Elton To Write AIDS Related Musical For Ben Stiller
The legendary Mr Elton John has revealed in an interview with GQ that he will be penning a musical film for actor and director Ben Stiller, who will star in the lead role. The famous pop star, who has written the scores for hits such as the stage adaptation of Billy Elliot and the Broadway version of The Lion King, intends to deal with serious issues in the piece, but also wants to keep it funny.
John describes the new musical as being “about a guy on Broadway who is gay, has HIV and AIDS, and has to go back and face his wife and kids that he left.” He goes on to say, “The premise doesn’t sound funny, but it is. Alright?”
However, despite having achieved great fame in the genre, John says he is not a fan of musical theatre.
“I like some of the classic ones. ‘West Side Story,’ for me, is the greatest musical ever written. But I don’t like forced fun. I’m more drawn to tragedy than, ‘Let’s all have a great time.’ And I’m not keen on the music in musicals sometimes. I’m quite fussy about it. I don’t really like them unless I’m involved in them, for some reason.”
In addition to the musical, John has some other exciting projects coming up, including working with producer Mark Ronson and even a collaboration with Enimem, which was put on hold because of the shooting of D12 rapper Proof.
“That wasn’t a very happy situation,” said Elton, ”[But Enimem is] in a much better frame of mind right now, so I’m going to pop down and see him when I’m playing in Canada for a few days. Just hang out with him for a day or so. But I plan to record next year.”
Here’s a clip of Elton and Eminem’s memorable collaboration at the 2001 Grammy Awards:
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