Paramount\/Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMichael L. Roberts, who was both vocal and piano coach for Egerton, credits John with giving the green light for creative freedom. \u201cElton was very careful to ensure that Taron had the room to embody the character and the spirit of Elton John without ever attempting an impersonation,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n
Sometimes, though, the resemblance is stronger. \u201cFor certain moments, I mimic him more,\u201d says Egerton. \u201cI think \u2018Your Song\u2019 is sung very much in his style because it felt like a very important moment about the writing of \u2026 a very culturally significant bit of music. So I wanted to do it fairly close to how Elton did it all those years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Previously best known for his role in the \u201cKingsman\u201d film series, the Welsh actor had only done \u201cbits and bobs\u201d of singing over the years. One vocal turn, though, proved to be prescient: Egerton crooned John\u2019s hit \u201cI\u2019m Still Standing\u201d while voicing the teen gorilla character Johnny in the 2016 animated movie \u201cSing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was really a nice little toe in the water moving toward this project,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Martin was confident about Egerton\u2019s vocal chops from \u201cSing.\u201d \u201cFrom the word go, he could sing,\u201d he says. \u201cI was just trying to hone him so he became a rock star as opposed to an actor who just sang.\u201d<\/p>\n
To that end, Martin concentrated on phrasing. \u201cEven though I didn\u2019t want Taron to do an impersonation of Elton John, I wanted him to pay attention to how Elton phrases,\u201d he says. \u201cActing has a similar nuance where it\u2019s all about the delivery of the line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Roberts worked with Egerton on range development, and breath support and control. He also gave Egerton some musical homework to get inside a young Elton\u2019s head. \u201cI was very keen for Taron to confine himself to the things that Elton would have been listening to at that time in order to help the phrasing,\u201d says Roberts. \u201cSo I would ask Elton to give us a list of the things he was listening to at the time. And then I used to give Taron listening lists every week.\u201d<\/p>\n
That meant Egerton getting schooled on everything from The Band and Bob Dylan to classic \u201950s rock and R&B. Egerton did similar research to capture John\u2019s dynamic piano-playing style.<\/p>\n
Egerton in action as Elton.\u00a9Paramount\/Courtesy Everett Col<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cI watched lots of the people who inspired Elton,\u201d he says. \u201cI watched lots of Jerry Lee Lewis and lots of Little Richard \u2014 these guys who made piano playing electric and a spectacle.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Egerton, who didn\u2019t know how to play the piano before \u201cRocketman,\u201d still doesn\u2019t consider himself a real player now. \u201cIt takes years, not months,\u201d he says. \u201cOur primary focus was on trying to get me very basically proficient so that I knew where my hands should be on the keyboard, and I knew the rhythm they should be moving in.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cBut if the audio in the film was my piano playing, I think people would be getting up and leaving the auditorium .\u2009.\u2009. What you\u2019re hearing is largely the work of a fantastic pianist named Dave Hartley, who is an old friend of Elton\u2019s who\u2019s worked with him a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Roberts says that his charge was a pretty good student. \u201cIt was my job to bring Taron close enough that it would look convincing,\u201d he says. \u201cBut he did end up actually being able to play things like the introduction to \u2018Your Song\u2019 and the \u2018Crocodile Rock\u2019 performance at the Troubadour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Egerton says he found \u201cthe rockier stuff,\u201d such as \u201cSaturday Night\u2019s Alright for Fighting,\u201d to be more challenging, but he knew he\u2019d nailed \u201cPinball Wizard\u201d after he got the thumbs-up from John. \u201cHe said to me, \u2018Oh, you\u2019ve got it now!\u2019 So that was a really validating thing to hear from him,\u201d says Egerton, who would send John rough mixes for his feedback. \u201cIt was so important to me that he approved of the choices we were making with the music. And he just loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin \u2014 who, as son of Beatles producer George Martin, has previously mined the Fab Four\u2019s catalog \u2014 enjoyed being \u201cliberal with the interpretation of the songs\u201d for \u201cRocketman,\u201d but he knows that the original bitch is still bad.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see it as I\u2019ve taken Elton\u2019s songs \u2014 I\u2019ve kind of borrowed them,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019ll always be his songs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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As Taron Egerton embarked on the timeless flight of musical fantasy that is\u00a0\u201cRocketman,\u201d\u00a0Elton John encouraged the actor playing him to find his own voice. \u201cHe told me very early on that he didn\u2019t want me to try and sound like him,\u201d says Egerton of John, who served as an executive producer of the film based …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[391],"tags":[3795,3793,3794],"yoast_head":"\n
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