Sir Elton John is glad the upcoming biopic Rocketman doesn’t shy away from portraying his homosexuality onscreen.
The music icon is happy about the much-publicised sex scene in the film between a young Elton and manager John Reid. Taron Egerton and Richard Madden play both the characters.
“I’m so glad it’s in there because I am a gay man and I didn’t want to airbrush it under the carpet,” John told the Mirror.
“I’m proud Rocketman is the first major studio film with a gay love sex scene in it.
“If I’d left it out, I’d have felt I was cheating people.
“If they don’t like it, I understand, but it’s part of who I am. That night was a very, very important part.”
Elton John continued, “If I am telling my story, it has to be honest.
“I was a virgin until then [age 23]. I was desperate to be loved and desperate to have a tactile relationship.
“When they tear their clothes off in the movie, that was how it happened.
“It was in San Francisco… when he is lying in my arms and I’m sitting back with a smile I’m thinking, ‘Ah, I’m normal, I’ve had sex.’
“When I grew up, my father told me if I masturbated I’d go blind.
“At 13 years of age, I started to have glasses and I went, ‘Oh my God! This is coming true!’”
Rocketman sex scene is ‘pivotal moment’ for Elton John
The film is pitched as “an epic musical fantasy about the incredible human story of the breakthrough years of Elton John.”
It covers the relationship between the singer and his first manager, John Reid, who was also his lover.
Actor Richard Madden said on-screen sex scenes between gay men “shouldn’t be a big deal” in films.
“The more we have these things in films the less of a big deal it’s going to become, and that’s what it should be – it shouldn’t be a big deal,” he told the Irish Examiner.
“But particularly for us in this film, that scene is such a pivotal moment for Elton.
“It’s the first time he makes love with someone, it’s a really important change point in his life.
“It gave us an opportunity to show their intimacy and that delicateness that’s really important to represent the start of that love story.”
Rocketman opens in Australian cinemas on May 30.
