As it turns out, Hollywood still loves sex, drugs and rock & roll, even if there’s gay sex involved.
Producers for the upcoming Elton John biopic Rocketman slammed reports over the weekend that the bosses at Paramount Pictures have demanded cuts to the gay sex scenes. Early rumors said that Paramount wanted to guarantee a PG-13 rating so as not to hurt box office results. The release of the film comes one year after the success of Bohemian Rhapsody, a biopic of gay singer Freddie Mercury, which did close to $1 billion in worldwide box office.
Related: Studio demands this explicit gay sex scene cut from Elton John biopic ‘Rocketman’
Over the weekend, director Dexter Fletcher tweeted out a statement addressing the rumored cuts to sanitize some of the gay sex scenes.
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Seeing much speculation about ROCKETMAN!! That’s good! It’s still unfinished so it’s nothing but rumors. It has and always will be the no holds barred, musical fantasy that Paramount and producers passionately support and believe in. See for yourself May 24. Dx x
— Dexter Fletcher (@Dexfletch) March 22, 2019
“Seeing much speculation about ROCKETMAN!!” Fletcher tweeted. “That’s good! It’s still unfinished so it’s nothing but rumors. It has and always will be the no holds barred, musical fantasy that Paramount and producers passionately support and believe in.”
Producers David Furnish, Elton John, and Matthew Vaughn have also affirmed that the film will have a very different approach than Bohemian Rhapsody, going for a grittier, darker tone.
Speculation over the cuts came down to one scene in particular between John and then-boyfriend John Madden (played by Taron Egerton and John Madden respectively) that is said to feature several uses of the “f-word,” as well as shots of partial nudity and cocaine use.
Rocketman hits cinemas this May.
DCguy
Translation: The backlash was enough that paramount got a bit spooked and backed off….for now. Trust me they’ll still find a way to cut out as much “Gayness” as possible.
martin_erickson
Yup.
mrnave
The article states John Madden is played by John Madden. Huh? Should state John Reid (Elton John’s boyfriend) is played by Richard Madden.
LthrboyGeorge
What is so “steamy” about the sex scene? A couple of rumps? A quick shot of a (fake) weenie? Implied, offscreen humping? Has nobody seen CATASTROPHE, where they talk about every bodily function until barf-do-us-part?
Ronbo
Ewwwwww. Gross. Now they are threatening to make people watch that balding, arrogant, humpty-dumpty get it on!?! PLEASE oh please, don’t put Elton John nuding around with Rush Limbaugh!
Now I can never, Never, NEVER un-see that horror!
ptb2016
All i can say is having seen real gay sex in a couple of French movies these past few years, all it does is hold up the story. (“Stranger by the lake” anyone? Boring.) Same way that any sex scene with naked bodies flailing around, no matter how famous the body, tends to slow things down and are rarely erotic. (Ooh I just saw Chris Pine’s penis. So what?) And if Taron Egerton is the flabby Taron of Eddie the Eagle I’d rather he kept his clothes on! Looking forward to the movie as Taron’s a definite charmer.
Daggerman
..maybe the film will be better than Bohemian Rhapsody, meaning they won’t straight-wash his sexuality because there was no female in Elton’s life to get accentuated like Freddie’s!!