The rating process is handled by the Classifications and Ratings Administration (CARA) by a rating board that is made up of a group of independent parents that is charged with giving ratings to films that “give parents clear, concise information about a films content, in order to help them determine whether a movie is suitable for their children,” according to a CARA brochureĭuring the rating process, the rating board considers things like language, sex, violence, drug use and other situations that might concern most parents.
The current rating system we have in the United States is voluntary and requires a fee for having material go through the rating process.
The Hays Code was developed to ensure the absence of “offensive material” and prevent government interference in filmmaking. The current rating system we use was created in response to a previous self-censorship system that was created in 1922, known as the Hays Code, when the MPAA was founded and led by William Hays.
The result is a high-gloss musical that doesn't put a glossy sheen over John's life.You may be surprised to find out that the movie ratings given to current movies were originally designed by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) back in 1968. John's husband David Furnish also spent time on set to help out.įletcher asks: "Can you imagine if I were making a film about you, and you were there every day? Eventually we'd turn around to you and go, 'You need to go away for a while,' because you would possibly get obsessed about things that are too personal." But that's part of the gift that he gives, you know."Īs Fletcher explains, John trusted the filmmakers and would watch early cuts and act as a resource when they needed him-including talking to Egerton about his role. It must be daunting for anyone, especially someone so public. It takes a brave man, of course, because for most of us it's a parlor game to say, hey, who plays me in a movie about my life? That's a flight of fantasy. "We have to have ownership of it and that's what he was very keen for us to do. "He was off on his world tour, and I think he understood, as we all did, that there had to be a point where he was going to be able to go, 'You need to now go do what you're going to do, because, what purpose does me sitting here, looking over your shoulders serve?'" Fletcher says. "Then he came in the early stages of rehearsal, and then went to development with costumes and sets and design," Fletcher says.īut then John let the filmmakers do their work. Where Bohemian Rhapsody was a sanitized version of Freddie Mercury's life, Rocketman shows much of what John did in this era.Īs Fletcher explains, the film's writer, Lee Hall, worked closely with John to pen the script for Rocketman. While Rocketman doesn't include frontal nudity, it does show two men engaged in sex. There's implied sex between a man and a woman, and men are shown kissing and flirting, but there's no nudity or sex. However, there's no actual sex in Bohemian Rhapsody. Rocketman has drawn comparisons to Bohemian Rhapsody, partly because Fletcher stepped in to finish directing the Queen biopic and because both movies are about FM radio icons. This includes a sex scene between Taron Egerton, who plays John, and Richard Madden, who plays Reid. I'm just trying to find a way to depict him cinematically in a story that hopefully is compelling and exciting."Īlong with John's heavy use of drugs and alcohol-and subsequent time in rehab-the film shows his tumultuous relationship with manager John Reid in full. "I'm not throwing him under the bus, revealing things about him that no one knows or that he's never said.
I had some dark days in the wilderness,'" Fletcher says. "We had the strength and conviction of Elton, who said 'yes, I was a bit of a shit, you know. This subject matter in Rocketman includes John's overdose and hospitalization. Other people are not, and so they are protected by people who loved them, or want to tell a different story." He's a big boy, and if you want, you know, to question him about the facts of his life and what he did and didn't do, he's here to defend himself. (Generally, the Motion Picture Association of America, which gives movies their ratings, considers a film R-rated when there's sexually-oriented nudity and drug abuse, among other considerations.) "Like Elton said, his life has not been PG-13," Fletcher says. As director Dexter Fletcher tells me, they set out from the very beginning to make an R-rated musical. So Rocketman does not shy away from the sex and drugs of John's life. Does Taron Egerton Actually Sing in 'Rocketman'?Īs John explained: "Everyone knows I had quite a lot of both during the '70s and '80s, so there didn’t seem to be much point in making a movie that implied that after every gig, I’d quietly gone back to my hotel room with only a glass of warm milk and the Gideon’s Bible for company."