Taron Egerton and Elton John just made history at the Golden Globes
(L) Taron Egerton (Kevin Winter/Getty) (R) Bernie Taupin and Elton John (George Pimentel/WireImage)
Taron Egerton and Elton John have both won awards at the Golden Globes for critically acclaimed biopic Rocketman.
Egerton won the award for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical for playing the openly gay rock star, while Sir Elton won an award for Best Original Song for ‘I’m Gonna Love Me Again’.
Rocketman was nominated for three awards at last night’s ceremony and went home with two, losing out to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood for the Best Musical or Comedy gong.
In his acceptance speech, Egerton said playing Elton John in the biopic was “the best experience” of his life.
Taron Egerton said playing Elton John was life-changing in an emotional Golden Globes speech.
“This role has changed my life,” he continued. “I am so proud of the film. Everyone standing up for Elton earlier, it’s just such a joyous thing and we’ve loved every second.”
He went on to thank Elton’s husband David Furnish “for allowing me to believe I was the man to play your husband”.
He finished by thanking Elton himself, saying: “Thank you for the music, thank you for living a life less ordinary, and thank you for being my friend.”
Meanwhile, Elton won the award for Best Original Song alongside his longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin. While the pair have been writing together since the beginning of Elton’s career, last night was the first time they accepted an award together.
Thank you for the music, thank you for living a life less ordinary, and thank you for being my friend.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever won an award with him, ever,” Elton said. “We never won a Grammy. We never did anything together [awards-wise] except for this.”
Meanwhile, Taupin called their songwriting partnership “a 52-year-old marriage”.
“This is not just about a song we wrote for a movie,” Taupin said. “It’s about a song we wrote for a movie that deals with our relationship.’
Rocketman was released to critical acclaim, but attracted criticism for casting straight actors as gay men.
Rocketman – which follows the early life and career of Elton John as he battled addiction – was released in 2019 to critical acclaim. The film was notable for its unabashed depiction of Elton’s sexuality, something other rock music biopics such as Bohemian Rhapsody have avoided.
The film attracted some criticism from LGBT+ activists for casting Egerton and Richard Madden – both straight actors – as gay men, with some arguing that gay actors should have taken on the roles.
Egerton was asked about the criticism in an interview with British GQ last year.
“There’s a certain amount of trepidation around playing a gay character when you’re a heterosexual,” he revealed.
“Because you don’t want that community to feel you’re doing some sort of caricature or something.
“I didn’t want to camp it up, because Elton is not a camp man. I knew quite acutely that wasn’t what I wanted to do.”
