- 2/14/2025
The Hollywood Reporter's Chris Gardner sat down with Elton John and Brandi Carlile to discuss 'Elton John: Never Too Late' in a THR Q&A powered by Vision Media.
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00:00Hello, everyone. I'm Chris Gardner and welcome to The Hollywood Reporter presents a Q&A with
00:10Elton John and Brandi Carlile. And how lucky and honored am I to be the one to get to ask
00:15the two of you some questions today. So thank you so much for the time for the time. And
00:19it's nice to see you both. Thank you so much. Great to see you, too. And I have to tell
00:23you, I have not seen the two of you together since I was sitting in my seats at Dodger
00:27Stadium on November 20 2022. And maybe not sitting in my seat, but sort of standing and
00:32cheering and dancing around in my seat that night. And I think it's safe to say that that
00:36was a night that myself and nearly 60,000 other people will never forget. And a lot
00:42of good things have happened for the two of you since then, including this Oscar nomination
00:46for the song Never Too Late. I know that this may be a really easy and sort of soft question
00:52to start with, but I am so curious to know how you guys are feeling after receiving the
00:58Oscar nomination for this song and for this creative collaboration and and just to receive
01:04this Academy love at this moment in your careers. For me, it never gets old. It's always a cream
01:11extreme honor to be nominated in the final five songs. And I'm so excited for Brandi
01:17and for Andrew Watt because they're co-writers and they've, you know, they've never been
01:22to the Oscars. No, Andrew hasn't, nor has Brandi. And so I'm excited for them because
01:27it's a wonderful occasion. And I'll let Brandi tell you how the song evolved. Okay.
01:33I am stunned, nearly speechless, but not completely about this about this nomination. I cannot
01:39believe that it happened. And I'm beyond honored and excited to get to go to the Oscars for
01:45the first time with this guy. So it's gonna be pretty amazing.
01:49And wait, so Elton's helping me out and doing my job for me. Brandi, tell me how this started
01:52because I'm told that you saw an early cut of the film and then just were inspired to
01:57start writing.
01:58I did. I saw an early cut of the documentary as a massive Elton John fan since I was really
02:04young girl. You know, Elton's been my hero since I was 11. So this archival footage,
02:09you know, for a girl who didn't have an inch of bedroom wall not covered with an Elton
02:12John poster was pretty incredible for me to see. And it just landed on me in a really
02:17beautiful way, getting to sort of enjoy this trajectory of from turmoil, a lot of success,
02:24but a lot of turmoil, a lot of loneliness to this latter day serenity that, that Elton
02:28has now, you know, as a husband and a dad, and I went away really inspired and I wanted
02:32to sort of chronologically, musically document it. And yeah, it's the first, it's the first
02:40lyric I've ever written for Elton. And it was inspired by that beautiful film.
02:45And it really says everything about what happens in the film. So I was absolutely thrilled
02:49because I think when you write a song for a film or it's got to be something to do with
02:54the actual process of the film or the making of the film or the content of the film. So
02:59I was thrilled and I found it very easy to write the melody because it was such a great
03:05lyric. And, you know, we had a lot of help from Andrew and Bernie as well, putting their
03:12thoughts in. And this whole thing has been a true collaboration, not just this track
03:16for the whole album. But I'm just thrilled with the way it kind of fitted into the film.
03:21The documentary was originally going to be called Farewell Yellowick Road as was the
03:25tour. And I thought that was a bit boring. And but I didn't have any alternative except
03:31when she wrote this song, we changed the ending to Never Too Late and the film to
03:35Never Too Late. So I fit it in. She changed everything.
03:39Yeah. And so what was that moment like, Elton, when Brandy handed you those lyrics? Brandy,
03:44I can imagine that was nerve wracking for you. But but Elton, what was it like for you
03:48to receive that from her?
03:49Well, the lyrics are so good. I'm used to writing to great lyrics because I've been
03:53writing with Bernie for over 50 years. So they were wonderful lyrics. They were easy
03:59and I knew that it was going to be a ballad, obviously. I think you wanted to be in 6-8
04:03time originally.
04:04I did.
04:05There's no way I'm writing it in 4-4 time. So I just it was a pretty easy song to write.
04:11And because it was about me, it was like the Captain Fantastic album was easy to write
04:15because all the songs were about Bernie, Torben and myself. So this being about me, I got
04:21it very quickly. And yeah, it was it was a wonderful moment when we actually finished
04:27the song. And then, of course, we had to record it. But it was I felt really happy
04:32after I'd recorded it. This nails exactly what the film is about.
04:36Yeah. And I think that's what's so special about it is it's, you know, the lyrics of
04:40the song speak to so many relevant themes to an artist's life and just to anyone's life
04:46of self-reflection, resilience. There's a little bit of humour in there and thinking
04:50about the way in which to look at the past and and look at the future and take stock
04:54of where you've been. Brandy, you know, it's impossible if you if you have a beating heart
04:58not to watch this film and be moved by Elton and who he is and what he's done. But for
05:03you as an artist yourself, what what themes of those really resonated with you on your
05:08own artistic journey?
05:09I think the thing that resonated with me the most, aside from just being an Elton John
05:15super fan, is just the way that it landed on me as a gay person married to a woman with
05:21kids and and seeing the way that Elton and David have paved for all of us. I'm not many
05:28people know this, but actually the first gay couple I ever saw in my life on television
05:33was Elton John and David Furnish. And I remember feeling so hopeful about that as a young person
05:40and just that there's any way that I'm involved in documenting that now as an adult is so
05:44surreal. That was important to me. And the other thing I love about about being a part
05:50of the process of this documentary is watching Elton have to self reflect because he's so
05:56forward moving. He doesn't really like taking compliments. He doesn't really like listening
05:59to people talk nice about him or spending a lot of time dwelling on these kinds of things.
06:03And here he has to watch this beautiful film and sing this song about himself. And I think
06:07it's been beautiful to have for that.
06:10It's been very great. It's been really great for me, actually. It's gotten me to look back
06:15at the things that were in the film, the music, everything like that. And yeah, I don't
06:20look at myself very often and I don't reflect. But I think this was a great moment to to
06:24reflect on what happened and what beautiful process happened out of chaos and everything
06:30and unhappiness. And to get me to a point of incredible happiness, you have to look
06:35back and say, I did it. And in the in the lyric, it says, you're an Iron Man, baby.
06:40And I've been through so many things in my life and I've picked myself up and I've gotten
06:45forward again. So she nailed it completely. I am an Iron Man, baby.
06:49Yes, baby. Come on, baby.
06:51You are an Iron Man, baby. I love that. And and it was just really profound to think of
06:58all of that you lived through and all that you conquered and just the incredible creative
07:03output, which I want to get to in a second. But let's go back to just those lyrics, because
07:07I thought one of the beautiful things about watching this film is seeing Elton's creative
07:11process sort of expand throughout. So so was when you were when you were writing Never
07:17Too Late, was there a section, you know, a lyrical passage that was the most difficult
07:21to get through or that you, you know, or was rewritten the most?
07:25I would say, well, he he made a joke that I wanted it to be in six, eight. So I pictured
07:30it going like never too late for a wide open slate, a kiss from a stranger, a thousand
07:35first dates. And he sits down at the piano and and I go, it's it's in six, eight. And
07:39he goes, no, it's not. So I just thought that was so and then he just goes, never too
07:46late. And I was like, oh, my God, this is it. This is the moment that Elton John wrote
07:53a melody to my lyric. And it just something I'll never forget.
07:57And you shared the stage before. But what was the experience like, you know, hearing
08:02him record and starting digging in sort of digging deep into the creative process with
08:06these lyrics together?
08:07It can almost not really be overemphasized how masterful it is to watch him write a song.
08:13It happens like lightning. It's that quick and it's unbelievable.
08:18It happens like lightning when you get an incredible lyric. And as I said, I've been
08:22lucky enough to have incredible lyrics all my life. And Brandi is in that stratosphere.
08:26She's that good.
08:27Yeah. Elton, I should apologize. And Brandi said you don't like compliments and we're
08:31just like, you know, dumping them on you. So thanks for putting. Now, we have to talk
08:38about Bernie and Andrew Elton. You mentioned them both. And I know that there's two of
08:42you sitting here today, but there's two other off screen somewhere. What what was this experience
08:46like collaborating with the two of them?
08:48I've never entered an album having four people collaborate before. I wanted to do it. And
08:54I wanted to make an album with Brandi for a long time. And I wanted to include Bernie
08:58and I wanted Andrew to be the producer. And it was from the word go. This is a four equal
09:04partnership record. One, two, three, four. We're in this together. And it was a struggle
09:09for me at first because I was really exhausted and tired. And I was had so much self-doubt,
09:16which, you know, led to a few. You see the video for the never too late single. And I
09:22was very, very on the edge the whole time because I wanted the album to be so good.
09:27And you can never predict how an album is going to turn out. So I think I put the other
09:31three through the ringer, to be honest with you, for about four or five days. And then
09:36I finally got over it and I finally saw the light. And from that point on, it was just
09:41like a it was like a freight train, a very fast freight train. We wrote 14 songs in twenty
09:48five, twenty days and we kept ten. And that's that's pretty, pretty quick.
09:53Yeah, it's it's surprising to hear you say that you were filled with so much self-doubt.
09:59How do you how did you work your way out of that very slowly? And I had a lot of help
10:05from the other three and the other three were going, oh, my God, what's wrong with it? Oh,
10:09my God, what's wrong with him? And they were on the phone to David saying, I don't understand
10:13what's wrong. And I was very I don't know. I was afraid. I was really afraid because
10:17I wanted this to be a special record anyway. We finally got out of it and it was through
10:23the help of everyone else being very understanding. And, you know, that also what the hell is
10:29going on with him? He remembers it as more of a burden than it was. I think it was more
10:33like it, especially in retrospect. It's refreshing seeing somebody act how they feel. If you
10:39have self-doubt, if you're feeling insecure, yeah, you're going to throw the headphones
10:41once in a while. A big deal. You know, seeing somebody be human is like I think what the
10:45world needs so much more of. Yeah, I hate making a mistake. And that's why, you know,
10:50if I couldn't do it properly and Braddy is like a first rate vocalist, it's like, God,
10:55I wish I could do that. And I was fed up with myself because I'm a perfectionist. But in
11:00the end, you know, it's good. As Bradley says, he's human to be upset. Once you've been upset,
11:05you get over it and you carry on. Yeah, that's so beautiful. And I think that that seems
11:09to be one of the reasons that this song is resonating so much with with fans and with
11:15the Academy voters. I mean, I've been spent some time digging in the comments section
11:19underneath the video and and trying to read as much as I can about how people are receiving
11:23the song because it is so special for it to come out at this moment in time when people
11:28are thinking about what it means to be human and what it means to be connected and how
11:32much time there is left for all of us and to do what we want to do. So, Elton, can you
11:36speak to that a little bit of putting this song out and seeing it land at this particular
11:41moment in time? Well, it was we wanted to just put it out because it was the it was
11:47an Oscar nominated song. What I loved about the song, it encapsulated my whole life and
11:54explained how I am now. So you've got the whole picture. You've got the beginning. You've
11:59got the fame. You've got the misery. You've got the recovery. And, you know, I was so
12:05happy that people could see that because, you know, I'm a human being. I've gone through
12:09so much in my life and I've come through the other side and to see people appreciate that
12:15and the fact that I'm gay and have two wonderful sons and a husband and it's possible for gay
12:19people to bring up children in the right way. And it was like, hey, guys, if you're watching
12:24this, look what we did. We raised up two great kids. Yeah. Yeah. I have such a special moment
12:31in the documentary, seeing your son, seeing you FaceTime your son and eat that peanut
12:35butter and honey sandwich and just connect in that way and see you as this force of nature,
12:42who transforms into a gentle father. I just found that so profound.
12:47Yeah, it's it's that's what the song is about. And that's what my life's been about. So
12:51it really has. Actually, as I'm talking about it, the song makes even more sense.
12:55So, yeah, yeah. It's it's a wonderful statement about my life. And she wrote it.
13:01Yeah. And, you know, and it's been a busy week on the Brandy Carlile and Elton John beat,
13:05I have to tell you. And I think no one would fault you for putting out this documentary
13:10and putting out this song, receiving this Oscar nomination and sort of just,
13:13you know, taking a vacation. But instead, what you decided to do is jump in the studio and
13:20challenge yourself to and in new and creative ways. I did watch that video that you mentioned
13:25and how you said it was the most challenging but the most rewarding experience of your career.
13:30I can imagine sitting next to Brandy Carlile is probably always a rewarding experience. But tell
13:35me sort of why why did you guys decide to do this? And and and and how did it feel to spend
13:42those 20 days together putting out or, you know, putting the finishing touches on an album?
13:47I always wanted to record it, record it now with Brandy in the last five or six years because
13:53I've watched her as an artist grow and grow and grow. And I've seen what she did for Joni Mitchell
13:57and how she's, you know, pushed forward all the time. And I wanted to push her even further.
14:03I bought her an electric guitar a couple of years ago and say, hey, stop playing this.
14:08Move away from the folk a little and expand your musical ability. And she did and she followed my
14:15advice. And and and that's why I wanted to be inspired by her in the studio, because I knew
14:21that however good I was in the studio, she'd be just as good. And we were two people that,
14:26you know, there's a lot of harmonies on this record. It's just harmonies. We don't do just
14:30single lines and another single line. It's a complete cooperation and combination of two
14:37talents that really adore each other. I've been in a band with him since I was 12. He
14:42just didn't know it till recently. And then you finally got the instrument. You finally
14:47got the instrument to prove it. So when he asked me, there is nothing I wouldn't have dropped to
14:51do it. It's the culmination of my life's dreams and my life's work. And I am incredibly honored
14:58to have done it. And I'll never be the same songwriter. I have access now to a plethora
15:04of chords and musical choices and rhythms and ideas from him and Bernie that I never had access
15:11to before we went into this into this process. So it changes me forever. Also, I needed to make an
15:17album that may push me into a different vein and push me to make more exciting songs, not just
15:25another Elton John album. I needed her to push me to make the record I wanted to do. I couldn't
15:30have done it without her. That's so beautiful. And, you know, I know people are already marking
15:36their calendars for the album release date on April 4th, but also this London Palladium one
15:42night only concert. So can we give your fans a little tease of what they can expect either on
15:47the album or for that one night only show? Never know what's going to happen with this man.
15:53It's it's a mystery to us, too. You'll have it will be an evening of great fun, but the album
15:58will surprise so many people. The first track along, which is called The Rose of Lorinero,
16:04who was one of my idols. The first few tracks will blow people's heads off,
16:09and they'll be very surprising because they're not slow.
16:13The mandate from him. He said no dreary balance. Yeah.
16:18Well, Elton and Brandy, thank you so much. I want to end with I'm going to throw it to you
16:22and say, Elton, Brandy, finish the sentence for me. It's never too late for it's never too late
16:28to make amends, forgive yourself, forgive other people, move on. And that's the best thing you
16:34can do. There's no point in going through life with resentment. Great question. Good answer.
16:40That was a beautiful answer. And it's also never too late for an Oscar nomination. So
16:44congratulations to the two. Oh, excited for you. And I can't wait to see you Oscar night.
16:50And until then, enjoy yourselves. Be safe. And we'll see you on the other side.
16:54Thank you. Thank you so much.
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