Elton John says Taron Egerton should've been Oscar-nominated for Rocketman

Though he may be a bit biased, Elton John has some thoughts about one of this year’s notable Oscar snubs: Rocketman star Taron Egerton for Best Actor.

“Taron Egerton, he should have been, I think, nominated as one of the best actors,” John said in the press room after his own Oscar win Sunday. “For me, he was one of the best performances here.”

Egerton earned BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for his performance, winning the latter in the Musical or Comedy category, but he missed out on an Oscar nomination in one of the most crowded years for Best Actor in recent memory. (Other high-profile snubs in the category included Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphy, and Christian Bale.) Joaquin Phoenix ultimately took home the trophy for Joker.

Rocketman didn’t go home empty-handed at the Oscars, with John and his longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin winning Best Original Song for the film’s jubilant anthem “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again.”

“This is for [Bernie]. This is for my partner of 53 years. Without him, I wouldn’t be here,” John said of the song’s win. “He started the process. He gave me the lyrics that I got here. Without the lyrics, I’m nobody.”

“It’s like marriage. It really is,” added Taupin, who earned his first Oscar nomination for the song. “And one of the things that makes it work is being different, having different lives, leading different lives. But we always come back together for the music, and the music is the thing that has run through the bloodline of our veins ever since we first met.”

The duo’s Oscar victory marks only their second major awards win as a songwriting team, after winning at the Golden Globes earlier this year. As John noted then, he and Taupin have never won a Grammy together in their five decades of collaboration.

Reporting by Devan Coggan.

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• Elton John calls winning Best Original Song Oscar with Bernie Taupin ‘A Dream for Us’
• Elton John brings a blast of color to Oscars with ‘(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again’ performance