Can you imagine Freddie Mercury as anyone other than Rami Malek In Bohemian Rhapsody?
Neither can we.
And the producers of the film have now confirmed that they couldn’t either.
The 37-year-old deservedly won a Golden Globe award for the portrayal of Queen’s flamboyant frontman, but there was rumour that the role may have been played by Sacha Baron Cohen.
The Sweeney Todd actor and star of This Is America was never signed to the project, despite differing claims, according to Bohemian Rhapsody producer, Graham King.
“There was a lot of talk about different people playing Freddie Mercury and no one was actually signed to play Freddie Mercury, no one was attached to play Freddie Mercury until Rami Malek,” King stated. “It was just a lot of talk — there was a couple of actors that wanted to play that role.”
And speaking of people in their roles, King has now revealed the exact reason that director Bryan Singer pulled out of the project just two weeks before its conclusion.
“It’s an unfortunate situation, with like 16, 17 days to go and Bryan Singer just had some issues, his mother was very sick, and he’s the kind of guy that he needs to have 100% focus,” King explained at the Producers Guild Awards Nominees Breakfast. “He just said, I want to hiatus the film, and deal with what he had going on in his life. And the studio wanted to finish the film. And of course, my job is to protect the film at any cost and that’s what I was there to do.”
And because of that, the finished film may just win an Oscar or two.
