Biopics about music icons seem to be all the rage these days. Following the success that was Bohemian Rhapsody (which is goddamn awful), we’re about to get another biopic in the form of Rocketman, which focuses on Elton John, his career, his struggles with depression and drugs, and his personal life.
Whereas Rhapsody glossed over the gritter parts of Freddie Mercury’s personal life, Rocketman will apparently be unafraid to dig into Elton’s relationships and go where Rhapsody refused to go.
Well that was what everyone was told before the studio stepped in.
Apparently studio executives have called for a nude sex scene to be cut from the film in an attempt to get the rating down to something more audience-friendly.
That look says everything you need to know about this decision.
This “tastefully done” nude sex scene apparently shows Elton (played by Taron Egerton) and his former lover and manager John Reid (played by the former King of the North Richard Madden) “writhing on a bed” while exposing their bare butts.
Now despite the real Elton having no problem with whatever the filmmakers did with Rocketman, apparently even telling the director to “tell it all” and to “go as R-rated” as they need to, it seems like studio may be worried that a gay sex scene would hurt the movie’s box office showing because audiences apparently aren’t ready to see Elton John in his glory.
This whole decision is a bit of a pointless exercise because it the studio execs seem to forget that we all know that Elton is gay and we’ve been totally cool with it for ages. And besides, what’s the point of going all gritty and realistic and you decide to cut all the gritty and realistic parts?
There’s definitely a bit of a double standard going on here in regards to the prudishness of assuming people don’t want to see two men get it on and yet are cool with a man and woman together, but that’s a rabbit hole for another day.
It’s not like Elton’s sexuality is a big secret these days now, is it?
The timing of this seems a bit too convenient as it comes not long after Bohemian Rhapsody‘s success. Despite copping some criticism for taking liberties with Freddie’s story and its piss-poor portrayal of the singer’s sexuality, it appears that studio execs want Rocketman to emulate that kind of success by going for a softer PG-13 rating, hence the cutting of the nude sex scene.
Now saying all that, it is still up in the air whether the decision to cut the scene is final as The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Rocketman is expected to be rated R for sex and drug scenes.
Either way, we won’t have long to wait as Rocketman comes out in May and we’ll finally get to see whether the studio or common sense prevailed.
