Elton John says he has a first choice to play him in the planned biopic Rocketman: Justin Timberlake.

"He played me before in a David LaChappelle video of 'Rocket Man' and was superb," Sir Elton told the Los Angeles Times. Actually, the video Timberlake appeared in was for "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore," in which he portrayed a Rocket Man-era version of Elton John. (And was pretty convincing – check it out below.)

The film is "going to be a surreal look at my life, and not just a factual look at my life," says the singer, "more in the manner of a Moulin Rouge!" An announcement is forthcoming about will direct, he added. The Rocketman script is being written by Lee Hall, who wrote Billy Elliot; Sir Elton will produce.

In the meantime, HBO is set to air a documentary directed by Cameron Crowe on the making of The Union, the recent album collaboration between Elton and his musical idol, Leon Russell. Sir Elton plans to go into the studio for his own next album this month. 

Timberlake, meanwhile, has been linked to a potential role in the next Coen Brothers film, Inside Llewyn Davis, which is reportedly set in the Greenwich Village folk-music scene of the Sixties.   

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