“He called me and said, ‘There’s a scene in this film which is going to make it a hit all over again.’ I saw it and said, ‘Oh my God!’ When I played that song in England it would go down like a lead zeppelin”: The story of Elton John’s classic sleeper hit

Elton John in 1971.

On 22 May 2017, UK-based filmmaker Max Weiland visited Elton John’s spectacular 1920s villa known as the ‘Yellow Palace’, perched high on the lush, forested hill of Mont Boron overlooking Nice, which has been the singer-songwriter’s main home on the French Riviera since the ’90s.

Weiland had been invited by John and his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin to show them the video he had created for their 1971 song Tiny Dancer, which was due to receive its world premiere at that year’s Cannes Film Festival.