Elton John to Get the Official Documentary Treatment With ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’
By Jon Blistein
Rolling Stone
May 18, 2022
Film will be centered around the musician’s ongoing farewell tour, while also looking back at his career-defining run in the early Seventies
After getting his own blockbuster biopic, Elton John will be fêted with an official documentary, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: The Final Elton John Performances and the Years That Made His Legend.
Co-directed by R.J. Cutler and filmmaker — and John’s husband — David Furnish, the movie will be centered around John’s farewell tour, while also looking back at 1970 to 1975, the monumental period when John released 10 albums and scored some of his biggest hits. The doc will also include an array of unseen concert footage from the past 50 years, as well as John’s handwritten journals and present-day footage of the musician and his family.
An exact timeline for the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road hasn’t been announced yet, but the film is expected to hit the festival circuit and get a limited theatrical release. It will then be exclusively available on Disney+.
“What a thrill and an honor it is that David Furnish and I get to create this intimate and unique look at one of the world’s most celebrated artists,” Cutler said in a statement. “As it has for so many others, Elton John’s music has had deep meaning for me for decades, and this opportunity is nothing short of a career highlight and privilege.”
Furnish added, “Elton and I could not think of a better collaborator than R.J. Cutler for a film that represents more than just Elton’s career — it’s his life. From the Troubadour to Dodger Stadium, we knew that R.J. would help guide Elton’s story and its many layers in a way that feels authentic and evocative. We’re ecstatic to be working together.”
John’s “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour will see him traveling through Europe and the U.K. for most of the summer, before he kicks off his final North American leg at the end of July. The run will wrap with three nights at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Nov. 17 through 20. John has additional dates around the world scheduled through 2023.