Eddie The Eagle actor Taron Egerton has been cast in the forthcoming Elton John biopic Rocketman.
Egerton, who also starred in both Kingsman movies, will take up the role according to Variety and will team up with director Dexter Fletcher, who worked on the Eddie The Eagle biopic.
The film was announced as far back as 2011 and was scripted by Billy Elliot author Lee Hall. It was billed as a “larger than life movie musical spectacle that tells the story of a child prodigy turned music legend”.
Tom Hardy was also announced as the lead role in the movie in 2013 but he later pulled out after he struggled with the singing in the movie.
At the time he said: “I’m not a singer. I have no idea really. I’m really trying because of Rocketman but it’s hard to open my mouth in that way.”
Admitting the role took him out of his comfort zone, Hardy added: “I’m not really drawn towards singing and musicals and that stuff. I did some rap when I was a kid but I’m somebody’s dad now so it wouldn’t be too cool to crack that out!”
John will serve as an executive producer on the biopic and is planning to “re-record many of his iconic hits to parallel the emotional beats of the film”.
Meanwhile, Fletcher recently replaced director Bryan Singer as the director of the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.
The film, which stars Mr Robot‘s Rami Malek star as Freddie Mercury, will hit cinemas on November 2 – a month and a half before the original release date of December 25.
Malek reportedly complained to the studio about Singer’s ‘unprofessionalism’ – with the pair reportedly involved in a number of altercations.
The film will also feature Ben Hardy as drummer Roger Taylor, Gwilym Lee as guitarist Brian May and Joseph Mazzello as bassist John Deacon.