HE colleague Jordan Ruimy is hearing whispers that Dexter Fletcher‘s Rocketman will have a big Cannes Film Festival premiere, possibly an opening-nighter, almost certainly out of competition.

For the fifth or sixth time, Hollywood Elsewhere is foursquare-opposed to this Elton John biopic for the simple fact that (a) I loathe Taron Egerton, who has the titular role and (b) the singing (either by Egerton or someone else) sounds like a cruise-ship John imitator. Rami Malek actually sounded like Freddie Mercury so what was the problem this time?

Bryan Singer might be a serial sexual abuser and difficult as hell to work with, but at least he got the Bohemian Rhapsody singing to sound right. My insect antennae can just sense that he’s a much, much better director than Fletcher ever will be. Rocketman may to be a decent film in other respects, but the absence of a vocal-sound-alike element is a huge negative.

The 2019 Cannes Film Festival will run from 5.14 to 5.25. Rocketman opens in England on 5.24, and in the U.S. on 5.31. It sounds like a good opener — glitzy, flashy, Joe Popcorn-accessible.

Ruimy also reports that “two separate sources” confirm that Quentin Tarantino‘s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (Sony, 7.26) is indeed going to the festival. I forecasted this possibility on 2.26.