Mr Robot as Freddie Mercury? Hello, Bohemian Rhapsody!
Rami Malek or Sacha Baron Cohen? Who do you think makes a better Freddie Mercury?
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“It goes on forever! Six bloody minutes!”
"I pity your wife if you think six minutes is forever,” Mercury retorts.
In case you’re haven’t watched the trailer yet – the above lines are from a discussion about Bohemian Rhapsody, the song by Queen that lends its name to the long overdue film about the English rock band and its larger-than-life frontman, Freddie Mercury.
Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara, to a Parsi family in Zanzibar, Tanzania, on 5 September 1946. He spent a few years in a boarding school in Mumbai, where he learned piano, before moving to London in 1960, where he attended the Ealing College of Art in London.
Bohemian Rhapsody follows Queen, from its formation in 1971, till 1985, when the band performed at the Live Aid concert.
The film was announced in 2010, with Sacha Baron Cohen set to play Mercury. However, after Baron dropped out of the project following “creative differences” with the makers of the movie and the other members of Queen, the makers turned to Mr Robot actor Rami Malek – who confirmed the news in 2017.
The role is a refreshing change for Malek, whose portrayal of socially anxious cyber-security engineer Elliot Alderson in Mr Robot bagged him several award nominations. The two roles, Elliot Alderson and Freddie Mercury could hardly be more different.
Fans of Queen, fans of Rami Malek, and fans of Mr Robot, took to the trailer’s release like bees to honey.
Funnily enough: @fs0c131y, the Twitter user who named himself after Malek’s character from Mr Robot and exposes flaws in cyber-security, also shared the trailer:
The trailer made fans go Radio Gaga – see what I did there?
However, many were quick to point out something – the Bohemian Rhapsody trailer seemed to completely avoid touching upon Mercury’s sexuality, his life as a gay man, and his struggle with HIV/AIDS, which ultimately resulted in his death. Among the critics was Hannibal director Bryan Fuller.
Will the Bryan Singer-directed film finally see the light of day? We’ll have to wait till the end of the year to find out. The film is scheduled to hit theaters in the UK on 24 October, Australia on 1 November, and the US on 2 November.
International release dates are expected soon.
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