Taron Egerton Wants to Bring a Musical to the Big Screen, and No, He Won’t Say Which: ‘I Daren’t Tell You’ (Exclusive)

Rocketman may not have been the end of Taron Egerton in singing-and-dancing mode. As the actor tells PEOPLE, his dream project is another movie musical. 

“There’s a musical I love,” teases the British star-producer, 35, ahead of the release of his new crime thriller She Rides Shotgun. But when it comes to specifics, he is staying mum. 

“I daren’t tell you what it is, because I don’t want to jinx it,” says Egerton with a smile. “There’s a really classic American musical that I really love that I would love to turn into a film. It’s never been turned into a film and I think it would be amazing.”

Egerton wowed audiences in 2019 when he took on the formidable role of Elton John in musical biopic Rocketman, a high-energy performance that earned him a Golden Globe Award and a lasting bond with John himself. Other than a karaoke scene in his recent Apple TV+ drama Smoke — which, he told PEOPLE earlier this month, ended up on the cutting room floor — the actor has not had a chance to flex his musical muscles since. 

“I’m really, really, really hoping that I can achieve that,” Egerton says of his dream movie musical. “It’s very, very hard and the estate is super protective about it and rightly so.”

He adds, “If I manage it, you’ll know about it and I think it would be incredible. But I will not jinx it by telling you what it is because I’ve been trying for some time.”

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Contrasted to his star-making turn in 2014’s suave action-comedy Kingsman: The Secret Service, Egerton’s recent work has seen him exploring roles “that are a little harder-edged, a little darker,” he says. It remains to be seen if his unnamed musical fits that bill. 

Egerton now stars opposite Ana Sophia Heger in the Nick Rowland-directed She Rides Shotgun (in theaters now), adapted from Jordan Harper’s novel of the same name. It’s one of several projects he’s also worked on behind the camera as producer, including Black Bird, Tetris and Smoke.