Rocketman Teaser Trailer: See Taron Egerton As Elton John

If you thought Rami Malek looked spot-on as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, Taron Egerton as Elton John in Rocketman will blow your mind. 

On Monday, Paramount Pictures unveiled the first teaser trailer for the Dexter Fletcher-directed biopic, giving the world an in-motion look at Egerton's take on one of England's flashiest, most musically inclined exports. 

Richard Madden's John Reid, Elton's longtime manager and former lover, opens the footage in voiceover, philosophizing that there are "moments in a rockstar's life that define who he is." In the singer-pianist's case, running through the streets as a young child, sitting at a piano bench inside a recording booth, opening a set of double doors onto a brightly lit balcony, and donning increasingly lavish costumes for ever-growing crowds apparently represent those defining times.  

"Where there was darkness, there is now you," Madden's Reid says as short scenes featuring Egerton's Elton flash across the screen. "And it's going to be a wild ride."

From there, we see clips of Elton linking arms with attractive women, belting it out on stage, and making eyes with Reid that contrast with footage of him looking panicked inside a bathroom stall, throwing things at his bedroom door, and letting himself fall off a diving board into a swimming pool while partygoers look on. In the background, Egerton sings the nominal song "Rocket Man" — with his own pipes, no lip-syncing or voice-blending here! — from Elton's 1972 album Honky Château. 

The teaser closes with the promise that Rocketman is "based on a true fantasy." Check it out above. 

With the unveiling of this teaser for Rocketman and the previous released trailers for Bohemian Rhapsody, which centers around the life of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury and is also directed by Fletcher, many have wondered whether 2018 is the year that will kick off a trend of biopics about famous musicians — like a new one about the late, great David Bowie (it could be called Ziggy Stardust or The Thin White Duke) or a film focused on The Beatles bassist and singer Paul McCartney (All My Loving, Paperback Writer, and Good Day Sunshine seems like strong title contenders). 

A movement like that would break up the saturated-with-superhero-movies cinema landscape were currently traversing through, provide some feel-good fare for moviegoers looking to escape the chaos of our modern world, and might even help make recompense for some of the more inaccurate biopics we've seen before. 

If Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody perform well at the box office upon their respective debuts, perhaps the omnipotent, all-powerful beings that rule Hollywood will greenlight more movies like them moving forward. For now, though, let's all just revel in how gorgeous Egerton's Rocketman costumes are and prepare ourselves to see the "uncensored human story of Sir Elton John's breakthrough years" next year.

Also starring Bryce Dallas Howard as Elton's late mother, Sheila, and Jamie Bell as his writing partner, Bernie Taupin, Rocketman will fly into theaters on May 31, 2019.