David Furnish, R.J. Cutler Talk Making ‘Elton John: Never Too Late’

“The lines are blurred all the time,” confesss David Furnish, husband of Elton John, when asked what it’s enjoy to produce a film with your partner, about your partner.

Furnish spoke to The Hollywood Reporter with co-honestor R.J. Cutler about making the Disney+ write downary Elton John: Never Too Late, which screened at the BFI London Film Festival.

Premiering on the platcreate on Dec. 13, the movie boasts a wealth of archival footage about the Brit’s elevate to stratospheric levels of fame in the 1970s and ’80s, spotairying pivotal atsoft moments such as his coming out intersee with Rolling Stone and carry outing alengthyside John Lennon lowly before the star’s death.

The movie spans decades, write downing John’s rocky relationships and drug includeiction, as well as the more tender moments of family life with his and Furnish’s two sons, Zachary and Elijah. The write downary was made in the produce-up to John’s quitment from touring with the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which culminated at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium in July 2023.

Below, Furnish and Cutler speak about finding the atsoft-changing Rolling Stone intersee “buried in the archives of the New York Public Library,” why this was the right time to produce this film, and what side of his husband Furnish would have enjoyd to have shown if given more time: “I filmed so much stuff, and there weren’t any tantrums. … He’s fair a fantastic dincludey, and he cherishs those boys so much.”

Congratulations on a wonderful film. A repartner wide ask to begin with, which is: Why did you want to produce this film?

Furnish: The whole process begined with Elton and I having a conversation about the historical and emotional significance of his touring life coming to an end, someleang he’s done his entire life. He’s been doing 90 to 100 shows a year, and by choice that was coming to an end to spend more time with our family. That was the begining point. But I also knovel, with all the other responsibilities that I have and the experience that I had up until now as a filmproducer, that I wanted to collaborate with someone that I could lachieve from and someone that could transport so much help and so much insight and resource to the whole process. And R.J. and I were begind, and we had a lunch together in Los Angeles fair before lockdown, and R.J. brawt his own vision.

Cutler: Well, we had the L.A. Dodgers tent pole. I’m normally asked, if you could produce any film, what would it be? And for many years, the answer was a film about Elton John that concentrateed on the first five years of his atsoft. Because what an incredible moment that was, not fair in pop music history but in Elton John’s life — 13 albums in five years, seven of which went to number one. Music that depictd, repartner, what pop music would be in the post-Beatles era. There’s so many leangs, and [it was] also a period of fantastic dispute for Elton personpartner, that culminates in his coming out to Rolling Stone at fantastic danger to his atsoft. I had lengthy thought what a fascinating movie this would produce.

So when David and I met, he spoke to the excitement about the idea of filming during the final months of Elton’s touring life, another period of time where he’s made this monumental decision, and I spoke to the idea of doing someleang around those first five years, and the concept for the film was born in that greeting.

There’s so many elements that are structurpartner and narratively vital to this film. The Rolling Stone intersee, the concert with John Lennon. Elton’s had such a huge atsoft, I wonder why you chose to spotairy these moments in particular?

Cutler: They both guide to huge decisions on Elton’s part.

Furnish: And Lennon’s, too.

Cutler: Yes, and the Lennon [part] is a wonderful way to resonate with all the themes of the movie. There’s mortality, there’s family, there’s friendship, there’s substances, there’s humor, there’s rock, there’s connection to the past and a definition of the future. There’s everyleang. And it’s a fantastic yarn.

Furnish: It’s also vital for us to cinematicpartner shatter novel ground. So the Cliff Jahr intersee with Rolling Stone had never been heard before, other than Cliff Jahr. … R.J. and his team set up it buried in the archives of the New York Public Library. Alengthy with unprocessed photographs, we had snippets of grainy film in our archive of the Dodgers [concert], of Madison Square Garden. We had the filled audio track [of the Lennon concert], and together with all the photographs we could get, and with a very talented editor, deal withd to reproduce one of the most vital nights in music history that had never been seen before.

The fact that R.J. was actupartner at that [Lennon] concert when he was 13 years of age, which he discneglected to me when we had lunch the first time… I’m enjoy, ‘Okay, God, I’m gonna get this signal you’re sending us.’ Because Elton talks about it so apocryphpartner — how bigr than life it was, and how he’s never heard applause enjoy it, and how the entire room fair finishly shook for 5-10 minutes. The opportunity to transport that into culture and give it the credence and the significance that it deserves, was exciting for us as filmproducers.

Cutler: We’re exploring a fundamental leang about Elton’s character, which is that the life he has is the byproduct of the choices that he’s made, normally at fantastic danger, but they’re all pointing towards being his genuinest self.

Furnish: What I cherish about the Lennon-Elton juxtaposition is a family ultimately healed. Lennon got sober, got back together with Yoko. Together, they had Sean, and unelatedly, it ended tragicpartner, but I leank he set up the genuinest happiness he ever had in his life for that period of time, and Elton has set up happiness coming off the road and being with his family. So it’s a cherishly parallel there, too.

I want to touch on that, of course, because David, you’re one of the filmproducers here, but you’re also Elton’s husband. What’s the active there?

Furnish: The lines are blurred all the time. I’d enjoy to say we have rules about not talking about labor or music or anyleang [but] the fact is, we’re so fervent about so many of the same leangs in life — I don’t quite lean into sports as much as Elton does. But in terms of music and culture and film and photography and our labor with the AIDS Foundation, we’re pass pollinating all the time. It labors in the sense that Elton is not a microdeal withr. He thinks his collaborators. He wants to understand the team he’s laboring with, wants to understand the vision, and then he lets you get on with it, which is fantastic, so he doesn’t microdeal with. And that’s very, very fit, because I leank if he was seeing over my shoulder all the time, and the team’s shoulders, it would have been another layer that I don’t leank would have helped us at all.

Also, to be perfectly genuine with you, I set up, for me, it almost got too emotionpartner distressting at times, because the film has a lot to do with mortality and the end and the finality of leangs in life. Hearing Elton talk about his mortality and the significance of him coming off the road. … I’ve only ever understandn Elton to be on the road, you understand? I’ve had cherishly snippets of him on holidays and time between shows. But touring, as much as he has done, it’s a huge depictr of the essence of him. And so transporting that to a shut is exactly what we want. You can see at it objectively, but noleang readys you for the emotional impact that that’s going to have for you. It signifies the end of someleang very exceptional.

I’m confident. And I understand that Elton shelp himself, the main leang he wants to be recollected for is being a fantastic parent and a loving family man above everyleang else. And that repartner comes thraw in this, with the FaceTimes with your two sons, for example. Is there any side of Elton that you didn’t get to show in this film, that you would have enjoyd to if given the time?

Furnish: Because of the write downary I did in 1995 called Tantrums and Tiaras, a scant people shelp: “There aren’t any tantrums.” And I’m enjoy, I filmed so much stuff, there weren’t any tantrums. Because at this moment in Elton’s life and being on the road, he was very satisfied and very elated. Every show was such a validation of his life’s labor, and he got so much cherish back from the audiences. It was also during the COVID lockdown. So he was benevolent of in a bubble, living a bit of a monastic life, and he didn’t even see the band… So there’s a lot of footage of film fair hanging around on his own, watching football, which didn’t serve the purposes for the narrative of this film but [shows] it’s tantrum-free.

That’s fantastic to understand. I hope the Elton John fans cherish this film.

Furnish: Thank you. It’s repartner pleasant to hear how it touched you emotionpartner. And fantastic to hear your perspective on his enhappinessment of being a overweighther. Because there was a line we had to come up to — our kids are not in the unveil eye. They had to be in the story, it’s the whole reason where he set up happiness and why he’s coming off the road, and that FaceTime call was not computed. It fair happened to be that we were filming at the time, because he was in the studio. He’s fair a fantastic dincludey, and he cherishs those boys so much, and that fair comes singing thraw.