“I’m an Iron Man, Baby”: ‘THR Presents’ Q&A With Elton John and Brandi Carlile on “Never Too Late”
“For me, it never gets old.”
Elton John may have armfuls of awards and accolades — he even secured EGOT status by winning an Emmy in January 2024 — but he insists that he’s never jaded when it comes to the Academy Awards. The living legend, who already owns two best original song Oscars, snagged another nomination in the category for his work with Brandi Carlile, Bernie Taupin and Andrew Watt on “Never Too Late.”
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“It’s always an extreme honor to be nominated in the final five songs,” John told The Hollywood Reporter during a THR Presents Q&A, powered by Vision Media, while sitting alongside his collaborator and close friend Carlile. “And I’m so excited for [co-writers] Brandi and for Andrew Watt — they’ve never been to the Oscars — because it’s a wonderful occasion.”
The track hails from the Disney+ documentary of the same name directed by R.J. Cutler and David Furnish that examines the living legend’s life from all angles, from humble beginnings to a meteoric rise to the highest highs of the music business amid heartbreaking lows overcoming adversity, abuse and addiction to become an icon. Through it all, John looks back on his life and 50-year career as he prepares for a final bow with his final North American concert ever at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
Seeing the song among the Oscar-nominated tracks has left Carlile “stunned and nearly speechless,” but the 11-time Grammy Award winner found enough words to share why the creative experience and a newfound bond with John means so much. As the story goes, Carlile caught an early cut of the documentary and found herself so moved by it that she put pen to paper.
“Elton’s been my hero since I was 11,” she said during the conversation. “Seeing all this archival footage for a girl who didn’t have an inch of bedroom wall not covered with an Elton John poster was pretty incredible for me to see. It landed on me in a really beautiful way. Getting to enjoy this trajectory from turmoil, a lot of success but a lot of turmoil, a lot of loneliness to his latter day serenity that Elton has now as a husband and a dad. I went away really inspired, and I wanted to chronologically, musically document it. It’s the first lyric that I’ve ever written for Elton.”
Aside from being “an Elton John super fan,” what resonated most from his journey was the reminder of what a trailblazer he is. “As a gay person married to a woman with kids, seeing the way that Elton and David have paved the way for all of us,” Carlile explained. “Not many people know this, but actually the first gay couple I ever saw in my life on television was Elton John and David Furnish. I remember feeling so hopeful about that as a young person and just that there’s any way that I’m involved in documenting that now as an adult is so surreal.”
Carlile also loved witnessing John in moments of self-reflection, a rarity for a man who has long held his gaze on the future rather than the past. “He’s so forward-moving. He really doesn’t like taking compliments or listening to people talk nicely about him,” she said with a smile, later offering up one of her own. “It can almost not really be overemphasized how masterful it is to watch him write a song. It happens like lightning. It’s that quick and it’s unbelievable.”
But John is happy to dish them out. Asked what it was like to receive the lyrics from Carlile, John said that her words so perfectly reflected everything that happens in the film. He was then inspired to dig in, write some lyrics and come up with the melody. “I was thrilled and I found it very easy to write the melody because it was such a great lyric and we had a lot of help from Andrew and Bernie as well. Putting their thoughts in this whole thing has been a true collaboration.”
John revealed that the documentary was originally set to be titled Farewell Yellow Brick Road (after the tour of the same name), but once they received Carlile’s song, they matched the song and doc titles. “She changed everything,” John said. “I felt really happy after I [recorded it], this song nails exactly what the film is about.”
And, of course, what his life is about as well. “I don’t look at myself very often and I don’t reflect, but this was a great moment to reflect on what happened,” said John, whose collaborations with Carlile also produced a new album, Who Believes in Angels, due for release April 4. “To get to a point of incredible happiness, you have to look back and say, ‘I did it.’ In the lyric, it says, ‘You’re an iron man, baby.’ I’ve been through so many things in my life and I’ve picked myself back up and I’ve gotten forward again. She nailed it completely — I’m an iron man, baby.”
This edition of THR Presents is sponsored by Disney.
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