Did 'Sing' Really Get Taron Egerton The Elton John Role In 'Rocketman'?

Did the infamous scene in which Egerton's animated character performs "I'm Still Standing" in 2016's Sing get him the role as Elton John in Rocketman, or was it his long-term relationship with producer Matthew Vaughn?

Taron Egerton in 'Rocketman' (CREDIT: Paramount)

                     by Jack Linsdell

Illumination's highly anticipated sequel Sing 2 is currently navigating COVID restrictions to get all it's animation work finished on time as all it's artists are remote working. Due to the pandemic, the Garth Jennings-directed flick has now been pushed back to a December 2021 release date, hopefully giving it plenty of time to be finished without compromise. Anyway, the 2016 Matthew McConaughey/Reese Witherspoon/Seth McFarlane original rode a wave of positive reviews and red hot buzz to nab an astonishing $634 million worldwide on a $75 million budget, becoming one of the biggest animated flicks of all time. But, one of the biggest and most talked about moments in the movie came when teenage Gorilla Johnny (voiced by Taron Egerton) sang a rendition of Elton John's "I'm Still Standing", in what was a kinda of "shy character has a breakthrough moment of confidence" pinacle moment. 

Since it's release, the clip of that very scene/musical number has been a hot topic online and on social media, amassing 175 million views on YouTube alone. That's quite remarkable and demonstrates just how "popular" Sing was, and still is. Anyway, the irony of all this lies in Egerton's eventual casting as Elton John in Dexter Fletcher's 2019 biopic Rocketman which led to numerous "they hired him because he sung an Elton John song in Sing!" online chatter. The role, which earned Egerton his first Golden Globe Nomination, saw the British actor singing many of John's most loved hits for the movie's soundtrack, including a rendition of "I'm Still Standing" during the film's climax. This only added to the online frenzy as you can imagine. Look, to the point that none of this particularly "matters", the theoretical question lies in whether Sing became a glorified, feature-length audition for Egerton's invovlement in Rocketman, or if it was just confirmation to Fletcher, John and Paramount that he was the right actor to portray the beloved British icon. And, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's most definitely the latter. 

Look, as much as the internet wants it to be true, because (I'll admit) it would be a pretty cool story, Egerton's performance of an Elton John song in an animated film was not the driving factor that led him to portray John in his own biopic years later. It's at best an ironic and "who'd have thought" piece of movie trivia, more of a funny coincidence than anything else. Sure, once he had been shortlisted and/or casted, the musical number in Sing may have been used as evidence to persuade executives he could actually "sing", with the caveat that the specific song being one of John's being icing on the cake. But, there are more prominent reasons why Egerton ended up starring in Rocketman.

Back in 2014, writer/director/producer Matthew Vaughn plucked Egerton from relative obscurity when he cast him as the main hero Eggsy in his action spoof comedy Kingsman: The Secret Service. So impressed with Egerton's performance and the way the audience reacted to him, Vaughn was excited to work with him again. In 2016, Vaughn and his Marv Productions company, produced an underdog sports comedy based on the true story of British ski jumper Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards. Vaughn hired actor Dexter Fletcher to direct what would become Eddie The Eagle and cast Egerton in the lead role as Edwards. Impressing even more critics with his vast acting range and talent that was not evidenced in Kingsman, Egerton soon started establishing himself as a British rising star.  Anyway, he would work with Vaughn again on the sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle in 2017 (which also happened to star Elton John as himself in a glorified cameo), marking their third collaboration. Anyway, with Vaughn producing Rocketman and Dexter Fletcher directing it, Egerton's casting as Elton John makes a lot of sense. They do say that the movie industry is more about "who you know than what you know" and that is most certainly true here. Egerton was not only a popular actor with excellent physicality (as demonstrated in the two Kingsman flicks) but also more than capable at successfully portraying a real life person with enough poignancy and detail in his performance ability to carry a biopic on his own (Eddie The Eagle). So, here you have an actor whose on excellent terms with both the producer and director of Rocketman, both of whom he's worked with before, but also someone that's well-known enough to "carry" a movie but grounded and talented enough to pull off a performance of a true life person too. Egerton's casting was more about his filmography at the time and relationship with Vaughn and Fletcher than anything else. Sure, hearing him sing an Elton John song in that 2016 animated monster hit can't have harmed but it certainly wasn't the "reason" for his Rocketman casting.

So, we have finally cleared up the debate once and for all. When a producer and/or a director likes an actor and gets on well with them, they tend to work with them time and time again. Vaughn and Fletcher had both worked with Egerton numerous times, which meant he was an obvious and most likely top contender for the role of Elton John in Rocketman. But, to say that his performance (as an animated character, natch) in Sing of John's "I'm Still Standing" had anymore impact than merely confirming of his casting to all involved with Paramount's much adored biopic would be silly. Lily James wasn't hired for Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again because she sang one song in Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella in 2015. Rather, it was her own personal love for ABBA, her rising popularity as one of the best British actresses around and dealings with people like Richard Curtis that sealed her the role. The same applies to Egerton. Sing may have confirmed Egerton could sing, and sing an Elton John tune for that matter, but beyond that, it had nothing to do with his casting in Rocketman. Sorry folks, for that you can only thank Matthew Vaughn.