Elton John: Shakespeare would love Gnomeo movie

Elton and David were executive producer and producer respectively of the animated tale, which is inspired by English playwright William Shakespeare’s classic tale of star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet.

The movie follows two garden gnomes – Gnomeo and Juliet, voiced by James McAvoy and Emily Blunt – as they get caught up in a feud.

Having spent 11 years bringing the film to the big screen, David admits the pair didn’t take the movie’s plot too seriously, and had fun being as cheeky as they possibly could.

“This film was off and on so many times and fortunately we put it in an environment where it was able to reach its full potential. We’re so proud of it. It’s a very British film, lots of fun. Tongues were very firmly planted in the cheek,” he laughed in an interview with the BBC.

Elton admits the original William Shakespeare play needed to be tampered with somewhat, so that the movie could have a happy ending. He joked that the esteemed writer would probably have appreciated their happier tale.

“We changed the ending. We made it into the greatest love story ever told because of course it ends in tragedy. We had poetic license with this one,” he explained.

“I don’t think Bill Shakespeare would have been upset with a gnome changing the ending.”