Sir Elton John has heaped praise on Taron Egerton for "re-recording all" of his songs for his upcoming biopic ‘Rocketman’.
The ‘Crocodile Rock’ hitmaker is played by the 29-year-old actor in the upcoming musical film, which depicts the 72-year-old music legend’s rise to fame in the 1970s, and the singer has revealed that he was particularly impressed with Taron’s "brilliant" execution of his tracks that he has covered especially for the much-anticipated movie.
Speaking on ‘Elton John’s Rocket Hour’ on Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio, Elton asked: "For those of you who don’t know, in ‘Rocketman’ I don’t sing anything. Taron has recorded, re-recorded, all the songs that are in the movie, and sings them quite brilliantly. Did you find it difficult to sing them?
The ‘Robin Hood’ star admitted it would have been impossible without the ‘Candle in the Wind’ singer’s "encouraging" words and producer Giles Martin – the song of late Beatles producer George Martin – who he "owes a lot to".
Taron replied: "I think I would have found it harder if it wasn’t for the fact that you were so encouraging.
"I think that was a big part of what was an enabler and facilitated me to feel kind of relaxed enough to do them in the way that we have, and, of course, Giles Martin, who produced them, who is just the most incredible man, who I didn’t know before this process. I know you did. I owe a lot of it to him, I think."
And Elton knew that Taron could "sing" instantly because he heard a rendition of his 1983 track ‘I’m Still Standing’, which was covered by the ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ star in the 2016 animated flick ‘Sing’, in which he portrayed mountain gorilla Johnny.
Elton added: "I didn’t get involved in any of it. I just let you go ahead … I knew you could sing because I heard ‘I’m Still Standing,’ which you did in the film ‘Sing’.
"You’ve redone that in this film, so I think you should do an album of ten different versions of ‘I’m Still Standing.’ It’s not Bohemian Rhapsody where the brilliant Rami Malek, who played Freddie, lip synced. You’re actually doing the whole thing. I can’t congratulate you enough."