Taron Egerton hopes ‘explicit’ Rocketman gay sex scenes don’t get cut
Taron Egerton has said Rocketman includes “pretty explicit” sex scenes. (Paramount Pictures/youtube)
Rocketman star Taron Egerton has said that “pretty explicit” sex scenes in the upcoming Elton John biopic should not be cut for foreign audiences.
The actor, who plays Sir Elton in the film, told GQ: “That’s why I made the film.
“Those scenes are desperately important when you have an icon of that magnitude, who means so much to one community.”
See Taron Egerton in Rocketman here:
Egerton continued: “It’s a studio movie. It’s Elton John. We’ve got to own that. I don’t care how well the film does in Russia. It doesn’t matter. It can’t matter.
“What’s an extra $25 million at the box office? What are you willing to do for that? Sacrifice sleeping at night because you watered the whole thing down?”
In February, it was revealed that Oscar-winning Queen film Bohemian Rhapsody would be shown in China without moments that make Freddie Mercury’s bisexuality explicit, including intimate kisses between Rami Malek’s Mercury and other men.
Taron Egerton has spoken out against censoring of Rocketman. (Paramount Pictures)
The Kingsman star added that Sir Elton had been “such a standard bearer. And for me, especially as a heterosexual actor, not to push the envelope as far as I can or try to make it a wholehearted celebration of being a gay man would be wrong.”
David Furnish agrees with Taron Egerton about not censoring Rocketman
Sir Elton’s husband David Furnish, who is one of the film’s producers, told GQ that he would fight against gay content being cut from Rocketman if it is shown abroad.
“International cinema is complicated and sadly the world isn’t a homogenous place,” he said, before insisting that his film would not end up like the Freddie Mercury biopic.
“I would strongly resist any sanitisation.”
— Rocketman producer David Furnish
“I heard Bohemian Rhapsody is going to China with any reference to Freddie being gay taken out of it,” said Furnish.
“Well, you can’t do that with our film, I’ll tell you that. It’s integral to Elton’s journey as an individual and as an artist. I would strongly resist any sanitisation.
“The world continues to need to evolve and grow in the right direction. As it goes into that international distribution and marketing machine, you just have to do your best to preserve the integrity.”
Rocketman star Taron Egerton says he doesn’t subscribe to traditional views on gender
Egerton said he always felt like “something of an imposter” playing main character Eggsy Unwin in the Kingsman series.
He described the role as playing “the ‘guy’, the ‘bro’, the ‘stunt guy,’” before explaining that “I’ve never been that guy. I’m just not.”
“I’m the guy who was playing Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors when he was 17,” he said.
He added that he “always felt more at home in a gay club than at a football match.”
“I’m not someone who really subscribes to this binary view of male and female archetypes or ways of behaving.”
— Rocketman star Taron Egerton
The star sparked confusion last year when he posted a picture of himself with a male friend on Instagram, alongside a caption reading: “Cutie. My boy ❤️.”
He eventually set the record straight, but said that he did not follow traditional perspectives on gender.
“I’m not someone who really subscribes to this binary view of male and female archetypes or ways of behaving,” he said.
“And it’s only going to happen more and more. The lines are blurring. People are identifying and expressing themselves more fluidly.
“Our concept of what a straight man or gay man looks like or is expected to behave in 20 years will be nothing like it is now.”
