Elton John eyes up Justin Timberlake

Elton John wants Justin Timberlake to play him in a forthcoming film about his life. The singer said Timberlake had been “superb” while portraying him in a video of his song Rocket Man.

John and his partner David Furnish are producing the biopic, which has the provisional title of Rocket Man.

“It’s going to be a surreal look at my life, and not just a factual look at my life, more in the manner of a Moulin Rouge!” Elton said.

“I just don’t want it to be a normal biopic because my life hasn’t been like that. And it only goes up to when I go into rehab in 1990. It starts with me going into rehab and ends when I come out.

“We’re making an announcement about that very, very soon. We have a director on board, and then it’s just going to be a matter of getting the script exactly the way we want it.

“I’ve got a wish list of people. No. 1 on my wish list is Justin Timberlake, because he played me before in a David LaChapelle video of Rocket Man and was superb.

“As Elton John, my days on pop radio are over, and I know that and I accept it and I’m not unhappy about it. It’s a different time of my life now, and it gives me the freedom to do whatever kind of music I want to do.

“When I say I don’t have to write pop songs anymore, there’s no way I’m going to get on the radio at 60 years of age unless I’m doing a duet with Gaga or I was on All of the Lights, which was a Kanye West record that managed to get on the radio.”