Elton John Wants Justin Timberlake To Play Him In Biopic

by uInterviewJanuary 3, 2012, 12:00 amNews >

After the success of last summer's Gnomeo and Juliet, music legend Elton John, 64, is getting comfortable in the role of movie producer. His next project will be a biopic of his own life "in the manner of Moulin Rouge," called Rocketman.

The singer recently announced his plans to make the movie, and now he's revealing who he'd like to see play the lead. His first choice is musician / actor Justin Timberlake, 30, John told the Los Angeles Times.

Other than having a background in music to recommend him, Timberlake briefly portrayed John in a video for "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore," Rolling Stone pointed out, though John seemed to think it was a David LaChapelle video of "Rocket Man" that had featured Timberlake-as-himself. Though he got the source wrong, he was impressed by the performance, calling it "superb."

The film will be "a surreal look at my life" in the spirit of a "jukebox musical," John told the newspaper. "I just don't want it to be a normal biopic because my life hasn't been like that. And it only goes up to when I go into rehab in 1990. It starts with me going into rehab and ends when I come out."

John said that he will be making an official announcement about the film soon. "It's just a matter of getting the script exactly the way we want it …. Then we'll start trying to cast and plan."

If you can't wait for Rocketman, you can first catch John in The Union, an upcoming documentary directed by We Bought A Zoo's Cameron Crowe that will debut later this month on HBO. Timberlake will next be filming the Coen brothers' flick, Inside Llewyn Davis, with Carey Mulligan and John Goodman.

Watch Timberlake's portrayal of John in "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore":