Variety reports that Jamie Bell (TURN: Washington’s Spies, The Adventures of Tintin) is currently in talks to star as songwriter Bernie Taupin for Paramount Pictures in the upcoming Elton John biopic Rocketman.
RELATED: Paramount Sets Release Date for Elton John Biopic, Rocketman
Jamie Bell joins a cast that so far only includes the Kingsman: The Golden Circle star Taron Egerton in the lead role of the legendary pop singer. Taupin worked on 30 albums over 50 years with John and helped craft some of the singer’s biggest hits, including “Crocodile Rock,” “Honky Cat,” “Tiny Dancer,” “Candle in the Wind,” “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” “Bennie and the Jets,” and the titular “Rocketman.”
Dexter Fletcher, who replaced Bryan Singer to wrap up Bohemian Rhapsody, will reunite with Egerton to direct Rocketman after previously directing the 28-year-old Welsh actor in the 2016 sports biopic Eddie the Eagle. The screenplay is written by Lee Hall, who penned the 2005 adaptation of the classic novel Pride & Prejudice and whose debut, Billy Elliot, was also Bell’s debut.
Production for Rocketman is slated to begin sometime this summer and is currently set for a May 17, 2019 release date.
(Photo credit: Getty Images)
