Elton John's life to get big screen treatment

Sir Elton will oversee casting for the film

Sir Elton John's life is to be turned into "a radically different kind of biopic", reports LA website Deadline.

Rocketman will see the singer and his Rocket Pictures partner David Furnish join forces with Billy Elliot author Lee Hall, who will write the script.

Steve Hamilton Shaw, who will produce with Furnish, promised the film would be "as unique as Elton's life".

He promised it would "transport people through the many intense experiences... that helped define Elton".

Rocketman marks the second collaboration between Sir Elton and Hall. The singer wrote the award-winning score for the musical adaptation of Billy Elliot.

Plans for the film include the use of musical sequences, centred on Sir Elton's hit songs, to tell the story of the child prodigy who became a global star.

Sir Elton will executive produce the film, and will oversee casting - with speculation that it could involve several actors playing the lead role, in a manner similar to his video for the single This Train Don't Stop There Anymore in 2002.

Recent biopics of contemporary musicians include Nowhere Boy, about John Lennon, and I'm Not There, based on the life of Bob Dylan.

A film about the life of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is currently being written by Peter Morgan, with Sacha Baron Cohen in the lead role.