Elton John’s early career came at “a dark time”, says new doc director: “The Beatles had broken up, the Stones weren’t touring. Jimi was dead. Janis was dead”

'Elton John: Never Too Late' is coming to cinemas next month

The director of the forthcoming Elton John documentary has spoken about how the early part of his career came at a “dark time”.

The Disney+ film Elton John: Never Too Late follows the musician as he reflects on his life and 50-year career as he prepared for his final North American stadium show at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium in November 2022.

Speaking in a new interview with IndieWire, R.J. Cutler, who directed the film with John’s husband David Furnish, said that despite being prolific at the start of his career in 1970, it was an uncertain time in the music industry following the deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

He said: “I shared with David that there was a great story to be told about the first five years of his career. Between 1970 and 1975, Elton released 13 albums in five years, seven of which went to Number One. It was a remarkable creative output at a time when rock and roll didn’t know what its future was. The Beatles had broken up, the [Rolling] Stones weren’t touring. Jimi [Hendrix] was dead. Janis [Joplin] was dead. It was a dark time.”

Elton John: Never Too Late received its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

It will have a limited theatrical release on November 15 in the US and the UK before it is due to premiere on Disney+ on December 13 worldwide.

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The film will “pull back the curtain” on Elton’s life, featuring “never-before-seen concert footage of him over the past 50 years, as well as hand-written journals and present-day footage of him and his family.”

“He had made the decision to come off the road, to spend more time with his family,” added Cutler. “The last great addiction of his life was performing live. He had been doing it his entire life since he was 16 years old.”

John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour began in 2018 and finally wrapped in Stockholm in July last year, earning over $900million (£708million) in gross ticket sales. At the time of its conclusion, it was the highest grossing tour of all time, but has since been overtaken by Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and Coldplay’s Music Of The Spheres Tour.

Meanwhile, John is not done releasing new music just yet. In May, his friend and co-writer Bernie Taupin revealed that John’s 32nd studio album is “all done and recorded”.

John has also celebrated 34 years of sobriety in recent weeks, sharing a picture online of his Alcoholics Anonymous coin, and sharing that “my life has never been better”.