Dan French recreates the early 70s pop promo for Elton John's Step Into Christmas, and then imagines the almighty chaos that occured behind the scenes on the shoot - with the 1973 Elton played by actress and model Cara Delevingne.

The hugely entertaining video reproduces shots from Elton's studio performance in the original visual - featuring  Delevingne as an uncanny facsmile of glam-era Elton, plus doppelgangers of his band - while adding the story of the production team frantically attempting to add some festive flavour to proceedings. 

Despite the addition of a festive feather boa, balloons and confetti, chaos reigns as they wrangle an escaped turkey, fail to book a real reindeer (and find a donkey instead) and tackle a deranged fan who storms the set, all whilst Delevingne mirrors Elton’s choicest dance moves and iconic facial expressions from the original promo.      

On it's release over 50 years ago, Step Into Christmas failed to trouble the UK Top 20, but it's stepped up in seasonal stature in recent years. The song has charted each December since 2011, and last year it was certified Triple Platinum, 50 years after its release. And Dan French's evocative and consistently funny video is a marvellous way to celebrate it's long journey to becoming a Christmas pop standard.

It also coincides with the release of a new documentary, Elton John: Never Too Late, where the singer looks back on his life and the astonishing early days of his 50-year career, which premiered on Disney+ last week. 

"I saw Cara at Glastonbury last summer, and we talked about how much we’d love to work together if the right idea came up," comments Elton. "She’s hilarious to spend time with, we both have quite a self deprecating sense of humour. When someone suggested the idea of her playing me in a riff on the 1973 Step In to Christmas video, I just thought it was the perfect opportunity. Thank God Cara thought the same, because it came out great."

Cara Delevingne adds: "Elton has always been an idol of mine, to say his music has had a deeply profound effect on me is an understatement. To be asked by him to PLAY him in this recreation was a dream that I didn’t know I had until it happened.

"Honestly I wish I could pretend to be Elton every day. I hope that Elton may one day return the favour and agree to play me in my not yet developed, written, pitched or funded biopic. Fingers crossed."