Elton John ’s new movie Rocketman was widely praised when it opened in Cannes.
But it left a bitter taste in the mouth of the star’s first producer, who has blasted the portrayal of music boss Dick James.
In the film, Dick, who was Elton’s first manager, is portrayed as an East End geezer by actor Stephen Graham, 45. And he uses language like “f****** poofta”.
But musician Caleb Quaye, who started the band Bluesology with Elton, tells me: “I don’t like it. Dick James was absolutely nothing like what they’ve depicted him as.
“Dick was a gentleman. He wasn’t cockney. He was an old-school music man but was smartly dressed, you never heard a cuss word out of him.
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“No f-bombs. He was like a father, he gave us an opportunity to learn our craft. I don’t understand the fantasy of depicting him like that because he was nothing like it.”
The film premiered on Thursday and tells the story of Elton’s childhood to when he went to rehab in his early 40s.
Celebs including Julianne Moore and Richard Madden, who plays Elton’s first manager, attended the star-studded bash.
Dick’s son Stephen is also unhappy with his dad’s portrayal and was “perturbed” by a clip. Dick died in 1986 so can’t defend his name. Elton’s team did not want to comment.
The film makes out that Elton, real name Reginald Dwight, created his showbiz name by looking at a picture of John Lennon.
But Caleb, 70, who has also worked with Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney, says he is the one who came up with it. He describes how the name was inspired by Bluesology’s saxophone player Elton Dean and a backing singer called Long John Baldwin.
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“Without me there is no Elton John. I said the name Dwight isn’t going to cut it. He liked Elton’s and John’s names.
“He’d written John Elton. I said Elton John was better. The rest is history.”
In the film, Elton, 72, also portrays his late mother Sheila as a cold-hearted woman.
But Caleb, who is releasing his own documentary, Louder Than Rocks, about his life, insists she was a “very nice lady” who tried to calm Elton’s tantrums
Elton and Caleb fell out when Caleb turned to Christianity. No sign of an olive branch at Cannes either…
