”Can you go a bit higher?"
”I can’t go any higher, only dogs will hear me!"
"Try."
Queen biopic 'Bohemian Rhapsody' hit theaters November 2 - with 'Mr. Robot' star
Rami Malek bringing the bands charismatic frontman Freddie Mercury back to life in
a performance that has gained widespread praise.
For Malek to embody Mercury’s energy and flamboyance, he had to undergo a
dramatic transformation which involved some serious make-up and the guidance of
a movement coach. Hair and makeup department head Jan Sewell was the artist
tasked with taking 37 year old Malek from Mercury at age 19 into his late 30s.
Sewell used eye makeup — with shading to make his eyes appear closer together —
and shaded in his cheeks. "Rami has a fantastic jawline, not too different from
Freddie, but I brought that out even more,” she says.
The department also had multiple mouthfuls of teeth made to more closely match
Mercury's distinctive pearly whites. According to Sewell, “we went through many
pairs until we got the pair that we thought would do what we needed them to do,
but wouldn't take over." Turns out the precision of Sewell's artistry was proven when
Queen bandmember Brian May's wife, Anita, came to set. Says Sewell: "Rami came up
to the stage as Freddie in his later look, and she burst into tears. It was so emotional."
Meanwhile, Movement director Polly Bennett was given the job of getting Malek to
move like Mercury. At their first meeting, Bennett told the 'Mr. Robot' actor she wasn't
going to teach him choreography in the traditional sense. "You need to understand
why this man moves the way that he did," she told him. "That's what's helpful for an
actor. Rami isn't a dancer. Therefore, I shouldn't be treating him as one."
In order to help Malek truly inhabit the role, Bennett did a deep dive into Mercury's life,
not just examining footage of interviews and performances, but also delving into his
youth so she could deconstruct Mercury's movements.
Two interesting discoveries were that Mercury frequently masked his mouth using a
microphone, cigarette or glass because he was self-conscious about his teeth and that
he had been a long-distance runner in his youth, which contributed to the way he sprinted
across the stage. Bennett explains that her greatest challenge was combining
Mercury's spontaneity with the film's faithful frame-by-frame re-creation of Queen's
1985 Live Aid performance.
While Sewell’s moment came in the form of Anita May’s emotional reaction, for Bennett,
it was when she watched Malek perform the 20-minute Live Aid set from beginning
to end.
To read more on this story, head to THR.com.
For The Hollywood Reporter News, I’m Lyndsey Rodrigues.