Trivia

Taron Egerton does all of his own singing in the film.

Taron Egerton has said his favourite Elton John song is "Your Song." He sang it for his drama school audition.

The exterior footage of early 1970s LA during the Troubadour club era was stock 35 mm footage that was digitally cleaned up. It would have been far too impractical and expensive to redecorate parts of Santa Monica Boulevard in a 1970s style just for the few seconds of film required.

The "I'm Still Standing" music video in the film takes most of its footage from the original music video, only replacing the real Elton John with Taron Egerton.

The BBC's film critic Mark Kermode praised Rocketman for taking risks in its portrayal of Elton John, in stark contrast to Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), which was widely criticised for being a sanitised, family-friendly version of his friend Freddie Mercury.

Tom Hardy was attached to star, and the film went into development for nearly three years. When Hardy's busy schedule conflicted, he dropped out of the lead role.

This is Taron Egerton's third film featuring Elton John as a character or contributor. The first film was Sing (2016) where Egerton sang Elton John's "I'm Still Standing." The second time, Elton John appeared in Egerton's Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017). In this film, Egerton plays his own version of Elton John.

Jamie Bell played the lead role in Billy Elliot (2000). Elton John was a key figure in helping develop the stage musical based on the film.

The film was released during Elton John's three-year retirement tour.

In the scene where Elton is recording "Your Song", the producer sitting in the control room with Bernie Taupin is Giles Martin, the producer of the soundtrack. Martin is the son of legendary producer George Martin, perhaps best known for his work with The Beatles, who produced Elton John's 1997 version of "Candle in the Wind".

Rob Delaney had filmed a cameo scene as Elvis Presley, but the scene was cut from the final film.

The score that young Reggie is studying in bed before beginning to imagine conducting the orchestra is the first movement of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto.

During the "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" sequence, Elton wears bedazzled ruby red boots, an allusion to the ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz (1939).

Manager John Reid is portrayed in this film by Richard Madden. Madden's Game of Thrones (2011) co-star Aidan Gillen portrayed John Reid in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018).

Dick James, played in the film by Stephen Graham, was an interesting man in his own right. Prior to setting up the DJM record label in the late 1960s (which published Elton's early records) he had made his name as a session singer, most famously singing the theme tune to the Richard Greene television series The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955). In the early 1960s he ventured into music publishing and was a co-creator (along with Brian Epstein) of 'Northern Songs Ltd' to deal with publishing rights for songs penned by The Beatles. After the death of Epstein in 1967, James's relationship with the fab four deteriorated, and he sold his share of Northern Songs to Sir Lew Grade's ATV company at a handsome profit, and without consulting John Lennon and Paul McCartney (as they were under the impression there was an agreement that any sale of James's stake in the company would be offered to them first). DJM were Elton's UK record label until 1976 (US sales were licensed by DJM to MCA) until Elton started publishing under his own 'Rocket' label brand that he had started in 1973 to handle other artists. One of the earliest Rocket artists Elton signed up was Kiki Dee. In the 1980s John took legal action against James over rights issues and won his case shortly before James died in 1986 aged 65. After his death the rights to the DJM back catalog (minus Elton's records) were sold to Polygram.

In one scene Elton walks into his mansion and puts his hat on a football, held by a stuffed bear. Around the bear's neck is a yellow and black striped scarf. These are allusions to Watford Football Club, who play in yellow and black - Elton John was their Chairman in the 1970s and 80s.

Despite receiving nominations for Best Actor at the Screen Actors Guild awards and the BAFTAs, and winning at the Golden Globes, Taron Egerton failed to receive an Academy Award nomination.

Jamie Bell also starred in Billy Elliot (2000), written by screenwriter Lee Hall.

Rocket Pictures' first live-action film and second film from Paramount Pictures after Sherlock Gnomes (2018). Coincidentally, that film featured original music from Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

This film marks Dexter Fletcher's second 'jukebox musical' following on from Sunshine on Leith (2013), which showcased the songs of The Proclaimers.

Interestingly the names of Nigel Olsson, Dee Murray and Davey Johnstone, Elton's on and off band for over twenty years, are never mentioned, nor do viewers meet the characters. This is a glaring omission as they were a huge part of the Elton John "sound."

The film title "Rocketman" is one word; the song title is two words ("Rocket Man").

Also considered for the role of John Reid was Paisley-born actor Craig McGinlay.

This is Rocket Pictures' most popular film.

In the film, Elton mentions that his full name is Elton Hercules John. The film makes out that Elton John chose John as a surname while looking at a picture of John Lennon, but in reality he chose John because he was a fan of singer Long John Baldry. The Hercules part of the name came later and he decided upon it whilst watching the TV series Steptoe and Son (1962), where the name of the Steptoe's horse was 'Hercules'.

When Elton calls his mother to tell her he's gay, she and Fred are watching Liberace on television. Liberace was a flamboyant piano player whose homosexuality was widely suspected but never publicly acknowledged during his lifetime.

The album Elton John's father presents for him to autograph is the British release of his first album, "Empty Sky." The record was released in Britain in 1969 but didn't come out in the U.S. until 1975, with a different cover design. The one in the film is the British version.