As most of you know from the trailers, Rocketman isn’t your convention biopic. Yes, you’ll see how John (Taron Egerton) and his writing partner Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell) came up with some of their iconic songs, and the film does include a few of the tropes you see in all movies based on someone’s life. But Rocketman also stages these elaborate musical sequences set to John’s most beloved songs that exist in their own reality. For more on the film, you can read Greg Ellwood’s review from Cannes. Rocketman also stars Richard Madden as Elton’s first manager, John Reid, and Bryce Dallas Howard as Elton’s mother Sheila Farebrother.
During my interview with Richard Madden he talked about how he got ready to play the role, how he formed such great chemistry with Taron Egerton, a day he’ll always remember from filming, deleted scenes, and more. In addition, for fans of the great series Bodyguard (which is now streaming on Netflix), Madden talked about when he’s like to return and play the character of Richard Budd again.
Check out what he had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about.
Richard Madden:
- The status of Bodyguard season 2.
- How he formed the great chemistry with Taron Egerton?
- What was some of the key research he did to get ready for the role?
- What’s a day he’ll always remember from filming?
- Is he paying attention to all the buzz right now?
- Deleted scenes talk.
Here is the official synopsis for Rocketman:
ROCKETMAN is an epic musical fantasy about the incredible human story of Elton John’s breakthrough years. The film follows the fantastical journey of transformation from shy piano prodigy Reginald Dwight into international superstar Elton John. This inspirational story – set to Elton John’s most beloved songs and performed by star Taron Egerton – tells the universally relatable story of how a small-town boy became one of the most iconic figures in pop culture.
