Bryce Dallas Howard talks upcoming Elton John biopic 'Rocketman' and her life change that's making a 'massive impact'
Bryce Dallas Howard stars in the highly anticipated upcoming biopic, "Rocketman," about the life of music icon Elton John.
In the film, which premieres next month, actor Taron Egerton plays John, while Howard plays his late mother, Sheila Farebrother.
The actress, 38, said she was a big fan of John growing up -- and still is -- so she was excited to take on the role. She shared her thoughts on participating in the project during an interview with "Good Morning America."
"I was like wow I’m getting to be a part of telling the story of this legend," she said on working on John's biopic.
"He’s still here, thank god, so he can be a part of this, and we felt this kind of freedom because he was a producer on the project," she continued. "So we’re like, if there’s something where he’s like, that’s too much -- it’s gonna be cut out."
Along with John, David Furnish, who is John's husband, Adam Bohling, Matthew Vaughn and David Reid are all producers on the project.
John and his late mother shared somewhat of a contentious relationship throughout her life, but reconciled close to her death.
"Thank you for bringing me into the world and for all that you have done for me," he wrote in an emotional post after her death in 2017.
To prepare for her role, Howard relied on research and information she learned from speaking with people who knew Farebrother -- but she didn't speak to John directly.
The movie is absolutely wild and sensational and fantastical -- but as honest as can be.
"Elton was in the process of writing his autobiography and Taron had read it and could really kind of speak to specifics," she said. "But more than anything this movie is almost like "Moulin Rouge!" -- how it’s totally fantastical and amazing. It’s more of an emotional journey rather than something that's like a more kind of classic ‘and then this plot point and then this plot point,'" she continued.
"It was more about the relationship between the two of them in that moment -- what was happening -- rather then sort of – she walked like this, she wore clothes like that," she added.
Howard said that much of the greatness of the film is derived from the John's inimitable personality.
"He himself is a really courageous person and someone who’s a very authentic person," she said. "As a result, the movie is absolutely wild and sensational and fantastical -- but as honest as can be...His music is timeless -- you can be at the time a 5-year-old girl belting out ‘I’m still standing,’ or you can be Elton John himself -- and it’s great."
She had equal praise for Egerton's performance. "Taron is a shapeshifter. Taron is unbelievable," she said. "This is one of those things where you’re kind of like 'wow.'"
"When I was on set I was like 'I’m really witnessing, you know, a seminal performance,'" she continued. "He himself is a singer, a musician and a performer. That’s all him that’s his voice."
Along with her passion for the film, Howard is also enthusiastic about environmental activism, which led her to switch to Tide purclean, the plant-based, sustainable detergent she is promoting. Howard is a paid spokesperson for Tide.
We need to take personal responsibility for the impact that we as individuals are making on this planet and for future generations.
She spoke about the product, which is made with "100% renewable wind power electricity and is made at a site that sends zero manufacturing waste to a landfill," according to Tide, in an interview with "GMA."
"Sometimes when you hear about things -- like folks that are into sustainability and all that kind of stuff -- you think okay I need to be composting, or you have to get solar panels or you’re a bad person or something like that," she said.
"And those are yes all wonderful things, but there are things that we can do that are as simple as choosing one product over the other that can make a massive, massive impact," she continued.
"We need to take personal responsibility for the impact that we as individuals are making on this planet and for future generations," she added.
She also extends this passion for change into her professional acting career in an effort to reshape the structure of Hollywood.
She took the 4% pledge to commit to a project with one female director in the next 18 months in January.
