‘Elton John: Never Too Late’ will premiere on Disney+ Dec. 13
Elton John is a superstar EGOT who has been the subject of a hit Golden-Globe winning 2019 biopic. His career has been going strong for more than 50 years, so it’s a tall order to sum it all up in just over two minutes.
The new trailer for the upcoming Disney+ documentary Elton John: Never Too Late attempts to do just that, charting John’s course through various stages. Beginning with his childhood when “my life was all-consumed by music” it zips to the ’70s when he was “the most famous pop star in the world” and continues through his descent into addiction, his struggles with his sexuality and his current act as a husband and father of two.
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In a voiceover, the 77-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer describes the worst of times when addiction nearly swallowed him up whole. “There was an emptiness within me,” John says. “My soul had gone dark. I’d gone dark. I wasn’t a joy to be around. I couldn’t have anything apart from my success and my drugs.”
The trailer then alludes to a suicide attempt: “I took a bunch of tablets. I thought I was going to drown. I felt there must be something more to my life than this,” John says, before the subject turns to his sexuality. “I was still very naïve,” he admits. “I didn’t know I was gay. If people were gay, they were in the closet.”
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“I was definitely wanting happiness,” he continues. “I was going completely the wrong way about it. It made me realize family was more important than anything.”
The family he created made Elton John: Never Too Late possible. It was co-directed by his husband David Furnish, 61, with R.J. Cutler, and the two both also served as producers.
The documentary uses John’s final concert at Dodger Stadium on Nov. 20, 2022 as its framing device. His life story unspools as he prepares for the final American show of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
The documentary premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 6. John attended with Furnish, who talked to PEOPLE about John’s retirement.
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“He’s never going back on the road. He’s genuinely so happy,” said, Furnish, who shares two sons, Zachary, 13, and Elijah, 11, with John. “So for us to be at this moment right now, after so much hard work and so much anticipation, there’s a lot of heightened emotion.”
Elton John: Never Too Late will have a limited U.S. and U.K. theatrical run beginning Nov. 15 before debuting on Disney+ Dec. 13.
