Culture

Tom Hardy is favourite to play Elton John in biopic

May 31 2013
Written by Corinne Pinfold

The makers of a film biography of pop star Sir Elton John are said to be pursuing Batman star Tom Hardy for the lead role.

The film, Rocketman, is slated as a “biographical musical fantasy that weaves together the life of Sir Elton John and his music.”

While the director, Michael Gracey, and executive producer, Sir Elton himself, have yet to make a formal offer, Tom Hardy is said to be their current top choice to play the lead.

Drew McWeeny of HitFX said: “It’s an intriguing possibility.

“What I find most compelling about it is that Hardy seems like a guy who embodies a certain form of physical machismo, but who challenges that appearance at every turn,” he added.

Hardy has previously undertaken a strict workout regime for the role of rugged villain Bane in Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. He is also known for his parts in blockbusters such as Inception and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

He has been engaged to actress Charlotte Riley since 2010, and told Now Magazine he had experimented with men when he was younger: “As a boy? Of course I have. I’m an actor for ****’s sake.

“I’m done experimenting but there’s plenty of stuff in a relationship with another man, especially gay men, that I need in my life.”

Sir Elton said in 2012 that his top choice of actor to play him in the biopic would be Justin Timberlake.

The singer, 64, told the LA Times he would co-produce the film with his civil partner, David Furnish, and that it would be a “surreal look at my life, and not just a factual look at my life, more in the manner of a Moulin Rouge”.

In an April Fools article in 2008, PinkNews.co.uk suggested Eminem had been the first choice to star as a young Elton John in a planned biopic.