Elton John eyes Justin Timberlake for biopic

Elton John says the long-mooted biopic based on his life is still on the boil.

In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, the music icon, 64, says the project is "very much in the works".

He also says he's got just the man in mind to tackle the lead role.

"I've got a wish list of people," says John when asked who should play him. "No. 1 on my wish list is Justin Timberlake, because he played me before in a David LaChapelle video of Rocket Man and was superb."

Timberlake memorably portrayed a Rocket Man-era version of the entertainer in the music video for This Train Don't Stop There Anymore, a single lifted off his Songs From the West Coast album. (Have a butchers at the video below).

John, who will prep the project (provisionally-titled Rocket Man) with partner, David Furnish, says the movie will be a "jukebox musical" about his life.

The Rocket Man script is being written by Lee Hall, who wrote Billy Elliot.

"It's going to be a surreal look at my life, and not just a factual look at my life, more in the manner of a Moulin Rouge," says John.

"I just don't want it to be a normal biopic because my life hasn't been like that. And it only goes up to when I go into rehab in 1990. It starts with me going into rehab and ends when I come out."

The singer also dishes that they've found a director - but it won't be Moulin Rouge helmer Baz Luhrman.

"We tried to get Baz, but Baz is so busy," he tells the LAT. "We can't announce it yet, but we have got someone on board that we're very excited about."

John will head back into the studio soon to work on a new album.

"Yeah, I'm going in January," he says. "I have the lyrics from Bernie [longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin], and I'm very excited about them. I haven't any clue what the songs are going to be like because I haven't written them yet. I'm going to try to write them in Honolulu in January in my hotel room on an upright piano. If not, I'll be writing in the studio."

John also says his days as a Top 40 star are over.

"As Elton John, my days on pop radio are over, and I know that and I accept it and I'm not unhappy about it," he maintains.

"It's a different time of my life now, and it gives me the freedom to do whatever kind of music I want to do," he adds.

"When I say I don't have to write pop songs anymore, there's no way I'm going to get on the radio at 60 years of age unless I'm doing a duet with Gaga or I was on All of the Lights, which was a Kanye West record that managed to get on the radio."

Check out Timberlake's turn as the singing legend in the video below:

Your move, readers. Do you think Timberlake could cut it as the glam rocker on the silver screen?

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