Yahoo News Rocketman producer responds to 'straight-washing' claims
Rocketman producer Matthew Vaughn has responded to the 'straight-washing' claims that have been made against the film.
The musical fantasy movie depicts the story of Elton's rise to fame, and it also portrays Elton John's relationship with manager John Reid (Richard Madden), which includes intimate scenes between the two.
There were reports earlier this year that suggested a gay sex scene between John and Reid had been cut from the film, but this was swiftly denied by director Dexter Fletcher.
Related: What Rocketman gets right that Bohemian Rhapsody got wrong
Now, producer Vaughn has had his say on the straight-washing claims too, telling Digital Spy exclusively that they always knew what sort of film they wanted to make.
"We set out to make an R-rated movie. Our contract said it was an R-rated film," Vaughn told us.
"When you cut a movie, you debate moments. No one was debating it for what rating it was; we were debating about whether it was the right thing creatively, you know?"
Vaughn continued to say that it was a matter of giving the movie the right balance, adding: "Because the downward spiral with the drugs, and throwing himself into as many lovers as he can, that stuff is – what's the word? It's a balance, so that we didn't put people off the film because it was too much of a downer, and not because it was too brave content.
"So the fact that it was written about, was a bit unusual [...] I was a little bit amazed that it even hit the press, because editing's normally quite a private thing that shouldn't be interesting.
"But a bit of me was thrilled. I was like, 'Wow, that means people are interested in the movie, because they're talking about it'. So that side was good."
The producer also admitted that he thinks similar claims of 'straight-washing' being levelled at Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which was criticised for not fully exploring Freddie Mercury's sexuality, is partly to blame for the interest around Rocketman's sex scenes.
"It was amazing how interested people were in it," he continued. "I also think that it was more of a focus because with Bohemian Rhapsody [...] I don't know what the term is, but yeah, it had been straight-washed.
"They hadn't gone into the drugs and the gay sex. It was a very vanilla version of Freddie Mercury.
"But they intended to make the vanilla version. So that's what I was saying. It was interesting. I don't think anyone was freaking out during the edit of that, which was odd. It was always going to be PG-13. So what were people expecting to see?"
Rocketman's lead Taron Egerton also recently addressed the accusations of straight-washing in the film, saying: "He's a gay icon. And who are we, as frankly heterosexual filmmakers, to not put that element of his story? How dare we. And that's not what we did."
Rocketman is out in UK cinemas now and on May 31 in the US.
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Instagram and Twitter account.
('You Might Also Like',)
