On the eve of the opening of his musical “Billy Elliot” on Broadway, Sir Elton John spoke with GQ’s Men.Style.com blog about what he has planned in the third act of his life.
Among other projects, he said that he’s “got to try and write a film musical for Ben Stiller,” which is, “about a guy on Broadway who is gay, has HIV and AIDS, and has to go back and face his wife and his kids that he left. It’s very funny.”
“It wasn’t sounding funny, so far…” his interviewer replied.
“No, it’s very funny,” John responded. “The premise doesn’t sound funny, but it is. All right?”
Among other topics, John pointed out to GQ that he doesn’t actually like most musicals.
“I like some of the classic ones,” he admitted. “‘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.”
John also said that he’s still planning his long-rumored collaboration with rapper Eminem.
“I was going to write with him, but then Proof was shot dead,” he explained. “That was the day I was going. That wasn’t a very happy situation. He’s 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.”
John also said that he’s going to do a project with producer Mark Ronson and go on the road again with Billy Joel, in the next year. He said that he played in his 50th state this past year, and he’s been having fun, “going to places I’ve never played before — Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Abu Dhabi.”
He also went on to discuss in detail the fun he had with Lily Allen when he declared, “I could still snort you under the table,” at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in London last month.
John’s “Billy Elliot” opens on Broadway on Nov. 13.