Last Friday, two pieces of casting news made major headlines. One was pretty obvious and the other was just cool and surprising. Let’s start with the cool one: for years and years, there’s been a Freddie Mercury bio-pic making its way through Hollywood. At one point, Sacha Baron Cohen was confirmed for the role and many thought he was a good choice, simply because he looks so much like Mercury. But Cohen exited the project a while back, and once again, the project was being batted around, waiting for a good casting choice. And here it is: Mr. Robot’s Rami Malek has been cast as Freddie Mercury!!
Rami Malek will continue to question if this is the real life or if it’s just fantasy. The Emmy-winning star of Mr. Robot is attached to play Freddie Mercury in the long-gestating Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, EW has confirmed. Bryan Singer is in talks to direct the project, which is based on a screenplay by Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything). Brian May and Roger Taylor, both original members of Queen, will serve as music producers.
Sacha Baron Cohen was initially attached to the GK Films production in 2010 but dropped out over creative differences in 2013. Cohen wanted a more realistic, R-rated look at the band and Mercury’s life, while the band preferred going for a PG tone.
“The problem is — and I think it’s with any biopic, and I fully understand why Queen wanted to do this — if you’re in control of your rights and your life story, why wouldn’t you depict yourself as great as possible?” Cohen told Howard Stern earlier this year. Cohen added that the original story, based on Peter Morgan’s (Frost/Nixon) script, would have followed the band carrying on after Mercury died of AIDS in 1991 at 45 years old. “I said, ‘Listen, not one person is going to see a movie where the lead character dies from AIDS, and then you see the band carry on,’” he told Stern.
I sort of agree with Cohen that if there’s a big chunk of the film devoted to Queen moving on post-Mercury, that’s a bad call for the screenwriter. The whole idea of a bio-pic about Freddie Mercury is that it should begin and end with Mercury, who was easily one of the most charismatic performers of all time. Rami’s vibe is so low-key and fade-into-the-crowd, although he is genuinely charismatic and watchable on-screen. Plus, you never know what he’s going to do when you get some crazy costumes on him and put a microphone in his hand.
As for the obvious, boring casting news – the next season of American Crime Story will be the murder of Gianni Versace. And Lady Gaga is going to play Donatella Versace, Gianni’s sister.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Rudi Keuntje/Future Image/WENN.com.
*Out of control Shimmy Shakes* I Heart Him
Me too.
Same here! He’s so mesmerizing on screen. Sexy as hell!
Oh HOW the Camera loves his face!!!
Ditto.
same. he has some kind of crazy intense presence on screen
This is the man who should be playing Eddie Dean in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series.
Am still heartbroken that Sacha Baron Cohen isn’t playing the legend that is Freddie, Cohen really embodies his characters and could have been a great Freddie but am please that Rami is cast as he is also a good actor. Thou good luck in trying to emulate Freddie’s singing voice, he had a rare operatic voice that still sends shivers down my spine whenever i hear him live.
Rami’s voice is so deep, there’s no way he’ll be doing the singing.
He’ll have to raise his speaking voice as Freddie speaking voice was higher pitched althou quiet.
Freddy Mercury was Indian, albeit born in Tanzania.
I’m happy that a PoC was chosen to play him.
He was Persian, the Indian connection comes from the fact that the Parsi (Persian’s of the Zoroastrian community) people fled there from Iranian persecution several centuries ago. His parents may have been born in India but they didn’t identify themselves as Indian, the family always identified themselves as Persian (Iranian).
No they don’t. They call themselves Parsi first, Indian second. I have never heard a Parsi call themselves Persian in my life unless they were joking or being supremely precious (I live and grew up in a mixed Arab-Indian-Parsi neighbourhood).
PoC are not interchangeable.
The movie the way Cohen wanted to do it was about Freddies private life 90% and the Band Queen with all stuff music related 10% of the movie time.
Cohen wanted a lot of the movie only about Freddies Party life. That was what Brian May and Roger Taylor found wrong.
Freddie was not the only important part of Queen, and his private life was not the only interessting thing about him.
While that would have been a great movie to watch I can see why the others were dead against it – Freddie was a very very private man and wanted to be known for his music, not his lifestyle.
If that movie really is as Sacha Baron Cohen described it, it’s hard for me to feel too excited about it.
Malek’s clearly got chops and charisma, but describing his vibe as “low-key and fade-into-the-crowd” is exactly right. I’m very curious to see if he’s got the kind of sexy-swagger that could instantly fill a room like our Freddie.
Side note: Malek, as far as I know, is straight. It bugs a bit that we FINALLY get another movie with a gay person at its center, one of our heroes, no less, and we don’t have a gay person playing the role. Malek is an Emmy-winner, yes, but on a (great) show that is only a modest ratings draw, so the box-office-cachet argument doesn’t hold water. I’m not going to be up-in-arms about this, but it just bugs a little.
I’m pretty sure Rami is low-key dating Portia Doubleday.
Omg really? Why do you think that? I am so obsessed with mr robot and cannot wait for season three!!
Wasn’t Ben Whishaw attached to this for a while?
Yes. He and Malek have a similar low-key vibe.
I agree. They should have bit the bullet and gone with Adam Lambert.
I don’t know if Lambert can act, but that’s part of where a good director can help. Otherwise, Lambert (like Mercury) has that natural swagger and over-the-top ridiculousness that you can’t manufacture.
I like him and good for them for not going with a lily-white actor but he just seems to have such a different vibe that I find it hard to imagine him pulling off Freddie. Though I hope he surprises me and shows a range he didn’t have the opportunity to show before.
No, not amazing. The producers probably giving themselves kudos for casting an Egyptian man to play a Persian man. Cause hey, all brown people are the same right???? *eye roll*
At least Sacha Baron Cohen was passionate about telling the REAL story of Freddie’s life.
Cohen wanted to tell mainly of Freddie ‘s party life, you think that is the only true story of Freddie Mercury ?
So why aren’t you opposed to Cohen playing Freddie? He’s not Persian either.
I said “at least”. An Egyptian is no better than a white dude. No, I do not think it’s a “victory” to have a man of color play him just because. The only acceptable person would be another Persian. But AT THE LEAST Sacha had been pursuing his for years and was passionate about it (and actually looks like Freddie).
@carebare Rami just got on board. Can’t really mention Cohen’s passion when Rami hasn’t had a chance to show passion.
He’s Indian, not Persian. And was born in Zanzibar
I have no stock in this bio-pic, but Rami Malek is SUCH A BABE.