There’s been a lot of controversy and chatter around the long-developing “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Sacha Baron Cohen famously laid bare his reasons for exiting the project that would’ve seen him playing Freddie Mercury, the iconic lead singer of Queen. The actor said that the screenplay he looked at killed off the artist midway through the movie, and focused on how the rest of the band moved on without him. There’s been chatter that the movie will sanitize Mercury’s hard partying ways, but that remains to be seen.
What we do know today is that Rami Malek certainly steps up on the stage quite well. The first look at the actor as Mercury, recreating the singer’s performance from Live Aid in 1985, is impressive to say the least. The concert will mark the climax of the movie, which takes place six years before Mercury would pass away from complications due to AIDS. And if you’re wondering about who’s voice you’re going to hear on the soundtrack, it will be both Mercury and Malek coming out of the speakers.
“We’re going to use Freddie as much as possible and use myself as much as possible,” Malek told EW. “I’m in Abbey Road [Studios] right now if that should say anything to you. I’m not working on my acting.”
Directed by Bryan Singer, “Bohemian Rhapsody” will open on December 25, 2018.