Sir Elton John said his favourite part of his new documentary was when his sons facetimed in the studio while he was working with Britney Spears.
Directed by RJ Cutler and Sir Elton’s husband, David Furnish, the documentary – titled Elton John: Never Too Late – looks back over the musician’s decades-long career and captures him preparing for his final concert in North America – at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
Sir Elton spoke of his favourite moments from the documentary during London Film Festival’s gala screening on Thursday.
He said: “My favourite piece of footage in the film, for some reason, is when the boys FaceTime me, and I’m in the studio doing Hold Me Closer with Britney Spears.”
Sir Elton added: “I’ve seen it three times now, and I pick up little things, but the things that make me happiest are the ones with my family in it, to be honest with you.”
Furnish said he had directed a documentary about Sir Elton in 1995 called Tantrums and Tiaras, and he “vowed he would never pick up a camera and film him again” – but they felt “the significance of the fact he was going on his last tour”.
He said: “It was important at that moment in time to, you know, make a statement and capture that historical moment, but we also felt that we wanted to work with the best, we wanted to collaborate with someone who could really help us get the film that we wanted.”
Sir Elton added “absolutely, and that’s why we called RJ”.
Sir Elton said he wanted the documentary to show the “difference between being successful when you have no foundation and you’ve just hurtled for five years of just non-stop work and success and finding out that you’re very empty inside”, and then how his life was 47 years later.
He added: “I come off stage for the last time in America, and Dodger Stadium again, where I have the most wonderful life. No sadness, just happiness, family, children, husband, friends, sobriety. It was a hell of a difference.
“And it’s shown in two pieces – what can happen to people who aren’t really, I wasn’t prepared for the success I had, I loved it, but the back end of it, or the bad side of it, was that all I had was music, and there was nothing else and no foundation whatsoever.
“So they captured it brilliantly, and I really didn’t have much to do with it. I let them get on with it.”
Elton John: Never Too Late premieres on Disney+ on December 13.