Upcoming biopic Rocketman will make Elton John look “quite ugly at times,” the film’s star Taron Egerton revealed today.

Egerton—who portrays Elton John in Rocketman—said the film begins with the pop-star going into rehab “in a real bad way” to get help for addiction.

He said that it will depict the pop star as “broken and damaged” and praised Elton John for allowing them to show him at his “most vulnerable.”

“I think it’s right at the heart of what makes Rocketman quite special,” Egerton said.

He continued: “It’s also a story about someone who was not well becoming well.”

Rocketman star Taron Egerton says there is no ‘perfect iteration’ of Elton John’s story

Egerton said that there is no such thing as a “perfect iteration” of a story, and said: “What exists is an interpretation. We’re the three guys sat in front of you, so what you see is by and large our shared interpretation.”

He also revealed that he spent time with Elton John before making the film.

“I spent time with the man. They say don’t meet your heroes, and it’s just not true with Elton John.”

“Elton essentially gave me the licence to go and make him look quite ugly at times, and that was always very important to me.”

– Rocketman star Taron Egerton

Meanwhile, Rocketman director Dexter Fletcher said that he would best describe the film as a “musical fantasy.”

“It seems a bit sort of vague in a way, but the footage helps to show that,” Fletcher said.

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He continued: “Elton is our storyteller in the film and it’s his memory of those times, and sometimes that memory plays tricks on us, or we remember things in a particularly colourful or different way. That’s the idea that we’re playing with.”

Taron Egerton filmed a sex scene with Richard Madden for Rocketman

Last November, Egerton revealed in an interview with MTV that he and Bodyguard actor Richard Madden filmed a sex scene together for Rocketman.

Madden plays John Reid, Elton John’s longtime manager, in the film. They also dated for five years.

“I really threw myself into it, I filmed my first sex scene for this film and it’s with quite a well known man,” Egerton said, without explicitly mentioning Madden.

He continued: “I do feel the movie we shot is absolutely a celebration of everything that Elton John is and part of that is his sexuality.

“I actually think the gay community will be quite surprised by quite how gay it feels. I’ve loved every second of it.

“I’m not someone who is remotely perturbed by male intimacy and I am quite proud of what we’ve done with it. We really went some places with it.”

Egerton clarified last year in an interview with Radio Times that he is not gay. Speculation spread after he posted a picture with his friend to Instagram with the caption: “Cutie. My boy.”

Rocketman will be released on May 17.