Bernie Taupin’s Life and Lyrics Inspire Feature-Length Documentary
Bernie Taupin has spent his life telling stories through his lyrics. Now, his life story is being turned into a feature-length documentary. The currently untitled project will pull back the curtain on the man behind the music with commentary from Elton John, Ringo Starr, Annie Lennox, and more.
“Reticent as I am to scrutiny, this project has been enlightening both on an emotional and analytical level,” Taupin said in a statement. “The originality of all parties involved has made participating in it much easier as I loosen my grip on the cards I hold closest to my chest.”
More from Rolling Stone
See Elton John Play 'The Bitch Is Back' - as a Hornet - for the First Time in 1974
Watch Joni Mitchell Cover Elton John's 'I'm Still Standing' With Her Own Lyrical Twists
How Real Estate Grew Up, Got More Intuitive, and Ended Up on FaceTime With Elton John
The documentary will be directed by Matthew Miele, who will craft the film out of archival materials spanning Taupin’s life and legacy as well as additional interviews with Brandi Carlile, Alice Cooper, James Hetfield, Lulu, Gary Oldman, and Pete Townshend.
“I think many people are unaware that the phenomenon that is Elton John is really two people,” Miele said in a statement. “And as talented and flamboyant as the melody maker of that duo has become, one can’t help but be curious about the one who writes the words, the storyteller. Having the opportunity to chronicle the brown dirt cowboy, aka Bernie Taupin, has been a story I have been working toward my entire career.”
Taupin has released three solo albums in his career, the first being a self-titled project that arrived in 1971. By then, he had already been working with John for four years after the singer came across an envelope of poems he had written after an audition with Liberty Records. What unfolded from that chance encounter is decades worth of hits from one of pop music’s greatest creative pairings.
“Your Song,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Rocket Man,” “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues”, “Candle in the Wind,” “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” “The Last Song,” “Bennie and the Jets,” “Tiny Dancer,” and more all bear the mark of Taupin’s songwriting.
“What a gift to make a film in which Bernie Taupin, arguably one of the most revered and prolific songwriters of the modern era, brings us inside his life, his creative process, and his half-century career working with Elton John,” Brian Gersh, President of Network Entertainment, said in a statement.
Network Entertainment will produce the documentary feature in association with Universal Music Group partner Polygram Entertainment.
Last year, Taupin relesed his autobiography Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton, And Me. Speaking with Rolling Stone about the project at the time, he shared: “It’s probably one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life. If I died tomorrow, I’d be happy that I left this behind.”
Best of Rolling Stone