After years of changing directors and stars, the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody is actually, seriously, FINALLY set to begin filming—this time with Rami Malek starring as Freddie Mercury.
“Yes folks, it IS finally happening,” reads a post on the band’s website, which confirms that pre-production for the film begins next week in the UK and that X-Men’s Bryan Singer will be in the director’s chair and Malek will be starring as Mercury.
Previously Sacha Baron Cohen was given the role, but he dropped out in 2013 due to creative differences with Queen guitarist Brian May. “A member of the band, I won’t say who, he said, ‘This is such a great movie because it’s got such an amazing thing that happens in the middle of the movie,’” Cohen told Howard Stern last year. “I go, ‘What happens in the middle of the movie?’ He goes, ‘Freddie dies.’” Actor Ben Whishaw was also up for the role for Mercury before dropping out; directors David Fincher and Dexter Flecher were also rumored to have been considering the movie.
As for whether Rami will be singing, apparently he will be... “a little bit” according to an interview he gave in January. I can just see him now, with a full ‘stache, clad in a white tank or perhaps a cat-vest.