ROCKETMAN TARON TAKES OFF

TARON EGERTON was in a London recording studio yesterday preparing for his screen portrayal of Elton John. He recorded two numbers at the Abbey Road studios — though those at the session refused to reveal which two.

Award-winning Lee Hall, who wrote the musical Billy Elliot with Elton, has written the screenplay for Rocketman, which will explore how Reginald Kenneth Dwight became the superstar Elton John.

Egerton won’t be using a backing track. He has a fine voice. I know, because I’ve heard him sing. We were halfway up a mountain in Germany at the time, but the voice is the real deal.

And, of course, he even sang an Elton song onscreen a couple of years ago, when he belted out I’m Still Standing for the animated movie Sing, when he voiced a gorilla in a crime gang.

Producer Matthew Vaughn and director Dexter Fletcher are hoping filming can start in mid-May or early June, once the complex rights are sorted. Egerton will portray Elton from the age of 18; while a younger actor will play him in his teens, when he studied at the Royal Academy of Music. Rocketman will follow his friendship with lyricist Bernie Taupin, with whom he wrote Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Bennie And The Jets and Crocodile Rock among many others. I’m told Hall’s script does not sugarcoat the more juicy parts of Elton’s life story; and the film may end up with an 18 rating. This column broke the news of Egerton’s casting last July. The young actor has become a success thanks to roles in Vaughn’s Kingsman films, and his portrayal of Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards two years ago. He will be seen in the title role of Robin Hood, along with Jamie Foxx and Jamie Dornan, in September.