Yes, Taron Egerton Actually Sang in 'Rocketman'
Back in 2018, much was made of Rami Malek's song-less performance as Eddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. When another movie about a musician's life came out—namely, that of Elton John in Rocketman—viewers wondered if the actor who played Elton would take a similar approach.
But that was not the case: for Rocketman, Taron Egerton re-recorded all of the hits himself. It was what Elton had wanted. "It was so important that the music I composed and recorded had to be sung by Taron," Elton says on his website. "I wanted his interpretation of me, through Bernie [Taupin]’s lyrics and my music—not just acting."
Happily, the musician was pleased with the results. The movie's music director, Giles Martin, even recalled Elton telling him, "I don't think I've heard anyone sing my songs better than Taron."
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Egerton explained why it was important for his voice, not Elton's, to be on the soundtrack. "Rocketman works and thrives when it feels like it’s existing in a realm that isn’t quite our world. It’s not quite our Elton. It’s not quite the music that you exactly know. It’s re-imagined," the actor explained. "It’s not intended to be a carbon copy performance of who Elton is. This was an enormous source of anxiety to me—I believed that it would work, but I wasn’t certain of it."
Given that the film has already received three Golden Globe nominations—and may soon receive recognition from the Academy—it seems that it worked pretty well.
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