The new documentary 'Elton John: Never Too Late', which premieres today on Disney+, reveals intimate details of Elton John's early career in the seventies and previously unreleased recordings of John Lennon's final performance.
"In this film, we hear Elton in a way we've never heard him before," director R.J. told Lusa. Cutler. "We hear from Elton John in a way that is deeply intimate, not as an interview for a documentary, but in conversation with one of his closest friends."
Part of the documentary is based on more than 40 hours of conversation between Elton John and journalist Alexis Petridis, in preparation for the artist's autobiography. The narrative is dynamic and superimposes Elton John's voice over unearthed images and videos, many of which have never been seen before.
"I'm fortunate to work with an excellent team of archival researchers and we've been able to find incredible artifacts, things that have never been seen before, images that haven't been processed," explained R.J. Cutler.
Among them is the original recording of the album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", in which we can see Elton John creating "Candle in the Wind". These moments had never been processed and were on film in a can.
Also shown is video and audio -- found in archive -- from John Lennon's last performance, during Elton John's show at Madison Square Garden, New York, in November 1974. John recalls Lennon's nervousness and the fact that concert led him to rekindle his relationship with Yoko Ono.
The documentary includes excerpts from his diary and also the interview with Cliff Jahr from Rolling Stone, in which Elton John admitted, at the time, that he was bisexual.
"He was a colossal figure on the world stage," said R.J. Cutler. "And yet, he was deeply unhappy and unfulfilled in his personal life. He was addicted to drugs, he was in the closet, he was lonely," he continued.
"He made the very consequential decision to stop touring, come out to Rolling Stone, be honest about his sexuality and begin a long journey towards personal fulfillment and happiness, to change his life. And he did."
Cutler joined the project at the invitation of David Furnish, Elton John's husband, who is co-directing the film. The initial proposal was to follow the singer in the last months before the show scheduled for the Dodgers stadium, in Los Angeles, in 2022.
"I told David I thought there was a great film to be made about the first five years of Elton's career, an incredibly prolific period during which he answered the question of what happens after the Beatles."
The Fab Four had broken up in 1970 and no one really knew what would come next in popular music. "Elton John was the answer," Cutler said. "He released 13 albums in five years and seven of them were number one," he said. "The eighth, '17-11-70,' was the greatest live album of all time, according to many. Most of the songs we think of when we think of Elton John were written during that period."
The result is a documentary that jumps between the first half of the seventies and the months leading up to the LA show.
Cutler said the intention is to make people tap their feet and laugh and cry, but that there is a deeper message to the film, indicated in the title.
"It means it's never too late to live the life you want to live," the director said. "Our time is finite and the question we are all called to answer is what we want to do with that time, how we want to live our lives," he continued. "What is it that will satisfy us as human beings? For Elton John, the answer was connection to others, love, family. That's what he wanted. And we see in this film how he found it."
Cutler added that the artist's life is "a huge inspiration" in delivering this message to the public. "We're always trying to ask questions about this life we live, and here we do that with Elton."
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