Tony Winner Elton John Fires Up 'Hyper-Visual' Biopic Rocketman

A previously reported Moulin Rouge-esque biopic of Tony-winning pop superstar Elton John is moving forward, according to Deadline.com. Rocketman, a “biographical musical fantasy that will weave together John’s life and his music,” will be the second collaboration between John and his Billy Elliot scribe, playwright Lee Hall. Rocket Pictures’ Steve Hamilton Shaw and John’s partner David Furnish will produce.

“Rocketman will be a radically different kind of biopic,” Shaw told Deadline. “It will be as unique as Elton’s life, told in a non-linear and hyper-visual manner that will transport people through the many intense experiences, some wonderful, some not, that helped define Elton as an artist, musician and man.”

John will reportedly serve as executive producer and play an active role in creating the film of his life story, in which he grew from a child piano prodigy to a rebellious young man who wore outrageous costumes and eventually a global icon and record-breaking musician. Throughout the story, according to Deadline, the film will feature choreographed sequences using John’s biggest hit songs.

John and Hall first joined forces to adapt the 1999 Oscar-nominated film version of Billy Elliot, for which Hall had written the screenplay, into a stage musical. The show went on to win 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical.