Tom Hardy Will Glitter Up As Elton John in ROCKETMAN

After months of speculation, Tom Hardy has been confirmed to play Elton John in Rocketman, according to The Wrap. The film will be "a larger-than-life movie musical spectacle that tells the story of a child prodigy turned music legend."

Reportedly, John will re-record "many" of his songs "to parallel the emotional beats of the film." I have no idea what that means, exactly, but it sounds like an excellent way to drive sales of the inevitable soundtrack album. Rocketman will be distributed in the U.S. by Focus Features, which is in the process of being transformed by new CEO Peter Schlessel, who brought the project from his former job as head of FilmDistrict.

Michael Gracey will direct, based on an original screenplay by Lee Hall (War Horse). Elton John is serving as one of the executive producers, so it's up in the air as to how frank it will be about his life.

Still, Hardy, seen in the accompanying photo in the Nicolas Winding Refn's brutal prison drama Bronson, is a fascinating choice to play the role, and, if nothing else, we'll learn how good he is at lip-synching. We'll have until 2015, it seems, since production is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2014.